Vaikuntanatha Perumal Temple, Thiruvaikunda Vinnagaram

Sthala Purāṇam

Thiru Vaikunda Vinnagaram in Thirunangur is one of the eleven Thirunangur Divya Desams, where Vishnu is worshipped as Vaikuntanatha (Vaikunda Nathan) with his consort Vaikundavalli. Like the other Thirunangur shrines, its origin is tied to a Shaivite legend: when his consort perished in Daksha's yagna, Shiva's furious dance caused eleven forms of Rudra to spring from his falling locks; to calm the cosmos, Vishnu intervened and, at Shiva's request, manifested himself in eleven forms across Thirunangur, of which this temple is one. The temple's distinctive legend is that the sage Udanga (Uthanga) Maharishi and King Uparisaravasu (Vasu) worshipped here and were granted a vision of the Lord exactly as he reposes in Vaikuntam, his celestial abode, seated in amarndha kolam with one leg folded, one hand resting on Adisesha and the other displaying the abhaya-varada hastam. Because the Lord revealed his very Paramapada (Vaikuntam) form here, the place is called Vaikunta Vinnagaram, and devotees believe one can have direct darshan of the heavenly form on earth itself; the Lord is accordingly also praised as Thamarai Kannudaya Piraan, the lotus-eyed one. The sanctum is roofed by the Ananta Satya Vartaka Vimanam, and the temple has two sacred tanks, the Lakshmi Pushkarini and the Viraja Pushkarini. The shrine is sung by Thirumangai Alvar in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham. During the annual Garuda Sevai utsavam in the Tamil month of Thai, the deities of all eleven Nangur Divya Desams gather on their Garuda mounts.

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