History

Varadharaja Perumal Temple or Hastagiri or Attiyuran is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu located in the holy city of Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the Divya Desams, the 108 temples of Vishnu believed to have been visited by the 12 poet saints, or Alwars. It is located in a suburb of Kanchipuram known as the Vishnu Kanchi that is a home for many famous Vishnu temples. One of the greatest Hindu scholars of Vaishnava VisishtAdvaita philosophy, Ramanuja is believed to have resided in this temple. The temple along with Ekambareswarar Temple and Kamakshi Amman Temple in Kanchipuram is popularly known as Mumurtivasam (abode of trio), while Srirangam is referred to as ‘ The Koil’ (meaning: “temple”) and Tirupati as the ‘Malai’ (Meaning: “hill”). Among the Divya Desams, Kanchipuram Varadaraja Perumal temple is known as the ‘Perumal Koil’. This is one of the most sacred places for Vaishnavites.

There is another famous temple of Varadarajaswamy in Kurmai, of Palamaner mandal in Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh, called the Kurma Varadaraja Swamy Temple.
Indra, the king of celestial deities, after getting released from the curse of Goddess Saraswati, installed the silver and golden lizards who were the witness of the ordeal. Brahma performed a yagna here, which was about to be washed away by the fast flowing river Vegavathi, known today as Palar River. The temple deity, Vishnu laid himself flat to stay the flow and the yagna was successfully performed. Vishnu emerged with brilliance of thousand Suns as Devarajaswamy and stayed here permanently. As is the case with the association of South Indian temples with a sacred tree, the name of the temple, Attigiri is derived from Atti tree (fig), considered sacred to Vaishnavas.

As per Hindu legend, Brahma, the Hindu god of creation, separated with his wife Saraswathi over a misunderstanding. He did an Aswameda worship (with a horse) seeking boons from Vishnu. Vishnu was pleased by the devotion and came out from under the earth as a boar and got Saraswathi unite with Brahma. As per another legend, Saraswathi cursed the king of celestial deities, Indra, to become an elephant and roam around the place. He was relived off the curse with the divine power of Vishnu, who appeared as the mount, Hastagiri. Attagiri indicates a mount in the form of elephant. As per another legend, the disciples of sage Gautama were cursed to become lizards. They resided in the temple and were relieved off the curse by the divine grace of Vishnu. There is a panel in the temple where the two lizards are depicted in the roof of the temple.

Thirukkachi Nambigal(Also known as Kanchi Purnar) was an ardent devotee of this temple. He used to bring flowers everyday from Poovirundhavalli, where he maintained a garden. He did Aalavatta Kaingariyam, waving to produce breeze with the help of hand fan. It is believed that Vardharaja used to converse with him, while he was doing that seva. Aalavatta Kaingariyam is a worship practise followed in modern times also.

Nambi also composed Devarajaashtakam(A Sanskrit poem of 8 verses) on the presiding deity. Sri Ramanujar, another great Vaishnavite, got answers to his six questions from Lord Varadharaja through Sri Thirukkachi Nambigal.
The temple has around 350 inscriptions from various dynasties like Chola, Pandya, Telugu Chodas, Kandavarayas, Cheras, Kaaktiya, Sambuvaraya, Hoysala and Vijayanagara indicating various donations to the temple and also the political situation of Kanchipuram. There is a belief that the temple was first built by the Pallava king Nandivarman II. Varadharaja Perumal Temple was originally built by the Cholas in 1053 and it was expanded during the reigns of the great Chola kings Kulottunga Chola I and Vikrama Chola. In the 14th century another wall and a gopura was built by the later Chola kings. When a Mughul invasion was expected in 1688, the main image of the deity was sent to Udayarpalayam, now part of Tiruchirapalli District. It was brought back with greater difficulty after the involvement of local preceptor who enlisted the services of general Todarmal. Robert Clive, the British general during the colonial period visited the Garuda seva festival and presented a valuable necklace (now termed Clive Maharkandi), which is adorned during a special occasion every year. There are inscriptions dated 1532 CE (record 544 of 1919) indicating the gift of number of villages made by Achutaraya. Vira Narasingaraya Saluva Nayaka who was directed by Achutaraya broke the royal order by giving more lands to Ekambaranathar temple than the Varadaraja Swamy temple against the instruction of an equal gift to either of the temples. Achutaraya on hearing this equally distributed the lands to both the temples. In modern times, the administration is carried out by Hindu Religious and Endowment of the Government of Tamil Nadu.

There are inscriptions dated 1532 CE (record 544 of 1919) indicating the gift of number of villages made by Achutaraya. Vira Narasingaraya Saluva Nayaka who was directed by Achutaraya broke the royal order by giving more lands to Ekambaranathar temple than the Varadaraja Swamy temple against the instruction of an equal gift to either of the temples. Achutaraya on hearing this equally distributed the lands to both the temples. There is an inscription from the 13th century from the Hoysalas, indicating a gift of a crown to the presiding deity. During the 17th century, the temple was under the attacks from Mughals headed by Aurangazeb. The idols of the temple were ported to Udayarpalayam in modern-day Tiruchirapppali district during 1688. It was only during 1710 that the situation was ripe for the idols to be returned. But the chieftain of Udayarpalayam opposed the move and only after the intervention of Paramahamsa Parivajakacharya Attan Jeer, the idols were returned. The event is commemorated as a festival in the temple.

The Thathacharyas are the custodians of the Kanchipuram Perarulalan Kovil popularly known as Varadaraja Perumal temple. They are the Pradhana Acharya Purushas in the protocol to receive and deliver the temple honours. In retrospection Tirumalai Nambi’s son Tirukkurukai Piran Pillan was ordained by Ramanuja himself as the first and foremost among the 74 Peetadhipathis to propagate Visishtadwaita philosophy after him. Pillan was also chosen by Ramanuja as the competent person to write the commentary on Tiruvaimozhi. The annotation of Tiruvaimozhi thus brought out by Pillan under the behest of Ramanuja is called the famous `Araiyarpadi’ the first gloss in Manipravala, an elegant mixture of Tamil and Sanskrit words, on the Divya Prabhandam. After Pillan, Tirumalai Srinivasacharya Thathacharya in the fifth generation of Thathacharyas was installed by Vedanta Desika as the Sri Kariyam of the Devaraja Swamy Kovil. Since then the office of Sri Kariyam is institutionalised in the diligence and devotion of the Thathacharyas to the Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kanchipuram. Lakshmi Kumara Thathachariar inherited this mantle from his ancestors and made epoch making contributions to the temple annals. He was the Sri Kariya Durandhara – a phrase connoting absolute dedication and authority – of the temple affairs. Simultaneously he was also the Raja Guru of the Vijayanagar king Venkatapathi Deva Maharaj. In Ayengarkulam, a village named after him near Kanchipuram, he built a tank and temple to Sri Rama and Hanuman. In the modern days the temple is administrated by the Tamil Nadu Government through the Ministry of Hindu Religion and Charitable Endowments having the Thathachariars as the Honorary Trustees.