Adikesava Perumal Temple, Sriperumpudur
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Adi Kesava Temple (also called Ramanujar Temple) is dedicated to
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
god
Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...
located in
Sriperumbudur Sriperumbudur is a town panchayat in the Kanchipuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located 40 kilometers southwest of the capital city of Chennai on the National Highway 4 (India)(old numbering), National Highway 4 and i ...
,
Kanchipuram district Kancheepuram district is one of the 38 districts in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. The area comprising the present day Kancheepuram district was earlier a part of Chingleput district. The original Chingleput district was split in 1997 into ...
, in the South Indian state of
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
. Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture,
Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...
, who is worshipped as Adi Kesava, and his consort
Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...
as Ethiraja Nadhavalli. The temple is believed to be the birthplace of
Ramanuja Ramanuja (Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmanuja; 1017 CE – 1137 CE; ; ), also known as Ramanujacharya, was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and a social reformer. He is noted to be one of the most important exponents o ...
, the exponent of
Vishishtadvaita Vishishtadvaita ( IAST '; sa, विशिष्टाद्वैत) is one of the most popular schools of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. Vedanta literally means the in depth meaning ''of the Vedas.'' ''Vishisht Advaita'' (literal ...
philosophy. The gold plated shrine in front of the hall of Ramanuja was built by the Maharaja of Mysore. The temple is open from 6:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m and has six daily rituals at various times of the day. Various festivals are celebrated in the temple, with the Chitirai Brahmotsavam, Masi Pooram festival during February - March and Panguni Uthiram festival during March - April being the most prominent. The temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and Endowment Board of the
Government of Tamil Nadu Government of Tamil Nadu is the subnational government for the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at Fort St George, Chennai. The legislature of Tamil Nadu was bicameral until 1986, when it was replaced by a unicameral legislature, lik ...
.


Legend

Ramanuja Ramanuja (Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmanuja; 1017 CE – 1137 CE; ; ), also known as Ramanujacharya, was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and a social reformer. He is noted to be one of the most important exponents o ...
(1017–1137 CE) was a Hindu theologian, philosopher, and
scriptural Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual prac ...
exegete Exegesis ( ; from the Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Biblical works. In modern usage, exegesis can involve critical interpretations ...
, born in a
Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...
family at Sriperumbudur.
Vaishnavas Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...
see him as one of the most important
acharya In Indian religions and society, an ''acharya'' (Sanskrit: आचार्य, IAST: ; Pali: ''ācariya'') is a preceptor and expert instructor in matters such as religion, or any other subject. An acharya is a highly learned person with a ...
s (teacher) of their tradition, and as the leading expounder of
Vishishtadvaita Vishishtadvaita ( IAST '; sa, विशिष्टाद्वैत) is one of the most popular schools of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. Vedanta literally means the in depth meaning ''of the Vedas.'' ''Vishisht Advaita'' (literal ...
, one of the classical interpretations of the
Vedic philosophy upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
. Ramanuja grew up under the tutelage of Tirumalai Nambi, who was working in
Tirumala Venkateswara Temple Sri Venkateswara Swami Vaari Temple is a Hindu temple situated in the hill town of Tirumala at Tirupati in Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh, India. The Temple is dedicated to Venkateswara, a form of Vishnu, who is believed to have appeared ...
. Once, a king wanted to punish Ramanuja. Ramanuja's disciple, Koorathalvar, helped Ramanuja escape and gave him a white cloth to wear. Ramanuja escaped, but the king punished Koorathalvar by blinding his eyes. Following the event, a festival is celebrated in the temple where Ramanuja appears in a white cloth for Koorathalvar. Once, a king took the idol of Narayanapuram to please his daughter. Ramanuja went to Delhi to recover the idol and the idol is believed to have fallen on his lap as a child by divine powers as a child. The Chella Pillai Utsavam is held every year commemorating the event. As per another legend, a king tried to kill a tiger that was trying to attack a cow. In spite of his efforts, the cow was killed by the tiger and the king incurred the curse of the cow. To expiate himself from the sin, he did penance at his place. Adi Kesava is believed to have appeared for the king and relieved his curse.


Architecture

The temple is built in
Dravidian architecture Dravidian architecture, or the South Indian temple style, is an architectural idiom in Hindu temple architecture that emerged from South India, reaching its final form by the sixteenth century. It is seen in Hindu temples, and the most distinc ...
occupies around and has two precincts. It is located in
Sriperumbudur Sriperumbudur is a town panchayat in the Kanchipuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located 40 kilometers southwest of the capital city of Chennai on the National Highway 4 (India)(old numbering), National Highway 4 and i ...
, a suburb in
Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
, the capital of the
South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...
n state of
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
. It has features from Chola and
Vijayanagara Vijayanagara () was the capital city of the historic Vijayanagara Empire. Located on the banks of the Tungabhadra River, it spread over a large area and included the modern era Group of Monuments at Hampi site in Vijayanagara district, Bell ...
architecture. There are inscriptions from the
Vijayanagara Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hinduism, Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana an ...
dating back to 1572 from the rule of Sriranga I (1572–1586 CE). There is another inscription from the period of
Aliya Rama Raya Rama Raya (died 23 January 1565 CE), known as "Aliya" (son-in-law in Kannada) was a statesman of the Vijayanagara Empire, the son-in-law of Emperor Krishna Deva Raya and the progenitor of the Aravidu dynasty of Vijayanagar Empire, the fourth and ...
(1542–1565) during 1556 indicating gifts of 36 villages to the temple. The
vimana Vimāna are mythological flying palaces or chariots described in Hindu texts and Sanskrit epics. The "Pushpaka Vimana" of Ravana (who took it from Kubera; Rama returned it to Kubera) is the most quoted example of a vimana. Vimanas are also men ...
(roof of the sanctum) was gold plated in 1912 and is earliest South Indian temple to have the feature. The plate has the image of Sriramanuja inscribed on it. There is a copper plate recording the history of the gold plate in the temple. The temple has a rectangular plan surrounded by high walls, pierced by a seven-tier ''
gopuram A ''gopuram'' or ''gopura'' ( Tamil: கோபுரம், Malayalam: ഗോപുരം, Kannada: ಗೋಪುರ, Telugu: గోపురం) is a monumental entrance tower, usually ornate, at the entrance of a Hindu temple, in the Sout ...
'', the gateway tower. The presiding deity is housed in the sanctum and is an image made of granite seen in standing posture. The shrine of
Garuda Garuda (Sanskrit: ; Pāli: ; Vedic Sanskrit: गरुळ Garuḷa) is a Hindu demigod and divine creature mentioned in the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain faiths. He is primarily depicted as the mount (''vahana'') of the Hindu god Vishnu. Garuda ...
facing Adi Kesava, the
vahana ''Vahana'' ( sa, वाहन, or animal vehicle, literally "that which carries, that which pulls") denotes the being, typically an animal or mythical, a particular Hindus, Hindu God is said to use as a vehicle. In this capacity, the vahana ...
of Vishnu, is located axial to the central shrine. The central shrine is approached through a worship hall and a narrow Ardha
mandapam Mandapam is a panchayat town in Ramanathapuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The famed Pamban Railway bridge and Vehicular bridge lie to the East of this Panchayat Town. Mandapam is Tamil Nadu’s largest refugee camp for Sri L ...
. The flagpost is located behind the shrine of Garuda, axial to the central shrine and the gateway tower. There are images of Alvars in the worship hall on both sides and the shrine of Yathiraja Nadhavalli is located on in the second precinct. This is one of the temples where Lakshmi takes the name of a devotee. The gold plated hall in front of the shrine of Ramanuja was endowed by the Maharaja of Mysore. There are no separate Sorgavasal, the sacred entrance way opened during the
Vaikunta Ekadasi Vaikuntha Ekadashi () is a Hindu occasion and festival. It is primarily observed by Vaishnavas, who regard it to be a special Ekādaśī. It coincides with '' Mokṣadā Ekādaśī'' or Putrada Ekādaśī. It is observed on the 11th lunar da ...
festival. There is a Bhoodakal hall where the festive images of the presiding deity and is consort are housed during the festival. During 2017, a canal was dug from Sriperumbudur lake to the Madapalli (kitchen) of the temple. The temple tank, Narasimha Kulam was also revived during 2017.


Worship practices and festivals

The temple is open from 6:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The temple priests perform the '' pooja'' (rituals) during festivals and on a daily basis. As at other Vishnu temples of Tamil Nadu, the priests belong to the Vaishnavaite community, a Brahmin sub-caste. The temple rituals are performed four times a day: ''Ushathkalam'' at 8 a.m., ''Kalasanthi'' at 10:00 a.m., ''Sayarakshai'' at 5:00 p.m. and ''Ardha Jamam'' at 7:00 p.m. Each ritual has three steps: ''alangaram'' (decoration), ''neivethanam'' (food offering) and ''deepa aradanai'' (waving of lamps) for both adi kesavan and his consort yathiraja natha valli. There are weekly, monthly and fortnightly rituals performed in the temple. Various festivals are celebrated in the temple, with the Chitirai Brahmotsavam, Masi Pooram festival during February - March and Panguni Uthiram festival during March - April being the most prominent. During Chittirai Brahmotsavam, the temple car housing the festival deities of Adikesava and Yathiraja natha valli is drawn around the steerts of Sriperumbudur. The festival car was not operational for the 25 years preceding 2003 and was resumed from 2003. The festival is followed by Thiruavadara Utsavam of Ramanuja, the birthday festival of the saint. The temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and Endowment Board of the
Government of Tamil Nadu Government of Tamil Nadu is the subnational government for the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at Fort St George, Chennai. The legislature of Tamil Nadu was bicameral until 1986, when it was replaced by a unicameral legislature, lik ...
.


References


External links

{{Famous Vishnu temples Vishnu temples Hindu temples in Kanchipuram district