A LESSER KNOWN BUT A MUST SEE TEMPLE
Sri Vedanarayana Swamy temple is, one of the many lesser known
Vishnu temples, situated in Nagalapuram in Andhra Pradesh and is about 75 kms
from Tirupati and 90 kms from Chennai near Uthukottai. As the name suggests,
this is a temple dedicated to Lord Vedanarayana who blesses His devotees in
Matsya avatara here. Matsya avatara is the first of the Vishnu avataras.
As per legend, Somakasura, a dreaded asura, stole the Vedas and
hid them deep under the waters of the mighty ocean. At the request of Lord Brahma,
Lord Mahavishnu took the first incarnation as Matsya avatara in the form of a
fish and rescued the Vedas from the asura before handing them over to Brahma.
As He brought back the Vedas to us, the presiding deity here is named as Swamy
Vedanarayana who is seen with His consorts Sridevi and Bhoodevi.
This temple was built by Sri Krishnadevaraya, the emperor of
Vijayanagara. The place is called Nagalapuram after his mother Nagulamba. We cannot
miss seeing the majesty and grandeur of the construction as one crosses the
gopurams and go around the prakaras, the wide pathway around the temple. Maintained
by TTD now, the beautiful gardens along the prakaras of the temple are a visual
treat.
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| Intricately sculpted dasavatharam on the pillars |
SURYA POOJA.
The unique feature of this temple is the Surya Pooja done on the Dwadasi,
Thrayodasi and Chaturdashi days of Sukla paksha of Phalguna(March) month every
year by Lord surya himself to Sri Veda Narayana Swamy. On these three days, the rays of the setting sun enter the temple through
very small openings in the two gopurams and sneak through the openings in the threshold of the
sanctum to touch the idol of Vedanarayana swamy between 6pm to 6.15 pm. On Dwadasi
the sun’s rays fall on the feet of the lord, on Thrayodasi they fall on the nabhi (navel) of the lord and on Chaturthi
fall on the forehead of the lord. This happens without fail on these three days
every year. Is this marvel, an astronomical wonder or an architectural genius, the
debate goes on!!
THE TEMPLE
The first glimpse of the temple gopuram gives us the darshan of
the Dasavathara on the temple gopuram. As we cross the first gopuram which is
huge, we can see the tidy and elegant gardens maintained by the devasthanam. On
entering the next gopuram, the wide and clean prakarams of the temple present
themselves. On looking straight we see the main temple of the presiding deity Sri
Vedanarayana Swamy with his consorts Sridevi and Bhoodevi. At the right side we
see the temple dedicated to the goddess . On our left we can see the shrines
dedicated to Lord Rama. Lord Narasimhar and Lord Anjaneyar. There is a big yaga shaala in front of the Ramar sannidhi where the yagas are performed.
On the opposite side of long corridor, we see the shrine dedicated to Lord
Veera Anjaneyar
As we enter the main gopuram, I noticed something very different in the dwara palakas at the shrine. There are three sets of dwara palakas for the three doors before we enter the sanctum sanctorum. The first is Vishwaksenar and Thapasa, next is Jaya and Vijaya and at the third door are Manikandan and Sandhya. I have not seen such three pairs of dwara palakas earlier at any Vishnu temple I have visited. As we now cross all the dwara palakas, we see the Lord himself in all His sparkling glory. He is standing tall with Sudarshana chakra in prayogam (in use) along with his consorts on both sides. The golden matsya kavacham is a sight to behold and feast upon. Like I always tell, once you look at His eyes, he pulls you so close to Himself that you totally lose yourself in His spell as it were and forget what you are actually seeing. Having come out of the daze of seeing Him in matysa avatara, I am still trying to recollect several aspects of this nice temple. The idol of Sudharsana azhwar kept in the sanctum sanctorum is very beautiful. The utsava murthy is kept along with the azhwars. Here we were allowed to capture His beauty in our cameras. The priest explained how the sun rays enter through the tiny vents in the gopurams and sneak to the threshold to come and touch eventually. the Lord Almighty. You can see for yourself from the main entrance the small openings in the gopurams and the deity 600 feet away. Some of His inscrutable ways are beyond the ken of us, I guess.
Having relished upon His beauty, grandeur and grace, we proceeded to the thayaar sannidhi. Here we came across small shrines of Vishnu Durga, Brahma, Vishwaksenar, Lakshmi Varaha Perumal, Venugopala swamy, Lakshminarayana Perumal, Lakshmi Buvaraha Perumal, Veena Dakshina Murthy and Ganapati.
Since the same priest attends both the santcums, we waited for a
while for him to come and open the door. Vedavalli thayar is in a sitting
posture here. As you go near and look at her, you cannot but feel the benign
presence of a mother waiting for you and assuring you that we need not worry
anymore and that we are under Her protective care. I spent a few minutes with
her alone chanting Sri Suktam. As the sun was setting fast, we set out quickly
to the temple at Suruttupalli to be in time to get the darshan of the lord Pallikondeswarar
and goddess.
TEMPLE TIMINGS
7.00 A.M-12. P.M
4 P.M – 8 P.M
HOW TO REACH THE TEMPLE
Nearest airport-Tirupati
Nearest Railway station- Nagari
By road we can reach from Chennai in a private vehicle or bus. It
is well connected from all places in Andhra Pradesh
