Varadharaja Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram

Sthala Purāṇam

The Varadharaja Perumal Temple in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, is one of the 108 Divya Desams and among the foremost Vaishnava shrines, situated on the small Hastagiri or Attiyuran hill at the eastern end of the city. The sthala puranam tells how Brahma, wishing to behold Vishnu, was told that an Ashwamedha yagna performed at Kanchipuram equals a hundred performed elsewhere. As Brahma conducted the sacrifice, the river Vegavati, a form of Saraswati, rushed to wash away the ritual; Vishnu laid himself across to stem the flow and then emerged from the sacrificial fire within an athi (fig) tree as Varadharaja, the bestower of boons, granting Brahma his wish. The presiding deity is a roughly three-metre granite image in standing posture, with the consort Perundevi Thayar enshrined seated nearby. The temple is famed for the Athi Varadar, a deity carved from fig wood that is kept submerged in the temple tank and brought out for worship only once in forty years, displayed first in reclining posture and then standing. The renowned acharya Ramanuja is associated with the temple, having received answers to his questions through the devotee Thirukkachi Nambigal. Three Alvars sang of it: Thirumangai Alvar, Peyalvar and Bhoothathalvar. Distinctive features include the hundred-pillared hall with a carved stone chain, gilded lizard sculptures over the sanctum, and the towering gopuram, making it one of the largest temples in Kanchipuram, much expanded under the Vijayanagara kings.

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