Sri Andalakkum-Iyan at Thiru-Adhanoor (Thirunangoor)

Temple features:
Name of this place	Thiru-Adhanoor
Deity in sanctum	Aandalakkum-Iyan ( East facing lying pose)
Deity for festivals	Alagiya Manavalan
Consort of Vishnu in sanctum	Bhargavi Mantra peeteswari and Kamalavasini
Consort for festivals	Bhargavi
Tower is called	pranava-vimanam
Holi tanks	Surya-threertham and Chandra-theertam
Devotional song sung on the deity by	Thiru-Mangai-Alvar sang one song on this deity
Sri Bramanda puranam mentions elaboratly about this temple. "Aa" means cow (taken as kamadenu -the sacred cow here). which surendered to Sri vishnu, did penance and attained 'liberation' in this place. Because of this reason this place is called Aadhanoor.The deity in this temple was installed by sage Brugu.   Legend: When Mangai Alwar was constructing a wall for the Ranganatha swamy temple and he was running short of money.Hence he prayed to the Lord asking for money for the construction. There was an oracle that asked him to go to the banks of the river Kollidom. According to the divine voice he went to the banks of the river and saw a man with a measure and a steel-writingpen (instrument used for writing on palm leaves). The Alzhwar was waiting for the messenger from the lord but he saw was a person who looked like a merchant. That person told Alzhwar that god had sent help for him. On hearing this the alzhwar asked the merchant that he wanted money to built a wall for the temple but he had come only with a measure and a nail. Even so he had not brought anything to measure. The merchent said "yes your excellency I will measure this river sand and give it to you for your workers' wages. Whoever is reliable and good he will see wealth in this and others will be seeing only sand". Alzhwar was very urgently in need of the money. Hence he accepted this proposition. The merchant mesured the river sand and gave it to the Alzhwar first. He could see gold and wealth. Similarly the merchant gave measures of the sand to the workers as their wages. Some could see wealth instead of sand and others could see only the river sand. Then every body thought that the merchent was a magician. So they chased him away. The merchant who in realty was the Lord himself came to this place Aadhanoor. He kept the measure as his pillow and holding the nail in one hand and shanku and chakkaram in other hands lay down there. All the workers who were chasing the Lord saw him as the "Shanku Chakkaradhari". They realised their mistake. They all prayed and surrendered themselves to the Lord. The benevelont Lord excused them and blessed them with lot of wealth. All the workers requested the lord to be in that place itself for ever.The lord agreed and was eulogised as " Aandu-Alakkum-Iyan". Thiru-mangai Alwar built this temple later . "Omkaro Bhagavan Vishnu" idol is on this temple's Pranava vimanam (temple tower). It is said that this idol is revealing itself gradually from head down. Now it is visible from head upto the knees. Once the feet are revealed that will be the end of the present 'Kali yuga'. Om Namo Lakshmi Narayanaya Namaha   Location: This temple is 8 kms from Kumbakonam Tamil Nadu about 350 kms from Chennai. Buses and trains are available.                                                 Home