Pundarikakshan Perumal Temple, Thiruvellarai

Sthala Purāṇam

Thiruvellarai, set upon a small white rock and known therefore as Swetagiri (white mountain), is among the oldest and most revered Divya Desams, enshrining Lord Pundarikakshan (the lotus-eyed One, Kannan) in standing form. Its sthala puranam weaves several sacred threads. The sage Pundarika maintained a flower garden here and worshipped Vishnu devotedly with tulasi, and the Lord, pleased, granted him darshan and took the name Pundarikakshan. In another account, King Sibi Chakravarthi, journeying from Ayodhya, was halted at Swetagiri by divine will and instructed to raise a temple here. A celebrated episode tells of a white boar that, while being pursued, vanished into a pit near an anthill where sage Markandeya performed penance; the sage counselled the king to dissolve the anthill with milk, whereupon Vishnu appeared as the archa of Pundarikakshan. Tradition holds that Sibi was to enshrine the deity with 3,700 Vaishnavas, and when one passed away the Lord Himself completed the sacred number. The shrine is approached by eighteen steps representing the eighteen chapters of the Bhagavad Gita. The vimana is the Vimalakriti (Vimalaakkruthi) Vimana, and the temple holds many tirthams, including the Divya Theertham, Chakra Theertham and the famed swastika-shaped well. The Thayar is Shenbagavalli (Pankajavalli). Periyalvar and Thirumangai Alvar have hymned this Divya Desam in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham.

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