The Lord gets married daily - Nitya Kalyana Perumal Temple, Chennai, India

Chennai city, the gateway to South India, has a lot of temples. Many of them are ancient temples, and few of them are well known even outside Chennai. Nitya Kalyana Perumal Temple is not very popular but an important temple located in the outskirts of Chennai. It is located in a village called Tiruvidandai on the famous East Coast Road (ECR) between Chennai and Mamallapuram. The distance is 42 kms from Chennai and 16 kms from Mamallapuram. Let us discuss about this peaceful temple in this article. 

Highlights:

• Tirumangai Alwar has sung 13 Pasurams about this temple in his verses.
• Manavala Mamunigal has also sung hymns about this deity.
• It is considered as the 62nd Divya Desham temple. It is located in Tondai region.
• In the olden days, it was also called as Sripuri and Varaha Puri
• There are 360 consorts for Vishnu in this site.
• God - Aadi Varaha Perumal or Lakshmi Varaha Perumal ; Utsava deity - Nitya Kalyana Perumal
• Goddess - Komalavalli
• Teerth (holy water) - Kalyana Teerth
• Vimana - Kalyana Vimana

Legend:

Tiru Idathu Eanthai

In this temple, Varaha is found holding Lakshmi on his left side. Hence, the village obtained the name "Tiru Idathu Eanthai" which means "the deity holding Lakshmi on his left side". The name of the site got converted as Tiruvidandai later. 

360 Consorts

As per the legend, the sage Klava had 360 daughters. He wanted Vishnu to marry all his daughters. Vishnu appeared in the form of a Brahmachari and married each girl daily throughout the year. At last, all of them merged into one form, which is Lakshmi. Hence, Vishnu in this site is called as Nitya Kalyana Perumal. 

As per another version, the first girl's name was Komalavalli, who is found as the presiding Goddess in a separate shrine. 

Temple Layout:

The east-facing temple does not have a tower. It is located in a serene and peaceful locality with the beach within walking distance.

The sanctum enshrines Lakshmi Varaha Perumal with Lakshmi on his left side. His foot is placed on the heads of Nagaraj and his consort. 

The sanctum also enshrines the festival (utsav) idols of Nitya Kalyana Perumal in the standing posture with his consorts Sri Devi and Bhoo Devi on either side. 

Komalavalli is found in a separate shrine in the prakara. Her idol looks extremely beautiful. 

The temple also houses the sub-shrines of Andal, Ranganath with his two consorts and Ranganayaki. The idols of Ganesh, Vaishnavi, Ramanuja, Krishna, Alwars, Satyan, Aniruddha, Acchuta and others are also found in the temple. 

The flagstaff, bali peeth and Garud are found facing towards the sanctum. 

Happy travelling. 

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