CHENNAI: Perunagar, a village fairly close to Kanchipuram, situated in Thiruvannamalai district, has two temples, one for Siva and the other for Vishnu. The Siva Linga is worshipped as Brahmapurishwarar while Vishnu here is known as Ooraga Varadaraja Perumal. Perunagar is an ancient place, going back at least to the Chola times as seen from inscriptions and other evidence found in the Brahmapurishwara temple.
The west-facing Perumal temple has a modern gopuram, built in 2018, which leads to a spacious prakaram (enclosure). There is no dvajastambham (flag-staff) to be seen; only a bali-pitham. A small shrine to the right of the gopuram, on the inside, is for Bhakta hanuman facing east, while on the left of the entranceway is the east-facing Andal sanctum. It is rare to see Andal consecrated in this location, as she is usually worshipped to the left of the main sanctum of God Vishnu in most temples. In front of the bali-pitham are steps going up to the mandapam, which has stone and bronze images of Rama, Lakshmana, Sita and Hanuman as well as the Azhvars (famous devotees of Vishnu) like Pey Azhvar, Bhudattazhvar, Poigai Azhvar, Nammazhvar, Thirumangai Azhvar and Acharyas (preceptors) such as Ramanujacharya and Vedanta Desika. Vishvaksena (also known as Senai Mudaliyar), the leader of the army of Vishnu, is also worshipped here. The presiding deity of this temple, Ooraga Varadaraja Perumal is in a standing posture, holding the Sankha and Chakra in the upper hands, while the lower right hand is in abhaya hasta (blessing) and lower left hand is in kati-hasta (resting on His hip). This large image is flanked by Goddesses Sridevi and Bhudevi. The processional image, also worshipped by the same name, looks exactly like the main stone deity. Noteworthy are two snakes carved on the ceiling above Perumal. They are traditionally called Achyuta and Ananta and are said to worship Varadaraja Perumal here. Since the word ‘ooraga’ refers to snake in Tamil, it is prefixed to Varadaraja Perumal. The vimanam or the structure in which the deity is enshrined is called Punyakoti Vimanam as in the Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kancheepuram which is very well known.
It is said that on a few special days of the year, the sun’s rays fall on the feet of Perumal, entering through the gopuram and the mandapam. In some other temples where too the sun’s rays fall on the deity on certain special days, this phenomenon occurs in the mornings as the temples face east, but in the Perunagar temple it happens in the evenings since it faces west. A rare image in this temple is Navaneeta Krishna dancing with a butter-ball in His hand, seen with Rukmini and Satyabhama on either side.
In the prakaram are separate sanctums for Goddess Lakshmi, worshipped here as Perundevi Thayar, and Sudarshana or Chakrattazhvar, the personification of the discus of Vishnu. A mandapam in the prakaram which has been converted into a shrine has Kalyana Varadaraja Perumal with Sridevi and Bhudevi flanking Him and also an image of Yoga Narasimha.
Numerous festivals are celebrated in this temple which follows the codes of the Vaikhanasa Agama.
Know your city - Perunagar
Perunagar is about 20 km from Kanchipuram on the road to Vandavasi.
Chithra Madhavan
cityexpresschn@gmail.com
The writer is a historian who focuses on temple architecture