Sri Varadharaja Swamy Temple
This temple is an important stopover point for almost all tourist buses that come into Kanchipuram. Although the temple never gets crowded (it is too big), the queue at the Sanctum gets backed up very often.
Significant among other things in this temple are the sculptures of two lizards carved on the ceiling of the corridor enclosing the Sanctum. For a long time now, people who visit the temple stand in line to touch the two lizards, in a gesture that means both getting the blessings of Sri Varadharaja, and also helping liberate the disciples from the curse. According to the legend, the Sun and the Moon stand as witnesses to this event. The sculptures of the Sun and the Moon can be found beside those of the lizards.
An intriguing aspect of this temple is the temple tank. The temple tank houses the shrine of Atthigiri Varadar - the deity carved out of Atthi wood. This deity is not kept for public view. It is preserved under the pond. The Atthigiri Varadar deity is brought out of the pond exactly once in 40 years for a period of 48 days. The last event was in 1979. Atthigiri Varadar will be kept for public viewing again in the year 2019.
In fact the reason this deity is submersed under water has historical relevance. When the Muslims invaded this area hundreds of years ago, they destroyed a majority of the Hindu temples and relics. So, the people decided to bury this murthi in this temple tank. In fact, after some years it was lost in the tank and unable to be located until one day a swimmer went in the waters and found the murthi.
Though I had visited this temple several times over two years, I was not allowed into the sanctum sanctorum. When I think of visiting this temple, I remember most my friend, her family and I sitting around the temple tank throwing ‘poha’ or flattened, dry rice, in the tank to feed the fish. The fish in this tank were bright and colorful, brilliant oranges and reds. At times, young or old persons were bathing in the tank with the fish or trying to catch them for their daily meals.
This concludes the discussion on temples in Kanchipuram. The text and an accompanying slide show is available for viewing on my website: http://members.tripod.com/%7Ejennifer_polan. Part 10 of the series, next week, will conclude with a list of internet resources used to create the presentation.
If you’d like to read the text in its entirety and see the slide show, join my yahoo group. The slide show is found under the Photo Albums section, titled Kanchipuram slide show. The text is titled “A Spiritual Exploration of Kanchipuram as slide show” in DOC or PDF format. That is found in the files section.
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