 Tiruvadantai
temple falls into
that category of
temples where Vishnu
is worshipped in
his Varaha avatar.
It is located on
the way to Mahabalipuram
from Chennai. It’s
an important site
for worship for
the Vaishnavites.
Tiruvadantai was
supposed to have
been a great city
and there lived
a sage by the name
of Kalava. He had
360 daughters, each
one of whom was
taken care by different
agraharams. When
the girls grew up
the sage was concerned
about their marriage
and prayed to Lord
Vishnu for a solution.
As an answer to
his prayer, Lord
Vishnu came in the
guise of a bachelor
each day to each
agraharam and married
the sages’
daughters one by
one. The newly married
couple went to the
local temple but
used to invariably
disappear each time.
This perplexed the
sage and he went
to pray to the Lord.
The Lord was sitting
with all his daughters
in his lap, with
goddess Lakshmi
on the other lap.
The girls had merged
with goddess Lakhmi’s
soul. The lord is
also called Nityakalyana
swami as he had
married 360 of them
each day. The presiding
deity is adi varsha
perumal and his
consort is Akhilavalli
ammal.
Tiruvadantai temple
is located centrally
on the Chennai Mahabalipuram
road, the place
is easily accessible
by road. |
