Adi Jagannatha Perumal Temple, Thiruppullani

Sthala Purāṇam

Thiruppullani, the Adi Jagannatha Perumal temple near Ramanathapuram, enshrines Lord Adi Jagannatha, worshipped as Kalyana Jagannathar, with His consorts Sridevi and Bhudevi; the consort Goddess is revered as Padmasini Thayar, with Kalyanavalli Thayar associated with the marriage form. The kshetra's iconographic heart is the separate shrine of Dharbasayana Ramar, where Lord Rama reclines upon a bed of darbha grass, bow and arrow upon His chest, with Lakshmana as Adisesha and Brahma upon a lotus. The name Thiruppullani derives from pul (grass, darbha) and anai (bed), the divine grass-bed; the alternate name Pullaranyam refers to the darbha forest and to the sage Pullaranya who received the Lord's darshan here. The central sthala puranam recounts that Rama, marching to rescue Sita, reached this shore and lay upon a bed of darbha grass in penance, praying to the Ocean King (Samudra Raja, Varuna) to grant passage to Lanka; when the ocean did not yield, Rama in anger raised His bow to dry up the sea, whereupon the Ocean King appeared, surrendered, and counselled the building of the Setu bridge by Nala. Bhakti tradition holds that Adisesha himself became the grass that served as Rama's bed. Thiruppullani is a great Saranagathi kshetra, where both the Ocean King and Vibhishana performed surrender at Rama's feet. The vimana is the Kalyana Vimana, and the temple tank is the Chakra Theertham, with the coastal Sethu Theertham associated. This Divya Desam was hymned solely by Thirumangai Alvar in his Periya Thirumozhi and Periya Thirumadal.

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