Date uploaded in London – – 22 JANURARY 2024
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अयोध्या मथुरा माया काशी काञ्ची अवन्तिका ।
पुरी द्वारावती चैव सप्तैते मोक्षदायकाः
Meaning: 1: Ayodhya, Mathura, Maya (Mayapuri or Haridwar), Kashi (Varanasi), Kanchi (Kanchipuram), Avantika (Ujjain) … 2: … and Dwaravati (Dwaraka); These seven cities are giver of Moksha (Liberation) (and are called Mokshapuri).
Kanchipuram in Tamil Nau is one of the Seven holy cities of India. And it is the only South Indian city in the Saptapuris ( 7 Holy Cities) list. There is another famous sloka/couplet which says it is the greatest city in India:
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“Pushpeshu jati, purusheshu Vishnu
Naarishu Rambha, Nagareshu Kanchi.”
A rough translation would be Jasmine is at the top of flowers, Vishnu is the best among men , Ramba is the most beautiful amongst women and Kanchi is at the top of cities. It is attributed to the greatest Indian poet Kalidasa.
Is it an exaggeration? No. if one sees all the 100 temples here, one would appreciate what Kalidasa said. Not only that ,around 22 Vaishnavite shrines of the 108 Holy Vishnu temples are in and around Kanchipuram .
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It was the capital city of Pallava empire. So historical records are available for at least 1500 years.
An invader from north asked his army not to touch a single stone in Kanchi , because he admired the beautiful architecture of the temples. All great foreign pilgrims have visited it and praised it.
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The greatest of the modern Shankaracharyas, Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi (1894-1994) lived here for one hundred years and raised its sanctity.
The city was divided into Shiva Kanchi, Vishnu Kanchi and Jaina Kanchi because of group of temples in each area.
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Every temple has a strange or novel story which make it unique.
It is on the banks of river Kamba. The name Kanchi is derived from Kanchi tree. Great Saivite and Vaishnavite saints composed a lot of devotional scriptures from this city.
If one mentioned just the wonders only, that will be a voluminous book. Let me just give them in bullet points.
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Ekamreshwar or Ekamparanatha temple is the most famous Shiva temple in the town. It means God of One Mango Tree . Once Parvati playfully closed the eyes of Shiva with her hands; the whole world became dark; when all the heaven dwellers complained to Shiva, he cursed Parvati to be born on earth and do penance. She did it and made a Linga (formless shape of Lord Shiva) out of sand for daily worship. Suddenly a flash flood came in the river and yet she was unperturbed; that sand Linga also survived the floods. A temple was built over that Sand Linga and till this day no bathing is (Abisheka) is done to the Linga.
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Among the Vishnu temples, most famous one is the Varadaraja Perumal Temple; it became famous because of
1).A wooden statue made of Athi (ficus) tree is preserved under the temple tank and taken out for a fortnight worship once in 40 years. It was taken out and worshipped in 2019; next time the sculpture will be out only in 2059. A great news appeared in newspapers in 2019. A lucky person saw it for the third time in his life ( at the age of 10, 50 and 90).
2).Another wonder in the temple is two golden head lizards whice are worshipped in the temple. King Asamanjan of Solar dynasty and his wife were cursed to become lizards. But Upamanyu Muni helped them to come out of the curse by making both worship Lord Varadaraja. Even now people Q up to see the two lizard sculptures with golden coloured heads. it is believed that those who see the lizards or touch them will be bereft of diseases.
To be continued……………………..
Tags- Kanchi Facts, part 1, Varadarajar, Ekampareshwar
Tamil and Vedas 