Sri Van Purushothaman Temple

Sri Van Purushothaman Temple is located in Thirunaangur, Tanjore district, Tamil Nadu. It is located 5 miles from Seergazhi. It is dedicated to the Hindu Lord Vishnu. It is one of the 108 divyadesams dedicated to the Hindu lord Vishnu. The temple is also one of the eleven Divyadesams of ThirunangurTirupathis and is closely associated with ThirumangaiAlwar. The temple has been constructed in Dravidian style architecture.

According to legend, Lord Shiva started dancing in fury at Thirunangur after the death of his consort Uma, due to the sacrifice of Daksha. Each time a lock of his hair fell and touched the ground, eleven other forms of Lord Shiva would appear. The Gods were worried that if this continued, entire earth and all their creations would be destroyed. They prayed to lord Vishnu to help. Lord Vishnu listened to them and appeared before Lord Shiva. On seing Vishnu, Lord Shiva’s anger was appeased. But to counteract the eleven forms of him that had been created, he asked lord Vishnu to also appear in eleven forms. The eleven forms in which Lord Vishnu appeared in Thirunangur were all in different places. Those eleven places in thirunangur are where the eleven  temples are located.

Sri Van Purushothaman Temple timings are from 8 AM to 10 AM and from 5 PM to 7 PM. Temple rituals are performed by the priests on a daily basis as well as during festive season.  The priests belong to the Vaishnavaite community, a brahmin sub caste. There are 4 temple rituals daily:

Ushathkalam at 8 in the morning

Kalasanthi at 10 in the morning

Sayarakshai at 5 in the evening

Ardhajamam at 7 in the evening.

Each of the rituals have 3 procedures which are the alangaram ( decoration), the neivethanam (food offering) and deeparadanai (lighting lamps) for Lord Vishnu and his consort. During the rituals, religious hymns and texts are recited from the Vedas by the priests. There are weekly, fortnightly and monthly rituals performed in the temple. 

FESTIVALS:

During the new moon day of the Tamil month Thai, the festival deity of ThirumangaiAzhwar is brought to the temple from Thiruvali-Thirunagari. The ThirumangaiAzhwarMangalasasanaUtsavam is celebrated in the Tamil month of Thai (January–February). The highlight of the festival is Garudasevai, an event in which the festival images of the eleven ThirunangurTirupathis are brought on mount designed like Garuda, called Garuda Vahana, to Thirunangur. The festive image of ThirumangaiAzhwar is also brought on a HamsaVahanam (palaquin) and his paasurams (verses) dedicated to each of these eleven temples are recited during the occasion. The festival images of ThirumangaiAlvar and his consort KumudavalliNaachiyar are taken in a palanquin to each of the eleven temples. The verses dedicated to each of the eleven temples are chanted in the respective shrines. This is one of the most important festivals in the region which draws thousands of visitors.

FACTS:

SthalaPuranam:

As the perumal of this place gave the Thirupaarkadal and stands as Rama the greatest among the men so named as Purushothaman along with his wife PurushothamaNaayaki – Periyapiratti, this place is called as Thiru Vann Purushothamam.

As Lord Narayana gave generously the Thirupaarkadal to Upamanyu Maharishi, the theertham is known as ThirupaarkadalTheertham.

SanjeeviMooligai (An herb) saved Lord Rama itself. So inorder to indicate this, the Vimaanam of this place is named as SanjeeviVigrahaVimaanam.

The term Purushothamam means the person who is best among Bhaktar, Muktar, Nitheyar and Purushar (ie) among Devotees, the person who had attained eternity, the soul of the human being always lives with the god.

The UtsavarPurushotaman found in this sthalam is said to be so beautiful and can easily attract everyones attention and heart towards him.

Specials:

Moolavar:

The Moolavar of this Divyadesam is Sri Purushotaman. The Moolavar is in the Nindra (Standing) Thirukkolam facing his thirumugham towards east direction. Prathyaksham for Upamanyu Maharishi.

Thayaar:

The Thayaar found in this sthalam is PurushotamaNaayaki.

Utsavar:

The Utsavar found in this sthalam is also Purushotaman.

Mangalasasanam:

Pushkarani:
ThirupaarkadalTheertham.

Vimanam:
SanjeeviVigrahaVimaanam.

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