His Holiness visits Nagalapuram; Unusual Bronze statues found from an under ground chamber � 31 May 2010

His Holiness Pujyasri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswathi Sankaracharya Swamiji visited Sri Veda Narayanaswamy temple at Nagalapuram, near Puttur, about 60 kms from Kanchipuram on 31 May 2010.

Fourteen unusual bronze images were found in an underground chamber of the famous Vishnu temple. All the fourteen figures are well preserved and are of good workmanship and about 60 cm in height. All are shown standing, some with beards and one shown with a gada and another a small stick. One of the bearded figure has an inscription in Tamil Grantha script giving the name of the image as Vedavyasa. This is the first time an image of this great thinker of India who compiled the Vedas and authored the great epic Mahabharata has been found .The sage holds a palm leaf manuscript in copper sheet riveted to the palm, about 30 cm in length with a beautifully written message in Tamil Grantha script. The inscription is of of great value to the religious ethos of the people. It consists of two Sanskrit verses, both found at the end of “Vishnu Sahasranama’ the 1008 name of Vishnu found in the Mahabharata. These verses are recited by thousands of Hindus all over the country daily.

Reading the Inscriptions

Aalokya sarva sastrani vicaarya ca punah punah
Idam ekam samutpannam dhyeyo naraayanah sadaa 

Satya satyam punah satyam uddhritya bhujam ucchyate
Vedaas sastraani vijnaanam na deivam Kecavaat param 
I.e having examined all Sastrani and also having enquired into their content again and again it is evident that that there is only god Narayana to be meditated always.

This is truth and truth and nothing but truth. The Vedas, Sastras  and sciences it is clear proclaim that there is no god other than Kesava. 

The Vishnu sahasrama is a stotra literature found in the Mahabharata composed by Vedavyasa as almost the final message of the epic, which is sometimes called the way of Krishna “Krishnaayana”. That it is the message is indicated by the manuscript held in his hand by Vyasa. The index finger of the image of Vyasa is raised while all the others are folded. The raised finger shows that there is only one Supreme god who is Narayana and none else..

Vedopadesa sthana

Another point of great significance is the main deity emenates from a huge fish representing Matsyavatara. The rest of the image is like all other standing forms of Vishnu with his two consorts. An inscription on the temple says Krishna devaraya consecrated this perumal named after his name as Krishna manikka Perumal in Sanskrit and kariya manikka perumal in Tamil.  This record also shows Vishnu taught Vedas in this place in the manifestation of fish and so the place was known as Vedopadesa sthana. It is known that all the hymns of Vedas were compiled by Veda vyasa and to have his portrait in the temple in metal shows Krishnadevaraya's dedication to Vedas and also  Vishnu as the essence of Vedas.

Another important image found in the group is a two armed standing figure whose pedestal has an inscription reading Arjuna the hero of Mahabharata. Another associated figure must have been with the group and is yet to be identified. An interesting record in the temple says that Krishnadeva raya  consecrated the images of Vishnu Bhaktas. Evidently these statues were the ones mentioned by the emperor. Such figures are not seen in any of the temples of Tamilnadu.

The village Nagalapuram was originally called Arikanta puram but when Krishnadeva raya built this temple after his own name renamed the village after his  mother Nagalammai and was called Nagalamma puram now called Nagalapuram. There was another quarters named Devaraya kuppam here. When Krishna deva raya visited the village first and built the Perumal temple he renamed the village of Devaraya kuppam as Krishnaraya puram. Before proceeding to conquer Gajapati king, the emperor vowed to come back and truly he conquered the Gajaapati and captured his son and having planted the pillar of Victory he returned and enroute he visited Tirupati, worshipped the lord and from there on his way to Kumbakonam for the Maha makam festival, halted here and saw the construction work and was pleased to make many gifts. The temple is one of the finest of Krishnadevaraya's constructions with two gopuras in the front and three gopuras on the other sides. One of the mandapas in front was built by the cultivators of the region while the other mandapa was built by the merchant community. A point of great interest is the presence of large size image of Ganesa, nearly 6 feet in height and Siva as Dakshinamurthi in the deva ksohta, besides Durga, Brahma and Bhuvaraha murthi. In addition to the usual Dvarapalas the temple houses a number of goddesses as door keepers. The temple is an excellent example of religious harmony and shows that as late as 15th century, Saiva Vaishnava rivalry was not known in Tamilnadu.

The finds were made when His Holiness Sri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswathi Swamiji went to Nagalapuram with a team of researchers to study the inscriptions, architecture and sculpture  accompanied by Dr.R.Nagaswamy, former Director of Archaeology, Tamilnadu and Prof Acharya, member National Sanskrit Commission who was on a visit to Kanchi, besides others. There are a large number of Inscriptions most of them being in Tamil, one in Telugu and others in Sanskrit. Dr.Nagaswamy read the inscription on the newly found images, identified the statues and explained the significance of the inscriptions. Nagalapuram is a treasure house of Krishnadevaraya’s contribution.

Blessing a newly-married couple