Govindaraja Perumal Temple, Chidambaram – History
This Perumal was installed by the Pallava King Nandhi
Varman during 726 to 775 AD. The Govindaraja shrine is dedicated to Vishnu and is one of the 108 holy temples of Lord Vishnu
called Divyadesam,
revered by the 7th - 9th century saint poets of Vaishnava (those
worshipping Lord Vishnu) tradition, Alwars. Kulasekara Alwar mentions this temple as Thillai Chitrakoodam and
equates Chitra Kooda of Ramayana fame with this shrine. Parantaka Chozha is also said to have contributed
to this temple in the 10th Century AD. King Kulothunga Chola II is believed to have uprooted the presiding Govindaraja image from the shrine.
The shrine has close connections with the Govindaraja
temple in Tirupati dating back to saint Ramanuja of the 11-12th century. Ramanujar fled
to Tirupati with the Utsava (festival image) of the temple to escape
punishment. In the 16th century, king Krishnappa Nayak was instrumental in installing the image of
Govindaraja back in the temple. There was a lot of resistance from
the Shaivites (those worshipping Shiva) against placing the
Vishnu image in a revered Shiva temple, but the king was unmoved and the image
was installed in the present form.
There is no satisfactory evidence of co-existence of the
Shiva and Vishnu shrines within the same temple built during the same time –
there was a dispute in 1849 regarding the rights on the Govindaraja idol
and Alwar Sannidhi (sanctum of Azhwars)
between Vaishnavas and Dikshidars and the position
of Vaishnavas was upheld by the district court. Some sources say that
the deity was re-established at the original location in Chidambaram at much
protest from the Dikshidars of the Nataraja temple. Other sources say that this
deity was established in Tirumala, giving darshan at the present day Govindaraja
Sannidhi.
