A Rare image of eight-armed god

In his four left hands, Vishnu holds the conch, bow, shield and mace, while in the right hands, he holds discus, sword, lotus and arrow

CHENNAI : The Ashtabhuja Perumal temple in Kanchipuram is one of the 108 divya desams of temples worshipped by the Azhvars (important devotees of Vishnu). Pey Azhvar and Tirumangai Azhvar have praised this deity in their hymns. The main sanctum enshrines a unique image of Vishnu in a standing posture with eight hands, worshipped as Ashtabhuja Perumal (in Sanskrit, ashta is eight and bhuja is hand). He is worshipped as Attabhuyakaram in Tamil.

Ashtabhuja Perumal temple, Kanchipuram
 Chithra Madhavan

In his four left hands, Ashtabhuja Perumal holds the conch (sankha), bow (dhanus), shield (khetaka) and mace (gada), while in the right hands, this deity holds the discus (sudarshana chakra), sword (asi), lotus (padma) and arrow (bana). According to the traditional story of this temple, Goddess Sarasvati, wanting to disturb the penance of Brahma, sent an army of demons who were all destroyed by Vishnu.

She then sent Sharabha, a ferocious creature, and Vishnu assumed a form with eight hands with a number of weapons and vanquished him. This temple is also connected with the story of Gajendra Moksha when Vishnu, riding on Garuda, saved the elephant-devotee whose leg had been trapped in the jaws of a crocodile.

This temple originally must have belonged to the Pallava period, but was subsequently reconstructed in the Chola era around the 11th century AD. There are other shrines for Varaha, Rama, Andal, Garuda, Anjaneya, Azhvars and Acharyas (preceptors) in this temple.

A few ancient inscriptions are seen here. An epigraph of Rajendra Chola I dated 1034 AD records a gift of land and money by the residents of Kanchipuram for conducting worship, which included providing offerings to the deity and for burning a perpetual lamp, in the temple of Thiru-ashtabhuja-grihattu-Mahavishnu. There are two inscriptions of the reign of Kulottunga Chola I (c.1070 - c.1122 AD) also.

Original names
Ashtabhuja Perumal was originally called Thiru-ashtabhuja-grihattu-Mahavishnu and Thiru-ashtabhuja-grihattu Ninraruliya Parama Svamin

Goddess Lakshmi
This deity is worshipped as Pushpavalli Thayar and as Padmasini Thayar

Name of vimanam
The vimanam above the central shrine is known as Chakramurti Vimanam and also as Gaganakriti Vimanam and Vyomakara Vimanam.

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