Ashtabujakaram
The Ashtabujakaram or Ashtabuja Perumal Temple located in Kanchipuram in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints from the 6th–9th centuries CE. It is one of the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Ashta Bhuja Perumal and his consort Lakshmi as Alamelumangai.
The temple is believed to have been renovated by the Pallavas of the late 8th century CE, with later contributions from Medieval Cholas and Vijayanagara kings. The temple has three inscriptions on its walls, two dating from the period of Kulothunga Chola I (1070–1120 CE) and one to that of Rajendra Chola (1018-54 CE). A granite wall surrounds the temple, enclosing all the shrines and two bodies of water. There is a four-tiered rajagopuram, the temple’s gateway tower, in the temple.
Six daily rituals and three yearly festivals are held at the temple. The temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and Endowment Board of the Government of Tamil Nadu.
Legend
According to the temple’s regional legend, once, there was an argument between Saraswati, the consort of Brahma, and Lakshmi on their superiority. They went to Indra, the king of the devas. Indra judged Lakshmi to be superior. Not satisfied with his choice, Saraswati went to her husband, Brahma. He also judged Lakshmi to be the superior one.Saraswati was unhappy with the decision and decided to stay away from Brahma. Brahma performed a severe penance praying to Vishnu and also performed an ashvamedha yajna. Saraswati was still angry that the yajna, which was usually done along with consorts, was done alone by Brahma. She tried to disrupt the penance in various ways, including as the river Vegavati/Vega, but Vishnu interfered in all her attempts. After all the malevolent entities who were sent by Saraswati to destroy the penance of Brahma were killed by Vishnu, she finally sent a ferocious sarpam (snake). Vishnu took the form of Ashtabhuja Perumal, holding eight different weapons to kill the snake. The snake is represented as Sharbha in the mandapam of this temple.
Another legend associates this temple to Gajendra moksham given by Vishnu to the elephant king, Gajendra. As per the legend, the elephant Gajendra, the rebirth of Indradyumna, used to worship Vishnu with the lotus fetched from the temple tank every day. Once, while picking up lotus, a crocodile caught the leg of Gajendra, who started calling the name of Vishnu for help. Vishnu sent his discus to punish the crocodile and relieve the elephant.The presiding deity is addressed by various names like Adikesava Perumal, Gajendra Varadhan, and Chakradhar.
History
The temple is originally believed to have been built during the rule of Pallavas.The temple has inscriptions from the period of Kulothunga Chola I (1070 – 1120) indicating gifts of land to the temple. There are contributions mentioned in the same inscription indicating contributions from the local people for perpetual lighting of the temple. There are inscriptions in the Southern walls of the temple from Kulothunga I indicating sale of lands by Rajasundari Chaturvedimangalam to meet the kitchen expenses of the temple. Another inscription from the same period on the same walls indicates gift of tax free land in Chola Chaturvethimangalam to the temple for two years and levying tax of not more than 2 paise per veli subsequently. There are lot of gifts endowed to the temple during the Pallavan kings.