 |
| Adinatha swamy temple, Azhwar Thirunagari. TNjustdial.com |
 |
| Adinatha swamy temple, Azhwar Thirunagari. TN .templefolks.com/ |
|
| Adinatha swamy temple, Azhwar Thirunagari. TN justdial.com |
Built on an area covering 5 acres of land is Azhwar Thirunagari Permual Temple which is is one of the Nava Tirupathi, nine Hindu temples dedicated to Lord as Adinatha swamy or Aadi Piraan and his consorts here is Aadi Natha Valli/Kurukoor Valli. The temple that is in the district of Tirunelveli is fairly a big one with three prakarams (prathakshana path and a five story rajagopuram, entrance gate. There are big beautiful halls - mandapams- Tirumanjana Mandapam, Tirumamani Mandapam and Kannadi Mandapam and each one has fine sculptures and stone images of celestial and animals and, no doubt, they exhibit great beauty, artistic excellence and amazing workmanship. Unlike many temples, there is a stone Nadaswaram (wind musical instrument native to South India). Also on the temple premises are small shrines dedicated various forms of Vishnu - Rama, Venugopala, Narasimhar, Varaha. This temple is regarded as the 9th Divaya Desam shrines extolled by 12 Vaishnavite saints of 7th to 9th century. They sang in praise of the lord in Nalayera Divya Prabandam. A famous Budhasthalam (Mercury).
 |
| an idol of saint Nammazhwar, Azhwar Thirunagari temple, TN |
It is believed that lord Vishnu took the avatar of Nammazhwar in the 4th category of the four main classes in Hinduism; he appeared in all other three classes. Hence his birth day is celebrated as a grand festival in this temple and Garuda Sevai is part of it. Yet another feature is the asterism of each Azhwar. The idol of Nammazhwar blesses the devotees on the Hamsa (Swan) vahanam. The pasurams are recited before each of the idols of Nava Tirupati. This being a great festival, devotees in thousands from this town and nearby places attend it to seek God's blessings. Regarded as one of the twelve azhwar saints of Tamil Nadu, Nammazhwar's contribution to Nalayera Divya Prabandam is vast - as many as 1352 among the 4000 devotional hymns.
The sthala vriksham (holy tree) of this temple is Tamarind. It is quite interesting to note that there is a shrine to saint Nammazhwar. About the great poet and saint, it is said that when Nammazhwar (born in 3059 BCE) was a baby, he crawled to the nearby tamarind tree and sat in yogasana (Tiruppulialwar) in big a hole in that tree. In his childhood he was speechless. It is the same tree that is considered as holy is associated with this temple. Madurakavi Azhwar was the first one who interacted with this child prodigy who saw a bright future in him. The legend has it Rama's brother Lakshmana who took the form of a tamarind tree here. This town Azhwar Tirunagari owes its origin to Nammazhwar's birth in this place. On the 21st day of Vaikuntha Ekadashi toward the end of rapathu (ten night) Nammazhwar Moksham is a great ritual performed at certain Vishnu temples.
|
| an idol of saint Nammazhwar, Azhwar Thirunagari temple, TN |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nammalvar
https://navrangindia.blogspot.com/2019/01/aathi-nathar-temple-alwar-thirunagari.html
https://www.templefolks.com/temple-pedia/alwar-thirunagari-temple.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alwarthirunagari_Temple