Anantha padmanaban at Thiru-Vanandhapuram

Temple features:
Name of this place	Thiru-Vanandhapuram
Deity in sanctum	Anantha padmanaban (east facing bujanga sayanam pose.)
Consort of Vishnu in sanctum	Sri Hari Lakshmi Nachiyar
Deity for festivals	Anantha padmanaban
Consort for festivals	Sri Hari Lakshmi Nachiyar
Tower is called	Hemakooda-vimanam
Holi tank	Matsya theertham, Padma-theertham,and Varaha-theertham
Devotees who have seen the god here	Indiran, Ekadasa-Rudrar and sage Dhivakara
Devotional song sung on the deity by	Namalzhwar
Importent events: This temple is big and the deity is huge and long in a reclining position. One should have darshan of the deity through three gates ways - the head through one gate, the body through the next and the feet through yet another gate. There is an inscription which says that in 1050 BC the king Saraman laid the foundation to this temple. 366 pillers with images holding lights in and around this temple is marvellous. There was a fire accident in 1686 in which all the idols got damaged except the important deity- Sri Anandha-padmanabar. Later this temple was renovated by Raja-marthanda varma. He removed the old idol of Anantha-padmanabar which was made of wood and instaled a new one made with 12000 Salagramams which has lasted until today In 1750 King Rajamarthanda varma came to this temple for worship. He endowed all his wealth and he put his sword at the feet of the Lord in total surrender to him. From that time Thiruvangoor Maharaja decedents are called' Padmanaba Dhaser' The king was a very good singer and composed many songs on this deity. 'Swathi Thirunal' kirtans in Carnatic music are very popular even today The management of the temple rests with the Royal dynasty. There is a Mandapam inside this temple with many pillars in which the "dasavatharam" idols have been carved artistically. There are musical pillars. If one pillar is struck lightly with a stone a musical tone comes out of another pillar. It is said that this Mandapam with artistic work was constructed by Kulasekara alzhwar. But there is another inscription that says this Mandapam was built by King Rama-varma. In 1750 King Marthanda varma celebrated a very big festival in this temple. He got learned men to recite the four vedas 8 times and got one lakh (one hundred thousand) lights lit. The tower and the temple tank have been constructed in such a way that the light on top of the tower is clearly reflected in the temple tank called Padma-theertham. It took 40 years to build this temple with 6000 workers 100 elephants involved in its construction. To build the outer-most corridor alone it took 8 years.They brought the trunk of a tall teak- tree from 30 miles away and covered it with gold plate after shaping it and installed it in the temple as the "dwajasthambam".   First legend:   Bramanda purana and Anandha purana speak elaborately about this temple.There are two different legends on this temple. Once sage Divakara did penance to Sri Vishnu for many years in a country that was called Aadhartha desam. Lord Vishnu was pleased and appeared before the sage as a two years old baby. The sage felt a great affection for the child and asked the boy to be with him always. The child agreed but put a condition that if at any time the sage was harsh with the child he would go away. The sage accepted this conditions and the child grew up in the hermitage. One fateful day the sage was doing pooja. The child took a Salagramam and bit it. The sage saw this and scolded the child forgetting the condition. On hearing the the harsh words the child ran away and disappeared. The sage was looking for the child everywhere but could not find him. He was worried when he heard an oracle that said "Come to Anandhan forest to see me". After searching for the place the sage reached the forest. He was looking around for the child. He found the child in a tree hole. As soon as he saw the child the tree fell down. It grew into a huge Sri Vishnu idol in a reclining position in "Anantha Sayanam". The idol's head was in Thiru-vallam ( 3 miles from Ananthapuram) its feet in Thirupa-puram five kms in the opposite direction and the body in Thiru-vanandha-puram. The sage saw this huge incarnation of the lord. He was frightened and requested the Lord to show his dharshan in a smaller "swarupam". Accordingly the idol reduced in size to its present level. Also The Lord granted many boons and ordained that the descendants of the sage who was a "tulu" alone could do poojas and Agamas at this temple.   The second legend: There was a hermit of Namboodiri sect who was worshipping this deity. He was very poor. One day after he finished his prayers he found there were nothing to offer to the Lord. After a long search he found a coconut shell with some mango pickle in it in his hermitage. Delighted he took the pickle in the shell and offered it to the lord. The Lord accepted this offering very gladly. Henceforth to remind people about this incident there is a custom of offering mango pickle in a golden coconut shell to the Lord, in this temple. Accordingly the temple management is left to the 'Namboodiris' but the poojas, agamas etc are done by the 'Thulusi' in this temple. . Om Namo Lakshmi Narayanaya Namaha   Location: This temple is located in  Thiru-vanandha-puram  the capital city of Kerala.                                             Home