Sowmya Damodhara Perumal Temple, Villivakkam – Legends
Soumya Damodara Perumal:
The word
Damodara is elaborately explained in Vaishnava philosophies. In short, it means
that Lord can be controlled by pure love. During the childhood of
Krishnavatara, He was terribly mischievous boy and Mother Yasodha could not
bring him to order. She bound him by a rope, yet he moved with the rope in
between two trees, broke them and granted salvation to two demons. The scar of
the rope stayed on his waist deeply showing his willingness to be bound by a
mother’s love. Damam in Sanskrit and Thambu in Tamil mean rope. Udharam means
belly. The rope scar is around the belly, hence Damodara. Soumya means ever
smiling and looking handsome. Hence, the name Soumya Damodara.
Damodhara in Tamil Literature:
The Last
of Lord Narayana's 12 names mentioned in the "Dwadasa Nama
Stotra" is Damodaran or the one who was bound to a grinding stone,
known in Tamil as "Ural". The name has a special significance,
according to Madhurakavi Azhwar, one of the Vaishnavite saints. He says in
his Kanninunn Chiruthambu, his only work of 10 verses, forming part of
the Nalayira Divya Prabhandham, that the Lord allowed himself to be bound
to the grinding stone after playing for a long time with his foster-mother,
Yasodha.
Another
saint, Nammazhwar, mentions Damodara as the Lord of Brahma and Siva in his Thiruvaimozhi verse. Andal,
the saint-poetess, in her Thiruppavai, goes one step further and says that
Devaki, the mother of Lord Krishna, was purified by giving birth to him. But
there are only a very small number of temples to the Lord with this name and
one among them is the Sowmya Damodara Perumal Temple in Villivakkam.
Sage Agastya digesting Vatapi:
Durvasa
wanted to bring his sons-Vilvan and Vatapi – in the righteous and vedic path.
However, their mother (one with asura qualities) was more inclined on the asura
path. Angered at this, Durvasa left them and went to the forest. An upset
mother sought revenge and wanted her sons to destroy the rishis. Taking up her
orders, the two consumed one rishi after another. They would first play host to
the rishi coming their way. During lunch, Vatapi would enter the rishi through
the food they consumed. Once done, Vilvan would call out for his brother
Vatapi, who would then tear open the rishi and come out.
The
worried rishis looked up to Lord Shiva for help, who directed them to Sage Agastya.
Vatapi and Vilvan tried their prank on Agastya who came this way. After the
Sage consumed the food, he digested Vatapi before Vilvan could call out for him
in their usual planned way. Sage Agastya wanted Shiva and Vishnu to provide
darshan at this place. Hence, at the Shiva temple, he is seen as Agastheeswarar.
At the Vishnu temple, the Lord is seen as Sowmya Damodaran.
Villivakkam:
As the
asuras were killed here, this place was referred to as Konnur. Later, this took
the specific name of the two asuras- Vil (from Vilvan) and Va (from Vatapi) and
came to be referred to as Villivakkam. This Kshetram came to be called Samhara
Puri Kshetram.
