Thirunagai

Vishnu as Sundararaja

Consort Saundaryavalli

Vaishnava temple

250px|left|thumb|Vimana of the temple A distributary of the river Kaveri, Odambokki, passes close to the temple and the river is also called Virutha Kaveri. This leads to one of the names of presiding deity, "Kaveri Thuraivan". The present day Nagapattinam is believed to have been a forest, historically named Sundararinyam. During Treta Yuga a prince, Dhruva, heard about the importance of the forest and began a penance, wishing to see Vishnu. Pleased by this penance, Vishnu appeared to him. Following his example, Markendaya Maharishi did penance and attained the vision of Vishnu during Satya Yuga and Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu, during Treta Yuga as did king Saleesa Chola during Kali Yuga. It is believed that two eunuchs, Kandan and Sukandan, attained physical fitness after having a holy dip in Sara Pushkarani, the temple tank. The Hindu god of creation, Brahma, started worshiping Vishnu at this place. Vishnu is believed to have appeared on the auspicious day of Masi Maham on the banks of Sarapushkarani. On account of the glow emanating from Masi Maham, Vishnu at this place was called "Aḻagiyan". Since he had a glittering skin, he was called "Soundara Rajan", meaning the most beautiful and his consort was called Soundaravalli. Since the king of Nagas (snakes), Adisesha worshipped Vishnu at this place, the place was called Nagar Pattinam, the place of Nagas.

Architecture

Dravidian architecture

First attested

8th century

Details are compiled from Wikimedia projects and published temple sources. Send a correction if something is wrong.

• Wikipedia, Divya Desam
• Wikipedia, Soundararajaperumal Temple, Nagapattinam

More links

• HRCE Tamil Nadu
• English Wikipedia
• Google Maps
• Tamil Wikipedia