Thiruvanpurushothamam (Thirunangur) Purushothamar Temple: The next Divya Desam in Thirunangur is the temple of Shri Purushothama Nayaki sametha Shri Van Purushothaman ( Thiruvan Purushothaman) Temple. This temple is kept open from 8 to 11 am and from 5.30 to 8 pm. The contact number for this temple is 04364 256221. The sthala vrukshams are jack fruit and plantain. The pushkarni is Thirupparkadal Theertham. This is north of the temple and is one of the rare temple tanks without any green moss ( Paasi in Tamil). Among the Divya Desams in TN, this is the second temple where the Lord is called Purushothaman, the other one being Uthamarkoil, near Trichy. Sri Manavala Mamunigal stayed in this place for two years and served the Lord.
As I mentioned in the previous write up, seven of the temples in Thirunangur are being managed by Sri Muralidhara Swamigal. This is one of them. However when we see the temple notice board, we would find that the Bhattar is being paid a monthly compensation of Rs 500! ( Even if it is over and above the salary given by the Government, if any, it is a pittance. I know from personal experience that the Government salary for the temple priests and workers, is very meagre). This reinforces the point I made some time back about giving liberal Dakshina to the temple staff.
I have been writing about Thirugnana Sambandar in several Shiva temple write ups. When he was a child in Sirkazhi, he started crying when he could not see his father. Mother Parvathi came with milk and fed him and pacified him ( More about this in Sirkazhi write up). Similar incident is narrated in this temple.
I have mentioned about Sage Vyakrapathar who was blessed with the feet of tiger so that he could climb trees to pluck flowers for his pooja. His strange form also helped him to remain away from others and focus on his meditation. He had a son by name Upamanyu. When he was very young, once Vyakrapathar took him to this place.
He left the child in a safe place and went around the garden for plucking flowers. The child waited for some time and as his father did not return, he started crying. The cry reached Vaikunta and moved by his tears, the Lord created a milk ocean and Mother Purushothama Nayaki, fed the child with this milk, to calm him down. When Vyakrapather returned, he saw this wonder and was speechless! Due to this reason, the temple pushkarni is called Thirupparkadal Theertham (Milk Ocean). Thirumangai Azhwar sang pasurams hailing the Lord for His kindness towards the child.
Perumal is in standing posture (Nindra Thirukolam) in the central shrine, facing east along with Sridevi and Bhoodevi. Since Sanjeevani herb is associated with Sri Rama and Maruthi, the temple vimanam is called Sanjeevi Vigraha Vimanam. Since this is more a Rama temple, it is called Purushothaman ( Purusha Uthaman= Noblest man) temple and Thiruvan is an honorific prefix. The Utsava Murthy of this Lord in this temple is extraordinarily beautiful. Unlike many other Vishnu temples, here both the Moolavar and Utsavar are called by the same name (Purushothaman).
Mother Purushothama Nayaki’s shrine is in the southwest corner of the temple and She is in sitting position. The shrines of Sri Rama, Seetha, Lakshmana, Udayavar, Nammazhwar, Senai Mudaliar and Anjaneya are in the prakaram. In fact, there are three Anjaneyas in this temple, of which the one in front of Sri Rama is in traditional worshipping posture with folded hands with one hand covering the mouth.
The temple is surrounded by paddy fields. It is having a three tiered vimanam over the main shrine. The entire complex is surrounded by madhils ( walls). Chanting Vishnu Sahasranama for 48 days followed by pooja to this Lord, is believed to solve most of one’s problems. Note: Photos and some of the inputs were collected from various web sites.
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