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| Location |
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Kancheepuram. |
| Main Deity |
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Vasudeva Krishna. |
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Nearest Town : Kancheepuram
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District : Kancheepuram
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State : Tamil Nadu
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Padagam has carved beautiful gopurams. Here the gopuram has only three tiers. The Athittanam of Kumudam and Pattigai supports a wall embedded with pillars with friezes of Yali running round. Narasimha and Paramapadamadan sporting as Vimana devatas, and the vimana ends with five kalasas.
The tall sanctum contains the huge figure of Vasudeva Krishna. The sanctum has to be high, as the height of the Deity itself is 20ft. We have seen Vishnu in lying and sitting poses. Further, we have feasted our eyes on various incarnations like Varaha, Narasimha, etc. But nowhere can we see a Visvarupa Lord except here. In front of that tall image, we become dwarfs. We can see only his feet well. The face, chest and the hip are all so high we will have to strain our eyes to have a glimpse. He has only two arms. His usual weapons Conch and the Discus are also absent. Bestowing only Abaya Varada reveals his infinite mercy. The image represents Krishna as an envoy for peace. The sanctum at the top converges into a cone to accommodate the crown of the deity. As it is of stucco, no ablutions are performed. A mixture of lime, jaggery, sugarcane, amla goes to make stucco.
The title ‘Emberumanar’ applies to Ramanuja and ‘Arulalan’ to Varadaraja. But there is a special title ‘Arulalan Emberumanar’. Further the image of that great man who possessed the twin titles is kept here and worshipped.
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Yajnamurthi was born in Vinjamur of Nellore district. Afterwards nothing was known of him till we find him as Mayavathi with Ekadanda in Benares. Learning that Ramanuja was preaching in Srirangam, he desired to win him in debate, whoever was defeated should forsake his cult and embrace that of the victor. For 18 days, the debate rolled on. At that time, it so seemed that Ramanuja would be defeated. Ramanujar said he would meet the adversary the next day and returned home. As there was no way out, he prayed to his favorite deity Arulalan to solve the puzzle. In a dream the answer was pointed out as being in ‘Alavandar’s refutation of Mayavata. The next day when Ramanuja was going to the debating hall. Yajnamurthi who was coming from the opposite direction fell on his feet and said he could see no difference between Ramanuja and Arulalaperumal. As Yajnamurthi was blessed by Emberumanar and Arulala Perumal he was called Emberumanar Arulalan.
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