QUESTION ANSWER DIVINE 2022-19 Dearfriends,
This isinformation about Kanchipuram posted by a member long back and prepared as single QA. Read at leisure time. Being compilation there may be errors. Gopalakrishnan20-1-2022 Q What are the attributes ofKancheepuram? A Likeall ancient cities, Kancheepuram is also situated on the banks of a river, Vegavati.The city stands foremost among the seven ancient sacred cities of India. Kalidasa has described, it to be the best among the cities (Nagareshu Kanchi)just as Jati (jasmine) is the sweetest amongst the flowers, Rambha the mostbeautiful amongst women and Grihasthasrama the most ideal amongst the fourasramas of human life. As regards learning,Kanchi stood second in glory only to Banaras. >From the 3rd to the 9thcentury A.D. Kanchi was the capital of the Pallavas who >ruledover the territory extending from the river Krishna in the north to the >riverKaveri in the south. Buddhism took deep root inKanchi about the Ist century A.D. Itsinfluence began to decline in Kanchi and in South India when there was a greatawakening among the Hindus under the Vaishnavite Azhwars, and Acharyas and SaiviteNayanmars About 2 miles to the south of Kanchi, Tiruparutikunram, a suburb of Kanchi, onthe southern bank of Vegavati, has long been known as Jaina Kanchi. It is a stronghold of the Digambarasect of Jainism TheCholas evinced keen interest in the development of religion, as is evident fromthe inscriptions on the walls of the temples. From the 14th to the 17thcentury the city was under the Vijayanagar kings. Thesekings furnished the temples with lofty towers, beautiful halls and mandapam Thecity continued to remain under the Muslims till the middle of the 18th centurywhen the British took it over. Kanchi isregarded as one of the three most important centres of Vaishnavism, the othersbeing Srirangam and Tirumalai (Tirupati). It isalso regarded as one of the four Vaishnavite centres in South India, with theaddition of Tirunarayanapuram in Mysore. Every Vaishnavite even today prays to thepresiding Lords in these four places Kanchi isthe birthplace of the famous historian Chanakya, also called as Kautilya, ofthe Maurya Empire. My note- There are differentviews about the birth place of Chanakya. The Saivite stronghold is Big Kanchi known as Siva Kanchi and theVaishnavite stronghold is Little Kanchi or Vishnu Kanchi. Both combined form the city ofKancheepuram. It is said in BrahmandaPurana that Kasi andKanchi are like the two eyes of Siva. Kanchi Kamakshi and KasiVisalakshi are always spoken of together Thecentre of attraction in Vishnu Kanchi is the temple of Varadarajaswami .Situated on the top ofHastigiri or Elephant Hill. One has to ascend 24 steps up the hill to reach thesanctum sanctorum. Brahmahad previously got into an altercation and misunderstanding with his consortSaraswati. FindingBrahma engaged in celebrating a sacrifice, Saraswati wanted to spoil its meritsby washing away the sacrificial area, and transformed herself into the form ofRiver Vegavati. Brahma startedfervently praying to Lord Vishnu to save him from this predicament by arrestingthe flow of the river. Mahavishnu came in the form Yathoktakari Perumal and he laid flat against the course of the fast-flowingriver, Just then Brahma concluded his yaga and Mahavishnu emerged out in theform of Varadarajaswami. Brahma requested him to bless his devotees for all time to come at thisplace and Mahavishnu conceded to his request and remained manifested there inphysical form.It is believed that Mahavishnu appeared to Brahma in Krita Yuga, to Brihaspatiin Dwapara Yuga and to Adhi Sesha in Kali Yuga. >From the foregoing it is apparent that the image of Varadarajaswami isnothing >but the self-manifestation of Vishnu in the physical form. It is said that LordClive presented Varadarajaswami with a necklace worth Rs. 8600 in thosedays. Leonard Place,Collector of Chingleput District during the East India Company days,presented a set of beautiful jewels to be used as ornaments on the head(Kireetam). The approximate value of all the jewels is estimated at aboutrupees nine lakhs. It is indeed a glorious sight to see the image of Varadarajaswamidecorated with all the jewels on festive occasions. The whole temple covers an areaof about 23 acres. Probably this is the largest area covered by a temple Vilakkoli Perumal Temple:-Mahavishnu is here given the name of Deepa Prakasaor the Lustre of the Lamp. It is said that once Saraswati put a questionto her husband Brahma: "Who is greater, Lakshmi or me " Brahma quicklyreplied that Lakshmi was surely the greater of the two. Thisunpleasant reply by her own consort made Saraswati goes away from her husband.Brahma, who was then preparing for a big sacrifice, wanted her to take her dueplace in the sacrificial rites as prescribed in the scriptures. But Saraswatideclined. Brahma became adamant and carried on the preparations himself allalone. Saraswatiput many obstacles in the way but Lord Vishnu himself appeared in several formsand nullified the hindrances Once the whole place of sacrifice becamepitch-dark, when Mahavishnuappeared there and his lustre illuminated the place. This incident madeSaraswati realize that if the omnipotent lustre or the light of God is present,others could cause no darkness The presidingdeity, Sri Deepa Prakasa is installed with his consorts Sri Devi and Bhu Devi Ashtabhujam Temple: - This is apeculiar temple where Vishnuis shown having eight hands. The Sthalapuranam says that when Brahmaperformed a yaga at Kanchi the Asuras gave him trouble. The Devas came to hisprotection. Vishnu came in the form of Narasimha and the Asuras ran away, butwent on praying to Lord Siva to help them. Lord Siva came in the form ofSarabha, the fierce animal with eight legs. Seeing the Sarabha, Brahma prayedfor help to Lord Vishnu who came with eight hands to defeat the Sarabha. A temple dedicated to Chitraguptais very rare in the country although he records allactions, good or bad, of men The legend connected with his birth goes that onceParameswara sitting with Parameswari thought that it was necessary to recordgood and bad deeds of men and devas and therefore requested Parvati to bring a golden slate in order todraw the picture of a man. When thepicture was drawn Parameswari requested Lord Siva to give life to the picture. Accordingly Sivabrought life to the picture and Chitragupta was born.Lord Siva assignedhim the portfolio to record the good and bad deeds, both mental and physical,of men and of the angels. Indra hadno son and his consort Indrani prayed to Lord Siva to bless him with a son.Siva was pleased with the penance of Indrani and told her that she would begeta son soon. Then he asked Chitragupta to take birth as a child of Indrani. But Chitragupta informed Lord Siva that Indrani was destined to have noissues in that birth. Then Lord Siva sent his Kamadhenu to Indra and asked Chitraguptato go and enter the body of Kamadhenu with his Sookshmaroopam and to take birthas Chitragupta. He did accordingly. Kamadhenu' delivered thischild on a Sunday in Chitra month. Indra brought up this child with all loveand affection. There is another versionalso that Chitragupta is, the son of Sun God and Nila Devi When Chitragupta went to Lord Siva, the Lord toldhim to go and work with Yama, recording the good and bad deeds of Devas andmen. It is believed that Chitragupta is still doing the work. This temple is common to bothVaishnavites and Saivites.Chitragupta is the Adhi-devata of Ketu Graha. When a human being dies, his soulfirst goes to Lord Yama where he sits in his hall of justice with ten judges.Chitragupta reads out the good and bad deeds of men in the court. The sculpture of theidol in the sanctum bears a book of palmyrah leaves in the left hand and aniron style in the right hand to show that he records the good and bad deeds ofhuman beings. Karnambikaiis his wife. Chitra Pournami day, in the month of Chaitra, is the day sacred tohim. The most famous Siva temple atKanchi is the Ekambareswara temple wherehe is worshipped in the form of Prithvi Linga (Earth Linga). The sthalapuranasays that when Lord Siva was deeply immersed in the task of creating,protecting and destroying the Universe, Parvati, his consort, in a jocular mood, closed hiseyes. Thisresulted in staying the process of creation and destruction as well asobstruction to the natural law of things. It was a serious matter and Siva became angry and cursed Parvatito go to the Earth and expiate her misdeed. Accordingly Parvati cameto the banks of the river Kampa under a single mango tree at Kanchi and made aShivalinga out of sand and worshipped it. To test her sincerity Siva placed various obstacles and hindrances inthe way of Parvati's penance. But with the help of Vishnu she could tide overall the difficulties. At last Siva hurled a deluge by taking out the Gangesfrom his matted hair, to wash away the Linga worshipped by Parvati. She clasped it with allveneration to her breasts and this pleased Siva who took her again as hisconsort Another version of thestory is that Siva and Parvati fell out in a game of dice. Siva cursed Gowri tobecome ugly. With the help of Vishnu Parvati propitiated Sivaby performing penance under a single Mango tree at Kancheepurarn on the banksof the Kampa River, and regained her beauty with dazzling eyes, from which thename of Kamakshi has been derived for the tutelary goddess of the temple. AsParvati regained Siva under the mango tree the name of Ekamranatha (Ekaone,amra - mango, and natha-Lord) was given to Lord Siva. It laterbecame Ekambareswara. The mango tree in the temple is worshipped by alleven today with great veneration. It has got four branches representing the four Vedas.Each branch bears fruit with a different taste and the leaves are alsodifferent in appearance. It is a popular belief that if a childlesswoman takes the fruit of the tree she is blessed with children. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/953244276.1161619.1642563689268%40mail.yahoo.com.
