Nagaresu Kanchi (Thiruvelukkai – The Abode of Kamasika Hari)

‘Kama’ means desire and ‘ asika’ means seated. So Kamasika means Seated by His own desire (Swasankalpam). In Tamil Vel-wish and irrukkai means seated. Tiru refers to Lakshmi(Sri) who is inseperable from Perumal. Put together we get Tiruvellukai which means the Abode chosen by Perumal and Pirrati by Their Sankalpam. But locals know this place a Azhaghiasingar temple only. Incidentally it is Nrisimhan who is known as Azhaghiyan or Sundarasimhan. This Perumal has been sung about by Peyazhwar and Tirumangaiazhwar.

This divyadesam is in Vishnu Kanchi about 3/4 km from Ashtabhujakaram temple.  One can engage an auto from Varadaraja Perumal temple and cover Asthbhujam, Singarkoil and Thoopul. Swami Desikan begins his ‘Kamasikashtakam’ by telling us that The Lord who is the subject of ‘The Vedas’ has chosen to reside to the South of Vegavathi prefering it to Srivaikuntam.

It was to this place chosen by Sri Nrisimha that we went to one Friday morning after worshipping at Thoopul. What struck us about the temple was the cleanliness. Every sannidhi and the surroundings were spic and span. After offering prostrations at the dwajasthambam we stopped at Garudazhwar sannidhi before entering the main temple.  The temple follows vaikanasa agama. As we entered we saw  the divyamangala vigrahas of SriRamaparivaram, Senai mudaliar, and Peyazhwar, Periazhwar, Nammazhwar, Tirumangaiazhwar, Ramanujacharya and Manavalamamunigal. At the sanctumsanctorum were Moolavar  Yoga Nrisimhan  and utsavar Mukundanayakan flanked by Sridevi and Bhudevi. Seated in paryankabandham Yoga Nrisimha residing in the cave of Hathigiri is said to have proceeded west to destroy the demons disrupting Brahma’s Ashvamedhayaagam and decided to stay there and bless devotees. His vimanam goes by the name Kanaka vimanam and the theertham is known as kanaka theertham. Swami Desikan describes Him as the Three Eyed Lord who destroys our tapatrayams. The sun, the moon and the fire are His three Eyes and our tapatrayas are Adhiatmikam Adhibhoudhikam, and Adhideivakam. Swami Desikan declares  that The Lord who assumed the Face of a lion is our only Relative(Nrisimha is our Father, Mother, Brother, Friend and every possible relation). He appears Ferocious to the wicked and Merciful to the devotee at one and the same time. Swami Desikan avers that if He decides to Protect none can stop Him and if He decides not to protect there is none who can Protect. In sum He alone is the Protector.

Having had darshan of such a Merciful Lord we proceeded to Thayar Sannidhi. Seated on a silver lotus Amrithavalli Thayar /Vellukavalli Thayar gave Her divyakataksham and we felt blessed to get theertham, Srisathari and flowers at Her sannidhi on that Friday morning.

We then went around in pradakshinam at the outer praakaram stopping at the sannidhi of Andal ,Chakrathazhwar sannidhi where there were many yaaga kundams. We spotted a garden which was labelled Prahlada Thottam(Prahlada’s garden) which was locked at that time but seemed to be decently maintained. There were kolams painted all around and there was no litter to be found anywhere. We then requested Raja Bhattar swami to tell Anudinam readers about the temple and he was good enough to take time off after the temple was closed to tell us about the temple management, daily pujas, special occasions and other details. What struck us about the temple was the enthusiasm of the bhattar swami and how he manages the temple by involving devotees who are focussed on kainkaryam without expectation of monetary returns. Like Prahladha who never sought anything these devotees will undoubtedly be rewarded by Kamasika Kesari.

Photos & Videos: Sri Sundararajan and Write – up: Smt Vyjayanthi Rajan