Prahalada had darshan here of Lakshmi Narasimha after having visited Devanathan at Thiru Vahindrapuram
Located 2kms West of Thavalai Kuppam off the Pondicherry-Cuddalore National Highway is the Lakshmi Narasimha temple in Singiri Kudi, Abhishekapakkam where Lord Narasimha is seen in an angry sitting posture facing the West towards the other two Narasimha temples at Poovarasankuppam and Parikkal.
This is the only Narasimha temple in Tamil Nadu where he is seen with 16hands.
Prahalada's darshan at Singiri Kudi
Subsequent to his visiting Thiru Vahindrapuram Divya Desam for a darshan of Lord Devanathan, Prahalada is believed to have come North to Singiri Kudi to invoke the blessings of Ugra Narasimha.
Nimi Chakravarthy, who belonged to the Surya Dynasty, wanted to perform a Yagna invoking Indra and to gain further powers. Vashishta, the preceptor of the Surya Dynasty, was not too keen on this and backed out citing non availability on that day.
Nimi who had made up his mind to perform the Yagna reached out to Kousika Rishi to be present and lead this yagna. After its completion, Vashista returned only to find Nimi asleep.
Angered that Nimi had gone ahead and performed the Yagna despite him announcing his non availability and also with him not coming out to receive the Sage, Vashista pronounced a curse whereby the body and soul were separated.
On waking up, Nimi expressed unhappiness that his Guru had cursed him while he was asleep.
In an interesting twist, the King, who through his various yagnas had gained powers to curse anyone, cursed his own Guru separating his body and soul as well.
Nimi felt that having separated his soul from the physical body he need not revive his life and he expressed the wish that he should have darshan of the Lord through the devotees.
Vashista on the other hand sought the help of Brahmma to liberate him from the curse. As directed by Brahmma, he undertook penance at the Krishnaranya Kshetram of Singiri Kudi. Pleased with his prayers, Lakshmi and Narasimha provided darshan to him here and liberated him from the curse.
The three Narasimha temples of Parikkal (Near Villupuram off the Trichy National Highway), Poovaran Kuppam ( off the Panruti Highway) and Singiri Kudi are in a straight way from West to East. It is said that it is auspicious to visit all the three temples on the same day.
Quick Facts
Moolavar: Ugra Narasimha West Facing Sitting Posture
Goddess : Kanakavalli Thaayar
Priest : Jayakumar Bhattar @ 0413 2618759
Temple Time: 7am-12noon and 430pm-9pm
Festivals
Chitrai Vaikasi Brahmotsavam
Chariot Festival on Narasimha Jayanthi
Puratasi Saturdays
How to reach
Take the Pondicherry-Cuddalore bus. Get down at Thavalai Kuppam ( 10kms from Pondy)
An auto from here to Singiri Kudi will cost Rs.30-40/-
6 comments:
Dude Shabba!!! How do you unearth these temples man? And how do u get so much time off work to visit them? I had so much trouble getting one day off to visit malai naattu thirupathigal. Keep up the good work!!! Thanks to you I have visited all South Indian divya desams. Only 2 left (Salagraamam and Thiruvaaipaadi). Koti thanks to you! There is no way this would have been possible without Lord Narayana's grace who definitely put ur blog in my radar so that I could visit Him. Thanks again!!
Srini
Sir,
Thank You for your kind words.
Prabhu
Thanks for yet another wonderful dharshan!
One small correction - I think the Narasimhar in Keezhapaavur (Tirunelveli Dist) also has 16 hands.
Thanks for posting the Sthala puranam. I lived in Pondy but only visit Pondy once a year these days. Made my first visit to this temple and got an excellent dharisanam.
Venkat T (from New Jersey)
This temple was built in 3rd century by a Pallava king named Narasimha Varman. The priest who is servicing the deity is on 11th generation as per his knowledge. Could be more through his great ancestors. Amazing history.
I wanted to know more history about this temple. Inside the temple campus, nowhere you can see an information board for visitors to gain knowledge about this temple. Can someone post it pleas?
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