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The Tiruvekkaa or Yathothkari Perumal Temle located in Kanchipuram in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the ''Divya Prabandha'', the early medieval Tamil canon of the Azhwar saints from the 6th–9th centuries AD. It is one of the 108 ''Divyadesam'' dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Yathothkari Perumal and his consort Lakshmi as Komalavalli. The temple is considered one of three oldest temples in Kanchipuram, the other two being Ulagalantha Perumal Temple and Pandava Thoothar Perumal Temple. The temple is believed to have been built by the Pallavas of the late 8th century AD, with later contributions from Medieval Cholas and Vijayanagar kings. The temple has three inscriptions on its walls, two dating from the period of Kulothunga Chola I (1070–1120 CE) and one to that of Rajadhiraja Chola (1018-54 CE). A granite wall surrounds the temple, enclosing all the shrines. There is a three-tiered ''rajagopuram'', the temple's gateway tower, in the temple. Yathothkari Perumal is believed to have appeared for Saraswati and Thirumalisai Alvar. Six daily rituals and three yearly festivals are held at the temple. The temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and Endowment Board of the Government of Tamil Nadu. ==Legend== As per Hindu legend, once there was an argument between Saraswathi, the consort of Brahma and Lakshmi on superiority. They went to Indra, the king of celestial deities. Indra judged Lakshmi as superior and not satisfied with his argument, Saraswathi went to her husband, Brahma. He also chose Lakshmi to be the superior one. Saraswathi was unhappy with the decision and decided to stay away from Brahma. Brahma did a severe penance praying to Vishnu and did an ''Aswametha Yagna''. Saraswathi was still angry that the ''yagna'', which usually is done along with consorts was done alone by Brahma. She tried to disrupt the penance, but Vishnu interfered with his serpent Adisesha. Saraswthi, on seeing Vishnu in her path, accepted her defeat and subsided in the form of river Vegavathi. As Vishnu interfered the path of the river, it was termed ''Vegavani'', then as ''Vegannai'' and gradually corrupted to ''Vekka''. The presiding deity thus got one of his names, Vegasetu.〔MS 1993, pp. 66-72〕〔R. 2001, pp. 557-8〕〔Rao 2012, p. 52〕 Once sage Bhargava had a son through Kanakangi, a celestial dancer. The boy was stillborn and was not fully developed during his birth. kanakangi left his son under bushes and left to celestial world. It is believed that the child was a divine incarnation of one of Vishnu's weapons, the Chakra. By the grace of Vishnu and Lakshmi, the baby became alright and began to cry. A childless farmer couple who were passing by took up the child, named him Sivavakkiyar and started rearing him. Once the boy reached adulthood, he was sceptical about choosing between Saivism and Vaishnavism. He was defeated in arguments by Pey Azhwar. He became a devotee of Vaishnavism and the disciple of Pey Azhwar. Sivavakkiyar was also called Bhakthisarar and later as Thirumalisai Alvar.〔〔 Thirumalisai had a disciple by name Kanikkannan. He also had an old lady serving him - Thirumalisai prayed to the presiding deity of the temple and by the grace of Bhujangasayana Perumal, the old lady became a beautiful young lady. The Pallava king who was ruling the region at that time got attracted by the lady and married her. With time while the king was growing older, the lady remained young. He called up Kanikannan and ordered to sing praise of him so that he also turned young. When he refused, the king ordered Kanikannan to be banished out of the country. Kanikannan explained this to his master Thirumalisai, who prayed to Bhujangasayana Perumal. When the king heard this, he ordered the three to be sent of the country, which they obliged. When the three left Kanchipuram, it was engulfed in darkness. Realising his sin, the king worshipped Bhujangasayana Perumal to retun along with his two devotees. Since the presiding deity obliged to his devotees wishes, he is called Yathothkari Perumal. ''Yathothka'' means as requested and ''kari'' denotes the person who accomplishes the task.〔〔 One of the ''alwars'', poet saints of 7-10th century, Poigai Alvar was born at this temple.〔Ayyar 1991, p. 539〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Yathothkari Perumal Temple」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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