Sri Veeraraghava Swamy Perumal Temple

Sri Veeraraghava Swamy Perumal Temple is one among the 108 divya desams of vaishnavas and a part of tondai naadu divyadesams. It is located in Panagal Street, Thiruvallur, Chennai suburb. The Temple is dedicated to Sri Vishnu as Veeraraghava Swamy Perumal and Divine Mother Shakti as Kanaka Valli Thayar.

The presiding deity Veera raghava perumal is in a reclining position in the temple. The lord’s right hand is positioned on Salihothra Munivar’s head while the left hand is in the Gyana Mudra position indicating the teaching of the four Vedas to the Lord Brahma.

Architecture

Sri Veeraraghava Swamy Perumal Temple is under administration of Ahobila Mutt. It has five tiered Rajagopuram (main gate). It was built by Pallavas. There are separate shrines for Kanakavalli, Ganesha, Alwars, Gajalakshmi Thayaar. Here, the Lord married Vasumathi the daughter of a king Dharmasena. There are also shrines to Ganesha, Gopalan, NammAzhwAr, ChakrattAzhwAr, ANDAL, Vedanta Desikan, Ramanujacharyar, and Lakshmi Narasimhar. There are inscriptions ating back to the 2nd half of the 9th century Pallava dynasty reign here. Local folklore claims that the temple is around 5000 years old. Lord Vishnu as Veera Raghavar is the presiding deity of the Veera Raghavar temple. The Lord is known as Vaidya Veera Raghavar, in view of His ailmentcuring abilities. In this temple people submit small metal sheets with a specific human organ engraved on them as a request to god to cure the illness or problems with those organs. It is believed that those suffering from incurable diseases are cured if they visit the Lord for three no moon days (amAvAsya). Devotees come here for marriage finalization, progeny, and for relief from hardships. The water in the tank is considered more sacred than that of Ganga. A dip in the tank is believed to relieve the devotee from sins he committed in thought as well as action. Abishekam to the Lord is done only with sandalwood oil. The deity is in a recumbent position facing east on a dais at an elevation of 15 feet. His right hand blesses the sage Salihotra and left hand in gnAna mudrA preaches to Brahma. The ThAyAr is called Kanakavalli. She is also known by the name Vasumati. The VimAnam is called VijayakOTi VimAnam as it is a symbol of victory against Madhukaidapas asuras who were killed by the Lord. The sacred tank is called Hrutatapanasini.