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Friday, September 28, 2018

Govindaraja Perumal Temple, Chidambaram – History

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.