Tiru Parameswara Vinnagaram: Difference between revisions

'''Thiru Parameswara Vinnagaram''' or '''Vaikunta Perumal Temple''' is a Hindu temple dedicated to the [[Vishnu|God Vishnu]], located in [[Kanchipuram]] in the [[South Indian|Southern Indian]] state of [[Tamil Nadu]]. Constructed in the [[Dravidian architecture|Dravidian style of architecture]], the temple is glorified in the ''[[Divya Prabandha|Nalayira Divya Prabandham]]'', the early medieval [[Tamil literature|Tamil]] canon of the [[Alvars|AzhwarAlvar]] saints from the 6th–9th6th through the 9th centuries CE. It is one among the 108 ''[[Divya Desam|Divya Desams]]'' dedicated to the God Vishnu, who is worshipped as Vaikuntanathan (lit. 'Lord of Vaikunta') and his consort, the Goddess [[Lakshmi]] as Sri Vaikundavalli. The temple is considered the second oldest extant temple in Kanchipuram after the [[Kanchi Kailasanathar Temple|KailasantharKailasanathar temple]].

The temple is believed to have been built by the [[Pallava]] kingMonarch [[Nandivarman II]] (731 CE - 796CE–796 CE), with later contributions from the [[MedievalImperial Cholas]] and the [[Vijayanagar Empire|VijayanagarEmperors kingsof Vijayanagara]]. 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 kingKing Viroacha. The temple follows Vaikasana Agama and observes six daily rituals and two yearly festivals. The temple follows [[Thenkalai|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.<ref>{{cite book|title=India through the ages|url=https://archive.org/details/indiathroughages00mada|last=Gopal|first=Madan|year= 1990| page= [https://archive.org/details/indiathroughages00mada/page/217 217]|editor=K.S. Gautam|publisher=Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India}}</ref>

As per another legend, sage [[Bharadwaja|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 worshipedworshipped Vishnu for his childthe 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.<ref name=R>{{cite book|title=An introduction to religion and Philosophy - Tévarám and Tivviyappirapantam|last=R.|first=Dr. Vijayalakshmy|publisher=International Institute of Tamil Studies| location=Chennai|year=2001|edition=1st|ref=R.|pages=520–1}}</ref>

AsAccording per Dr.to Hultzh, Parameswara Vinnagaram was constructed by the Pallava KingMonarch [[Nandivarman II]] in 690 CE, while other scholars place it in the late 8th century.<ref name="BV162">[[#B.V.|B.V. 1973]], pp. 161-162</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Mahabalipuram|publisher=The Archaeological Survey of India, Government of India|year=2004|isbn=|location=New Delhi|last=C.|first=Sivaramamurthi|page=6|ref=Malla}}</ref> 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.<ref>Nilakanta Sastri, K.A. (1955). ''A History of South India'', p. 142, Oxford University Press, New Delhi (Reprinted 2003), {{ISBN|0-19-560686-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Heritage of the Tamils: Temple Arts|page=298|last1=Ca. Vē|first=Cuppiramaṇiyan̲|last2=G.|first2=Rajendran|publisher=International Institute of Tamil Studies|year=1985}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Proceedings and Transactions of the All-India Oriental Conference|volume=1|journal=Oriental Philology|year=1951|page=146}}</ref> There are various inscriptions in the temple that detail the socio-economic and political situation of the country during the PallavanPallava regimereign. 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 kingKing 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.<ref name=MS>{{cite book|title=108 Vaishnavite Divya Desam Volume 1|publisher=Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams |location=Tirupati|year=1993|last=M.S.|first=Ramesh|pages=90–94}}</ref> 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 [[Western Ganga Dynasty|Gangas]] and also with [[Chalukyas]].<ref name=Diwakar>{{cite book|title=Temples of South India|first=Macherla|last=Diwakar|location=Chennai|year=2011|edition=1st|page=143|isbn=978-93-83440-34-4|publisher=Techno Book House}}</ref>

[[File:Vaikunta Perumal temple Kanchipuram (6).jpg|250px|thumb|Sculptures on the panel, 1956|left]]

Paramesvara Vinnagaram is an earliest specimen of Dravidian architecture. The temple has a rectangular plan and approached through a flat granite gateway tower. The [[vimana]] has a stepped pyramidal roof and it resembles a [[Viharavihara]]. Three sanctuaries host the image of [[Vishnu]] in different postures - seated (ground floor), lying (first floor; accessible to devotees only on [[Ekadashi|ekadashi days]]) and standing (second floor; inaccessible to devotees). <ref>{{cite book|title=The Top Ten Temple Towns of India|publisher=Mark Age Publication|first=S.C.|last=Karkar|location=Kolkota|isbn=978-81-87952-12-1|year=2009|page=46}}</ref> The logical and complex plan of the temple provided a prototype for the much larger shrines to be constructed all over [[Tamil Nadu]]. The external cloisters, with their lion pillars, are predecessors of the grand thousand pillared halls of later temples. In modern times, the four lions have been replaced with [[Garuda]] (image of eagle mount of Vishnu).<ref name="dinamalar">{{cite web|title=Sri Paramapada Nathar temple|url=httphttps://temple.dinamalar.com/en/new_en.php?id=271|publisher=Dinamalar|access-date=8 August 2013}}</ref>

The cloister walls have a sequence of relief sculptures depicting the history of the Pallava dynasty.<ref>C. Minakshi, (1999). ''The Historical Sculptures of the Vaikunthaperumal Temple Kanchi'', Archaeological Survey of India</ref> The first set of panels show the supposedly divine lineage of the Pallavas starting from [[Brahma]], followed by [[Angiras (sage)]], [[Bṛhaspati]], [[Bharadwaja|Bharadvaja]], [[Drona]] and [[Ashwatthama]]. These panels are followed by panels depicting the actual Pallava kings themselves. A typical panel shows the king on the left frame of the panel. In some cases, the coronation of the king is shown as can be seen by priests pouring [[Holy water#Hinduism|sacred water]] on his head. The right side of the panel shows battle scenes or other events during that monarch's reign. The panels of [[Mahendravarman I]] and [[Narasimhavarman I]] show the battles with [[Pulakesin II]] of the [[Badami Chalukyas]]. Finally, there are panels that show the search and the finding of a successor after [[Paramesvaravarman II]]'s early death. The successor is none other than [[Nandivarman II]], who built this temple.

The niches on the walls around the sanctum are similar to the ones in [[Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram|Mahabalipuram]]. Some of the sculptures indicatesdepict various legendsevents offrom the [[Mahabaratha]], depicting the imageimages of [[Dharmaraj]]a, [[Arjuna]] and [[Bhima]]. The temple is built of granite with a mixture of sandstone. The three storied temple is the forerunner for various later built temples like [[Vaikunda Perumal Temple, Uthiramerur|Vaikunta Perumal temple]] at [[Uthiramerur]], [[Koodal Azhagar temple]] at [[Madurai]] and [[Rajagopalaswamy Temple, Mannargudi|Rajagopalaswamy temple]] at [[Mannargudi]]. The three stories are achieved with three concentric squares with a small passage in between with the top layer being closed by a filial.<ref name=MS/>

The temple follows [[Āgama (Hinduism)#Vaikhanasa Agama|Vaikasana Agama]]. The temple priests perform the ''[[puja (Hinduism)|pooja]]'' (rituals) during festivals and on a daily basis. Like other Vishnu temples of Tamil Nadu, the priests belong to the [[Vaishnavism|Vaishnavaite]] community, afrom the Brahmin sub-castevarna. The temple rituals are performed six times a day: ''Ushathkalam'' at 7:30&nbsp;a.m., ''Kalasanthi'' at 8:00&nbsp;a.m., ''Uchikalam'' at 12:00&nbsp;p.m., ''Sayarakshai'' at 5:00&nbsp;p.m., ''Irandamkalam'' at 6:00&nbsp;p.m. and ''Ardha Jamam'' at 7:30&nbsp;p.m. Each ritual has three steps: ''alangaram'' (decoration), ''neivethanam'' (food offering) and ''deepa aradanai'' (waving of lamps) for both Vaikuntanathan and Vaikundavalli. During the last step of worship, religious instructions in the ''[[Vedas]]'' (sacred text) are recited by priests, and worshippers prostrate themselves in front of the [[Iconography of Shiva temples in Tamil Nadu#Dvajasthamba and Pali Peedam|temple mast]]. There are weekly, monthly and fortnightly rituals performed in the temple. The Vaikasi Brahmotsavam, celebrated during the [[Tamil calendar|Tamil]] month of ''Vaikasi'' (May–June), and [[Vaikunta Ekadashi]] celebrated during the Tamil month of ''MargazhiMargaḻi'' (December–January) are the two major festivals celebrated in the temple. Verses from ''Nalayira Divya Prabandham'' are recited by a group of temple priests amidst music with ''nagaswaram[[Nadaswaram|nadasvaram]]'' (pipe instrument) and ''tavil'' (percussion instrument).<ref name="dinamalar"/>

This temple is revered in ''[[Nalayira Divya Prabandham]]'', the 7th–9th century Vaishnava canon by [[Thirumangai Alvar]] in ten hymns. The temple is classified as a ''[[Divyadesam|Divya Desam]]'', one of the 108 Vishnu temples that are mentioned in the Sri Vaishnava canon. The temple is one of the fourteen ''DivyadesamsDivya Desams'' in [[Kanchipuram]] and is part of Vishnu Kanchi, the place where most of the Vishnu temples in Kanchipuram are located.<ref name="BV162"/><ref>{{cite book|title=Spiritual India Handbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=djI5mL2qeocC&q=parameswara+vinnagaram&pg=PT305|last=Knapp|first=Stephen|publisher=Jaico Publishing House|page=305|isbn=9788184950243|year=2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Temples of Tamil Nadu Kancheepuram District|publisher= Directorate of Census Operations, Tamil Nadu|year=2003|last=C.|first=Chandramouli}}</ref> The temple is also revered in the verses of Divyakavi Pillai Perumal Iyengar.<ref name=MS/>

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