Sree Padmanabha Swami Temple(The Architectural Landmark of Thiruvananthapuram)

Submitted by UMAMAHESWARI on Mon, 2006-12-04 20:06. Tourist_places
padmanabha temple during lakshadeepam

Sree Padmanabhaswami Temple

Sree Padmanabhaswami Temple is the main architectural landmark of Thiruvananthapuram. The city is named after the presiding deity, Lord Padmanabha who reclines on the Anantha in a conscious slumber.
The name of this temple is mentioned in four Puranas, namely -Padma, Vayu, Brahmanda, and Varaha. The Brahmanda purana devotes a whole chapter to Ananthapura Mahathmyam. The Holy Bhagavatham says that Balarama has visited this temple, bathed in the holy pond and donated 10000 cows to the Brahmins. According to the Kanyakumari edict, Paranthaka Pandyan a contemporary of Kulothunga Chola had gifted 10 golden lamps to this temple.
This temple is of hoary antiquity and has many legends attached to it. Anantha sayana Mahathmya, says that a Tulu Brahmin Sage- Diwakara Muni set up the temple. One day Lord Vishnu appeared before him in the form of a loving child. The sage requested the child to stay with him. The sage gave him all love and cares and tolerated his pranks. One day the child made such nuisance of himself that the sage was greatly annoyed and chastised him. The child vanished at once saying that if the sage wanted to see him, he would have to come to Ananthankad. After a futile search, he reached a forest area near the seacoast and caught the glimpse of the child disappearing into a huge Illuppa tree. The tree fell on the ground and assumed the shape of Mahavishnu, with the head at Thiruvallam and feet at Thrippappur. Over awed the sage pleaded the Lord to condense, in size. The image shrunk to a size three times the length of the sage’s yoga dand. Another Legend is that Lord Vishnu appeared before the saint Vilwamangalam, as a small child. While performing pooja the child put the Saligrama in its mouth. The saint out of rage pushed the child which at once vanished. A divine voice said: “Search, I will be in the Anathankadu.”
The Saint tired after a futile search of this unknown place heard a pulaya woman threatening her child: “Stop crying or else I will throw you at the Ananthankad.” He found the Child and had the vision of the God in all serenity and splendor. The saint plucked a raw mango, and offered it to the Lord. Even today raw mango is the main offering at this temple.
Legends never tally with recorded evidence. The available records include nearly 30 millions palm leaf scrolls, inscriptions and the likes. This is one among the ten qualifications, which enhances the greatness of any temple. One of the palm leaf scrolls shows that the Abhisravana Mandapam was built by the king Kotha Marthanda, after the demise of King Pareekshith.[Admn-:3102- 3042 BC]

Pareekshith ruled his kingdom when the seven planets were in conjunction in Capricorn- a celestial event that takes place only once in 2700 years. The planetary position continues for a century. The next conjunction will take place in 2223 AD and therefore the earlier occurrences were in the years-477Bc and 3177BC. The time frame is correct and by this time, Sree Pamanabha temple has already become an old temple.

This Mahakshetra, is one of the 108 divya kshetrams in the country. The 18 feet idol of Sree Padmanabha is made of 12008 Saligrams (sacred stones) collected from the Gandaki River in Nepal. The Saligrams are bound together using Kadusarkara yogam. A Lotus emerges from HIS navel hence the name Padmanabha. The consecration was conducted by Tarananallur Padmanabharu Parameswararu in 1739 AD, during the reign of Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma. The sanctum has the images of 33crore celestials in conceptualized form, besides Brahma, Siva Lakshmi Devi, Bhoomi Devi, sages Markandeya and Bhrigu.
The seven acre temple complex has other shrines of Ganapathi, Hanuman, Garuda, Narasimha, Vysa, Rama-Lakshmana-Sita, Viswaksenan, Sastha, Kshetrapalaka, and Sree Krishna.

Nammalvar, a 9th century poet has composed many hymns in praise of the deity. The copper plate inscription of Mamapalli, (149 ME) refers to Kannan Karupozhan. On the wall of the Sree Krishna shrine is an inscription in Vattezhuthu which says that Kannan Karupozhan has donated land for setting the shrine.
The temple was destroyed in a fire 1686. In 1729 Marthanda Varma reconstructed it. In 1750, he shifted the capital from Padmanabhapuram to Thiruvananthapuram and built a palace near the temple. He dedicated himself and his possessions to the deity (Trupaddidanam) and assumed the title of Padmanabhadasa. Accordingly, the deity owns the kingdom, and the king was the mere executor of the trust.

The Temple overlooks the greenish pond –Padmatheertham. On the east entrance is seen a seven storey tower- the gopuram that pierces the skyline. The entrance beneath the tower leads to the Natakasala, built in the Vijayanagara style of architecture. Walk past this corridor supported by elaborately carved balustrade of pillars, would lead to oblong seevelipura through which, the idols on special conveyances are taken for circumambulations. Built in the Dravidian, Pallava and the Pandya styles, 365 equitably carved granite pillars support this corridor. The rows of granite and stone ceiling above are decorated with sculptures. Every pillar has the figure of a girl bearing a lamp in the palms of her hands joined together and raised above the waist.

The Kulasekhara Mandapam carries a wealth of intricate granite sculptures. It is here that, Sanskrit scholars and priests chant Vedas during Murajapam, held once in every six years. The ottakkal mandapam facing the main idol is a single slab of granite, which is 2.5 ft thick and 20 ft square. 4000stone artisans, 8000 laborers and 100 elephants worked for a period of 6 months to construct the seevelipura. Amazing!!
The April showers were severe. The festival had to be conducted. There was no corridor, to take the procession without getting wet. The then Maharaja, Anizham Tirunal Marthanda Varma, decided to construct a corridor before the next festival, which is hardly six months away. He had the plans drawn by the architect Thycaud Vishnu Tharathan Nampoothiri. Meanwhile, sculptors were brought from Tirunelveli, Thanjavur and other parts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Then king deployed 1000 sculptors 1500 helpers on each side. Imagine there was no machinery available during those days. Thousands were appointed to provide food and water. Before the next festival the corridor was erected.

But, the temple premises were littered with stones and debris. The Maharaja was informed that it was not pragmatic to remove the debris within two days. He observed the spot. He pulled his uthareeyam, spread it, the collected the debris, bundled it, and carried it on his shoulders and unloaded it at a spot outside the temple, setting an example. The laborers and the public, in a joint effort cleared the temple premises within two days.

The major festivals are in March-April and in October–November, each of which concludes with the procession, Aaraatu. Every six years the temple is adorned with one million lamps, in connection with the ceremony called Laksha Deepam

His Highness’ daily visit to the temple, as Sree Padmanabhadasa, takes him through the salutations of his people, across the main extent of the main city.
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