We travelled from Thiruvannamalai to Thirukovilur, the temple town which hosts the famous Tiruvikramaswamy temple. This is one of the pancha Krishnaranya Kshetras. It is situated 35 kilometres from Thiruvannamalai.
Lord Thiruvikramar Temple
This temple was built around 2000 years back by the Pallavas in various stages. The holy idol of Lord Thiruvikrama is about 21 feet tall.
The Lord is standing on one feet (left feet) while the other one is pointing towards the sky. Lord Brahma is performing pooja to the right foot and Namuchi, the grandson of King Mahabali if offering is prayers to the left foot. Goddess Mahalakshmi is standing below the right leg of the Lord. Baktha Prakaladan and King Mahabali are found on the right side of the Lord. To the left are the first three Azhwars who rendered the famous Naalayira Divya Prabandham in this temple. Also found are Mrugundu maharishi and his wife. This is one of the 108 divya desams of the Vaishnavites. Another unique feature of this Lord is that the Chakra is found in the left hand while the Conch is in the right hand (it is usually the other way in all other temples). The Lord on account of happiness is said to have exchanged his conch and chakra when he received the three foot of land from King Mahabali. The Lord shows his pointer finger symbolizing his question to King Mahabali as to where to put the third foot. (The Vaamana avatar states that Lord Vishnu appeared as an andhana before Lord Mahabali asking for three foot of land. King Mahabali agreed. Lord Vishnu took a vishwaroopam and measured one foot with land and the other foot with heaven. When the God asked for the third place to keep his foot, King Mahabali offered his head. Lord Vishnu is called as
Vaamanar in his appearance as andhana with a small structure. When he measures the earth and heaven with his viswaroopa darshan he is called as Thiruvikraman meaning the Lord who conquered three lands)
The main deity Lord Thiruvikrama is archamurthy. The ursava murthy or the presiding deity is Dehaleesan. The Vaamanar sannidhiis found behind Lord Thrivikramar’s sannidhi. The Thayar is found in the form of Goddess Mahalakshmi though called as Pushpavalli Thayar. The thayar is called as varaprasadhi by devotees. Another unique feature of this temple is the presence of Vishnu Durga. The presence of Durga in a vaishnavite temple is unique. This durga is none other than the daughter of Yaosda, who was replaced with Krishna by Vasudeva in Krishna avatar. She is said to be near her brother guarding him. This sannidhi is found just outside the Thiruvikrama Sannidhi.
There are also other sannadhis for Sri Anjaneyar, Sri Lakshmi Narayanan, Sri Lakshmi Varahan, Sri Lakshmi Narasimhar, Sri Andal, Sri Ramanujar and Sri Venugopalaswamy. This temple is administered by Sri Emperumanar Jeeyar Mutt for more than 600 years.
Quick facts:
State: Tamilnadu
District: Villupuram
City/Town: Thirukovilur
Temple: Lord Thiruvikramaswamy Temple
Main deity: Lord Thurvikraman, Goddess Pushpavalli Thayar
Temple Timings: 6.30 AM-12.00 Noon and 4 PM-8.30 PM
