Sri Yathothakaari Perumal Temple

Thiruvekka, Son vannam seitha perumal temple or Sri Yathothakaari Perumal Temple is located in Thiruvekka, Kanchipuram district, Tamil Nadu state, India. The main God here is Yadhothakari Perumal, Sonna vannam seitha and Amman (Thayar) is Komalavalli Nachiyaar . This temple is a 108 Divya Desam Koil. One of the alwars, poet saints of 7-10th century, Poigai alvar was born at this temple.

Mangalasasanam to this temple has 14 Paasurams in which 6 paasurams are written by Thirumangai Alwar and 3 paasuram are written by Thirumizhisai alwar , 4 Paasurams are written by Poigai Alwar and remaining one paasuram is written by Nammalwar.

Uniqueness

The central shrine of the Sri Yathothakaari Perumal Temple has the image of presiding deity, “Sonnavannam Seitha Perumal” sported in Bhuganja Sayanam posture. The temple has separate shrines for Azhwars, Rama along with Seetha and Hanuman and Garuda. The vimana of the central shrine is called Vedasara Vimana. It is believed that Perumal was lying left to right as in other temples, but on hearing Thirumalisai Azhwar sing, he turned his lying posture from right to left.

History and Significance

According to the temple history, when Thirumizhisai alwar was living in Kanchipuram, an old lady used to clean his house daily and do some small favours for him. He was very happy by her favours, and  Alwar changed her from old lady to a beautiful woman. Wondering at her beauty, the king married the woman and she became the queen. On hearing this secret, the king was eager to meet Thirumizhisai Alwar.

Kani Kannan was a great follower of the Thirumazhisai Alwar.  So, the king called up Kani Kannan and told him that Thirumizhiasi Alwar should come and sing a song praising him. Kani Kannan immediately replied that, all the poems sung by Thirumizhisai Alwar belonged to the Lord, Srivaikundanatha and it is impossible to come to the palace.  Due to this, king got angry and ordered Kani Kannan to get out of Kanchi.  Then Kani kannan went to Thirumizhisai Alwar and explained all the happenings in the palace. Then , he decided to get out of the Kanchi. While they were going, he sang a song on the Yadhothakari Perumal saying that,  as Kani Kannan was leaving Kanchipuram, he was also going along with him and Alwar asked the Lord to get up from his Aadhisheshan(the holy snake) , which is the bed for him, to  roll it and quit from Kanchi.  At that time,the Lord also got from the Kanchi following  Alwar and Kani Kannan. On hearing this, the king and all the people of the kanchi begged Kani Kannan to return back to the Kanchipuram.  After this, Kani Kannan returned back to the Kanchipuram along with the Thirumizhisai Alwar. Alwar sang a song saying that Kani Kannan had returned back to Kanchi and he wanted Perumal to go and sleep in his Aadhiseshan back in the temple.  On hearing this, Shriman Narayana comes back to Thiruvekka temple and gives his sayana seva.  As the Lord obeyed the words, he came to be known as “Sonna Vannam seitha perumal”.

Once, there was an argument in the Brahma loga as to who was greater between Sarawathi and Sri Lakshmi.  Lord Brahma said that Lakshmi who is found on the heart of Sri Vishnu is the greatest.  Next, Saraswathi asked which river is the big river.He answered that the greatest river is river Ganga which is originating from the feet of Sri Vishnu is the greatest. On hearing this, Saraswathi got angry and quit from the Brahma loga, disappeared and went along the banks of river Ganga and started doing Tapas.  Brahma wanted to do the great Ashwametha yaga in Kanchipuram and wanted Saraswathi to be along with him. So, he sent his son Vasishta to make Saraswathi come back to him.  Saraswathi refused to come along with him.  After this, Brahma started the yaga keeping Savithri and all of his wives with him. A demon wanted to destroy the yaga, went to Saraswathi and made her angry by telling her what is happening. She got angry on Brahma and started as “Vegavathi” river along the south direction and started flowing across the place of the yaga to destroy it. Lord Vishnu  wanted to stop Vegavadhi river and protect the yaga from her. So, he stopped the river by lying across the river on Aadhiseshan. Because of this, Lord here is also named as “Vaga Sethu”.

Temple Pooja Daily Schedule

Sri Yathothakaari Perumal Temple remains opened from 07:00 am to 12:00 noon(All days of the week (Morning))  and4:00 pm to 8:00 pm (All days of the week (Evening)).

How to reach

Kanchipuram is around 75 kms from Chennai off the Chennai- Vellore/ Bangalore highway via SriPerumbudur. Kanchipuram is well connected by several bus services from Chennai. There is a railway station in Kanchipuram with a few train services from Chennai in the mornings.

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