Sunday, January 23, 2011

Vaduvoore Ramar Temple.

  1. Vaduvoore:



    The place is considered as Dkshina Ayodhya. This is Abimana sthalam of Lord Vishnu. The place Vaduvoore is about 24 kms from Tanjavore to Mannarkudi when we travel.








    The main Raja Gopuram is of five storeys.














    As we enter inside we see Dwajsthambam and beautiful sculpture on the sanctum wall.
    There are beautiful paintings to the wall depicting story of Ramanaya.













    Main deity is Kodhand Ramar with Seetha, Lakshmana and Hanuman is seen inside the main sanctum. Ramar is seen with saligrama garland and Mahalakshmi pendant is seen to his chest. Urchavar here is known as Ramar.



    Sthala Vruksham known as Magizha maram and Teertham is Sarayu teertham seen outside the temple.



    Sthala Puranam says Sri Rama was about to return to Ayodha after his war with Ravana, and completion of his vanavasam. Maharishis who were in the forest requested Rama to stay back. Sri Rama said he will meet them next day. Sri Rama made a replica of him and placed it near the entrance where he was staying. Next day when Maharish’s came there were surprised to see the replica of Sri Rama which looked too natural, and they wanted the replica of Sri Rama which was natural for them to worship. Sri Rama gave the replica for them and left for Ayodhya.




    Later days Vaishnava devotees made sculpture of Seetha, Lakshmana and Sri Hanuman.
    During the time of foreign invasion, as a safety measure these sculptures were kept in another place at Thalai gnayeru



    When Saraboji maharaja was ruling Tanjavore, one day in his dream Sri Rama asked him to construct a temple for those deities kept at Thalai Gnayeru. Saratoga Maharaja went to, Thalai Gnayeru and took the deities from there, and as he was returning to Tanjavore. He had to stay back at vaduvoore at night. Here some of the devotees requested him to construct the temple in this place and install Sri Rama in the temple. Maharaja obliged them and constructed a temple in this place.









    The chariot of Urchvar used on important ceremonial days. In Maha mandapam,
    we see Lord Krishna with Rukmani and Sathyabama in a separate sanctum. They say previously these idols were inside the main sanctum prior to Sri Rama being installed.



    As we go round the prakaram we come cross Hayagreevar, Vishvaksenar, Andal and Azwar.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Mannarkudi Rajagopala swamy temple.

  1. Mannarkudi: Rajgopala Swamy temple.






    The temple is about 27 kms from Thiruvavore, on the banks of River Pamani.






    The main Raja Gopuram is of eleven storeys, with seven prakaram. The place is known as Dakshina Dwaraka, Sanbakaranyam and Vasudeva puri.







    As we enter through the main entrance we see another gopuram with mandapam in front leading us in to second prakaram of the temple.






    We enter through the main gopuram, and pass through a big corridor which leads us to Garuda kambam. The Garuda kambam is huge and it is of single stone with Garuda on top of it. Punga tree is sthala vruksham of the temple.




    Main Deity is Swayambu Moorthy known as Vasudevar in standing posture with sanku and Chakkram in his hands. We see Sridevi and Bhoodevi to either side. The Vimanam on main sanctum is Swayambu Vimanam.



    Urchavar here known as Sri Rajagopalan, is seen in front of a cow, along with Rukmani and Sathyabama. There is a separate sanctum for Sengkamala Thayar here.
    There is a Krishna teertha pushkarani with a (Nerazhi mandapam) mandapam, in it.



    As we go around the inner prakaram we see, Venugopalan, Lakshmi Narayanan, Anantha Padmanaban, Sreenivasan, Ramar, Hanuman, Thirumangai Azwar, Chakkrthazwar, Manavala ma munigal, Nammazwar, and Kuratthazwar in different sanctums.

    Lord Brahma and Agni worshipped Lord here and were blessed.