Pandava Thoodhar Perumal Temple, Thiruppadagam

Sthala Purāṇam

The presiding deity at Thiruppadagam is Pandava Thoothar (Pandava Dhootha Perumal), Krishna in His form as the envoy of the Pandavas. The sthala puranam draws directly from the Mahabharata. Before the Kurukshetra war, Krishna travelled to Hastinapura as the peace envoy of the Pandavas, seeking their rightful share of the kingdom from Duryodhana. The Kaurava prince plotted treachery, preparing a gem-studded throne over a concealed pit and hiding wrestlers to seize and kill Krishna. In response Krishna revealed His Vishwaroopa, the cosmic universal form, before the entire Kaurava court, including the blind king Dhritarashtra, who is said to have been temporarily granted sight to behold it and asked to be made blind again afterward, unwilling to see anything lesser. The temple's colossal seated icon, about 25 feet (7.6 m) tall, is held to depict this Vishwaroopa. Krishna is seated in Ardha-Padmasana with the right leg folded down. Uniquely, because He appeared in human form, the murti has only two arms rather than the usual four, the right hand in abhaya and the left in varada mudra. The Thaayars are Rukmini and Satyabhama. Counted among the 108 Divya Desams, it is glorified in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham by five Alvars: Pey Alvar, Bhoothathalvar, Thirumazhisai Alvar, Nammalvar and Thirumangai Alvar.

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