Thirukkavalampadi

Thirukkavalampadi or Gopalakrishna Perumal Temple is located in Thirunangur in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It 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 Gopalakrishnan and his consort Lakshmi in two forms as Rukmini and Satyabhama.

It is one among the eleven Divya Desams of Thirunangur Tirupathis and is closely associated with Thirumangai Alvar. The temple is open from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m and has four daily rituals at various times of the day. The Thirumangai Alvar Mangalasasana Utsavam celebrated annually during the Tamil month of Thai is the major festival of the temple during which the festival images of the eleven Thirunangur Tirupathis are brought on mount designed like Garuda, called Garuda Vahana, to Thirunangur.

Legend

The legend of all the eleven temples of Thirunangur are closely associated with each other. As per legend, the Hindu god Shiva started dancing in fury at this place after the death of his consort Uma due to the yagna (sacrifice) of Daksha. Each time his lock of hair touched the ground, there were eleven other forms of Shiva who appeared. The celestial deities were worried that if the dance continues, it would result in decimation of entire creations. They prayed to Vishnu for help, who appeared at this place. On seeing Vishnu, Shiva’s anger was reduced and he requested Vishnu to appear in eleven forms like he did. On his request, Vishnu appeared in eleven different forms at Tirunangur. The eleven places where Vishnu appeared are believed to be where the eleven temples in Tirunangur are located.As per another variant, Shiva requested Vishnu to appear in eleven different forms like him to control the eleven Shiva forms he created.The eleven Rudras, called Ekadas Rudras and king of devas, Indra, are believed to have worshiped Vishnu at this temple.As per another legend, Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Vishnu and his consort Satyabhama chose this location for their garden as it was looking like the one in the palace of the king of celestial deities, Indra.

Kavalam indicates elephant and padi indicates place – it is believed that Krishna saved an elephant at this place leading to the name of the temple. The event is described in the verses of Tirumangai Alvar in Nalayira Divya Prabandham.