Sowmya Damodara Perumal Temple -Villivakam

Sowmya Damodara Perumal Temple is a Hindu Temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu located at Villivakkam in Chennai. Presiding Deity is called as Sowmya Damodara Perumal and Goddess is called as Amirthavalli. There is a possibility that this 600 years old temple could have been built in 10th century by Pandya kings because of the fish symbol seen on the roofs.

The Temple is having three tiered Rajagopuram. with a holy tank, known as Amirtha Pushkarani.
Presiding Deity facing east is called as Sowmya Damodara Perumal who is housed in the sanctum gracing the devotees along with his two consort’s Sri Devi and Bhoo Devi in the standing posture. Presiding Deity and Procession Deity (Utsava Deity) has a scar in the stomach.

When Thirumal incarnated as Krishna , he was a very mischievous child. His mother Yashoda could not control him. No matter how hard Yashoda tries, Krishna somehow manages to trick her and go outside to play. Yashoda, who was patient, once tied a rope around Krishna’s waist and tied him to a tree so that he would not go outside. But Krishna moved with the rope in between two trees, broke them and granted salvation to the two demon sons of Kubera – Nalkuber and Manigreev. They were cursed by Saint Narada to turn out as trees.A scar was formed on Krishna’s stomach when the rope that tied Yashoda was pressed. Hence, he got the name “Damodaran” . “Damam” means rope, “belly”It means belly. Based on this event, a temple was built for Damodaran at this place. He is called “Saumya Damodar” because of his smile and good looks .

According to legend, two demons, Vilvan and Vatapi, who were born to Sage Dhurva and Aswamukhi, tortured the entire world and killed many innocent people. One of the demons used to take the shape of a fruit and the other used to offer it to some innocent passer-by and after he consumed it, the demon would come out by tearing his stomach.

The worried rishis looked up to Lord Shiva for help, who directed them to Sage Agastiya. Vatapi and Vilvan tried their prank on Agastiya who came this way. After the Sage consumed the food, he digested Vatapi before Vilvan could call out for him in their usual planned way.Sage Agastiya wanted Shiva and Vishnu to provide darshan at this place. Hence, at the Shiva temple, he is seen as Agasteeswarar. At the Vishnu temple, the Lord is seen as Sowmya Damodaran.

As the asuras were killed here, this place was referred to as ‘Konnur’. Later, this took the specific name of the two asuras- ‘Vil’( from Vilvan) and ‘Va’ (from Vatapi) and came to be referred to as Villivakkam