16- Tiruvallur - Sri Veeraraghava Perumal Temple Divya Desam  ( Chennai )

Sri Veeraraghava Swamy Perumal Temple is one among the 108 divya desams of vaishnavas and a part of tondai naadu divyadesams. It is located in Panagal Street, Thiruvallur, Chennai suburb. The Temple is dedicated to Sri Vishnu as Veeraraghava Swamy Perumal and Divine Mother Shakti as Kanaka Valli Thayar.

The presiding deity Veera raghava perumal is in a reclining position in the temple. The lord’s right hand is positioned on Salihothra Munivar’s head while the left hand is in the Gyana Mudra position indicating the teaching of the four Vedas to the Lord Brahma.

Legend

A Rishi (Munivar) named Saalihothirar lived in Thiruvathari Ashram (Badrinath). There is a story to be expained how he got this name.

“Saali” means measurement instrument which is used to measure the weight (or) quantity of Rice. Saalihothirar’s parents did a homam which has to be done for 1 year using 28 Thousand Saali Rice. As the result of that homam only, he got his birth and got the name as “Saalihothirar”.

To get the Paramapadham, he came to this Veeksharanya Shetram to worship the God here. He came to the Kshetram on Thai Amaavasai. On the same day he came, he took bath in Hiruthaapanasana Theertham and on the north shore of this theertha, he started the silence fasting (mouna viratham) for one year. Daily he collected some rice and after a year of fasting, he purified it, he collected about 3 padis (a small quantity) of rice. Then he cooked that and some part of the rice is did Naivedhyam to God and after it is done, he kept the rest of the rice for himself to eat. He waited for some Adhithi (muni or rishi) to come, so that he can offer them something to eat and after that, he can finish the fasting.

Sri Veeraraghava Perumal at that time Sriman Narayanan came there as an old muni, keeping Kamandalam in this right hand and an umbrella in his left hand and chappel on his feet. He seems to be so hungry and thirsty and as if he has travelled a long way. On seeing him, Saalihothirar greeted him and made him to sit, facing East direction. He was offered only a quater part of the rice. But, the old muni (the Perumal) wanted all of the rice to eat.

Saalihothirar gave all of the food to the old muni. After eating the entire food, he asked where can he sleep? ( Evvullil Urangalam ) (Vul – means a place) For this, Saalihothirar asked him that he can sleep in his hut itself and he will do the Paadha seva to him. The old muni slept keeping his head along the south direction and it this Kidantha kolam the Emperumaan is giving his seva in this sthalam.

Since he asked Salihothirar muni that in which place (Vul) he can take rest, this sthalam is called “Evvulor” or “Thiru Evvuloor”.

Architecture

Sri Veeraraghava Swamy Perumal Temple is under administration of Ahobila Mutt. It has five tiered Rajagopuram (main gate). It was built by Pallavas. There are separate shrines for Kanakavalli, Ganesha, Alwars, Gajalakshmi Thayaar. Here, the Lord married Vasumathi the daughter of a king Dharmasena. There are also shrines to Ganesha, Gopalan, NammAzhwAr, ChakrattAzhwAr, ANDAL, Vedanta Desikan, Ramanujacharyar, and Lakshmi Narasimhar. There are inscriptions ating back to the 2nd half of the 9th century Pallava dynasty reign here. Local folklore claims that the temple is around 5000 years old. Lord Vishnu as Veera Raghavar is the presiding deity of the Veera Raghavar temple. The Lord is known as Vaidya Veera Raghavar, in view of His ailmentcuring abilities. In this temple people submit small metal sheets with a specific human organ engraved on them as a request to god to cure the illness or problems with those organs. It is believed that those suffering from incurable diseases are cured if they visit the Lord for three no moon days (amAvAsya). Devotees come here for marriage finalization, progeny, and for relief from hardships. The water in the tank is considered more sacred than that of Ganga. A dip in the tank is believed to relieve the devotee from sins he committed in thought as well as action. Abishekam to the Lord is done only with sandalwood oil. The deity is in a recumbent position facing east on a dais at an elevation of 15 feet. His right hand blesses the sage Salihotra and left hand in gnAna mudrA preaches to Brahma. The ThAyAr is called Kanakavalli. She is also known by the name Vasumati. The VimAnam is called VijayakOTi VimAnam as it is a symbol of victory against Madhukaidapas asuras who were killed by the Lord. The sacred tank is called Hrutatapanasini.