Many a tale behind the Lord's posture
The Moolavar idol of the Lord and His consorts.
THE LEGEND of "Aerikaatha Ramar" Temple in Madurantakam is wellknown. There is another place which has a similar association. It is Nemili, three km from Nallattur, famous for its Jayaveera Mangala Anjaneyar Temple, situated 11 km from Thiruthani on the road to Nagalapuram.
The story goes like this: Sage Bhrigu and others performed a penance in Puri in Orissa to have a vision of Lord Narayana. He appeared but not the way they wanted Him to — in full form with Chakra, Shanka and Gadayutha. The Lord directed them to go to Kancheepuram and perform penance there, assuring them that He would appear before them. The sages found too many holy places in Kancheepuram and wanted to know which was the holiest among them. They sought the help of Brahma, who in turn prayed to the Lord and He appeared in sitting posture before him in Nemili. He said when the merit of Nemili was weighed against the merit of all other places the needle would tilt in Nemili's favour by the weight of a grain of paddy. Hence the place came to be known as "Nelmeli" or Nemili.
This Kalinganardhana is something special.
According to another legend a farmer in the village vowed before the Lord to give a major share of the yield from his land, and he got a bumper yield that year. Paddy obtained from the land was heaped like a hill in the threshing floor, but the farmer changed his mind on seeing the big yield and tried to take it home. And the entire paddy stock on the threshing floor turned into stone pebbles and it became a hill. The farmer, who realised his mistake, fell at the feet of the Lord, who took a single paddy grain in His two fingers as His share and gave back the entire stock to the farmer. That explains the Lord's posture of holding a grain between His fingers.
The Lord's sitting posture has another interesting story behind it. Once there were unprecedented heavy rains in the area and the irrigation tank in the village got filled up and was overflowing. The villagers, who feared that it might breach any time appealed to the Lord who prevented the embankment from breaching, with His back. It is remarkable that the Moolavar idol even today sweats profusely and His garments, which become wet, have to be changed frequently.
A view of the Veetrirunda Perumal Temple in Nemili.
The temple has no Rajagopuram at present. However, the remnants of the Rajagopuram, which existed in the past or was left unfinished, are found at the entrance. There is a plan to estore it.
The Lord, who is found seated with Sridevi and Bhoodevi on either side, has "Prayoga Chakra" in His right upper hand, while the lower hand is in "Abhaya Hastha" pose. He wears big "Thirumann" on His forehead like the Lord in Tirumala. The idols of the Lord and His Consorts have been carved out of a single stone block, according to the authorities. The Utsavar idol of the Lord, with His two Consorts on either side, is known as Vaikundavasar. There are also idols of Venugopalan, Chakarathazhwar and Kaalinga Nardhana Krishnan. Of them the last mentioned is a delight for the connoisseur's eye as it has been exquisitely crafted. Unlike other Kaalinga Nardhana Krishna idols, the image of Kaaliyan with folded hands is found at the centre of the hood of the serpent king. The Lord, who dances on his head, holds his tail by His left hand. Special "Thirumanjanam" and "Aradhana" are offered to this idol on the Rohini star in every Tamil month and a large number of people afflicted by Rahu, Kethu and Navagraha dosha throng the temple on that day
The temple was said to have been built in the ninth century by Aparajithan, the last of the Pallava rulers. There are many inscriptions on the temple's walls belonging to his period. The temple, which fell on bad times, was rediscovered by a devotee, in whose dreams the Anjaneyar of Nallattur was said to have appeared and asked him to restore the temple. A committee of devotees was formed which accomplished the task with the help of the philanthropic minded public. The Mahasamprokshanam was performed on June 2, 2002. An organisation, known as Kaalinga Nardhana Krishna Bhakta Jana Sangam (2057, First Street, Vasantham Colony, Anna Nagar West, Chennai-600040, phone no. 26182167) has been formed to rebuild the Rajagopuram and also maintain the temple.
T. A. SRINIVASAN
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