Tiru Parameswara Vinnagaram
Thiru Parameswara Vinnagaram or Vaikunta Perumal Temple is a temple dedicated to Vishnu, located in Kanchipuram in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. 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 through the 9th centuries CE. It is one among the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Vaikuntanathan and his consort Lakshmi as Sri Vaikundavalli. The temple is considered the second oldest extant temple in Kanchipuram after the Kailasanathar temple.
The temple is believed to have been built by the Pallava king Nandivarman II (731 CE–796 CE), with later contributions from Medieval Cholas and Vijayanagara kings. The temple is surrounded by a granite wall enclosing all the shrines and water bodies of the temple. Vaikuntanathan is believed to have appeared to king Viroacha. The temple follows Vaikasana Agama and observes six daily rituals and two yearly festivals. The temple follows Tenkalai mode of worship and is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and Endowment Board of the Government of Tamil Nadu. The temple is one of the prominent tourist attractions in the city.
Legend
As per Hindu legend, the region where the temple is located was called Vidarbha Desa and ruled by a king named Viroacha. Due to his misdeeds in preceding birth, Virocha had no heir. He prayed in Kailasanathar Temple and Shiva, the presiding deity of the temple gave a boon that the Dvarapalas (the gatekeepers) of the Vishnu temple will be born as sons to him. The princes were devoted to Vishnu and conducted yagna for the welfare of the people of their kingdom. Vishnu was pleased with the worship and appeared as Vaikundanatha to the princes. It is believed that in modern times Vishnu appears to devotees in the same form as he appeared to the Dvarapalakas Pallavan and Villalan.
As per another legend, sage Bharadvaja was doing penance at this place and was attracted by a celestial nymph. The sage married her and they both got a son. The sage returned to his penance, while the nymph returned to her denizen. Shiva and Vishnu undertook the child under their aegis. At the same time, a Pallava king worshipped Vishnu for the birth of a child. Vishnu gave the child to the king and named him Parameswara, who went on to become the Pallava king. The place is believed to have been named after the king.
History
As per Dr. Hultzh, Parameswara Vinnagaram was constructed by the Pallava King Nandivarman II in 690 CE, while other scholars place it in the late 8th century.Nandivarman Pallavamallan was a worshipper of Vishnu and a great patron of learning. He renovated old temples and built several new ones. Among the latter was the Parameswara Vinnagaram or the Vaikunta Perumal temple at Kanchipuram which contains inscribed panels of sculpture portraying the events leading up to the accession of Nandivarman Pallavamalla to the throne. The great Vaishnava saint Thirumangai Alvar was his contemporary.There are various inscriptions in the temple that detail the socio-economic and political situation of the country during the Pallavan regime. Around the sanctum sanctorum in the first precinct, there is an inscription dated to the 8th century which records the gift of a bowl and an image made of gold measuring 1,000 sovereigns by king Abhimanasiddhi. During the period of Dantivarman I in 813, there was a gift of golden bowl weighing ten thousand kalanju. There was another gift of 3,000 kalanju of gold to meet daily expenses of the temple. A record of gift of a devotee named Thiruvaranga Manickam to feed devotees of Vishnu is also seen in the temple.[3] The temple is believed to have been constructed few years after the construction of Kanchi Kailasanathar Temple. The bas reliefs in the temple reveal the war between the Pallavas and Gangas and also with Chalukyas.