Thirumanikkoodam

Thirumanikkoodam or Varadaraja Perumal Temple is located in Thirunangur, a village in the outskirts of Sirkaḻi 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 Varadharaja Perumal.

It is one among the eleven Divya Desams of Thirunangur Tirupatis and is closely associated with Thirumangai Alvar. It is also the only temple in the Nangur Divya Desams to have revered by a poet-saint other than Thirumangai Alvar. As per Hindu legend, the temple tank for dug by Arjuna from the age of Mahabharata. Krishna is regarded to have appeared as Parthasarathy to Arjuna here and initiated his education, leading to the name of the temple.

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. The temple follows the Tenkalai mode of worship.

Legend

The temple legends 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 yajna (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 the king of devas, Indra, are believed to have worshipped Vishnu at this temple.