01Sundararanyam
The Brahmanda Purana places a forest here called Sundararanyam. In Treta Yuga the boy Dhruva did tapas in it and Vishnu appeared to him; Markandeya was blessed with darshan here too, and a Chola king, Saleesa, in Kali Yuga. Adisesha, king of the nagas, worshipped the Lord in this forest, and so the town is Nagai, Nagapattinam. The Perumal appeared on Masi Magam on the bank of the Sara Pushkarani, shining so that he was called Azhagiyan and Soundararajan, the most beautiful. The river close by, a branch of the Kaveri, gives him another name, Kaveri Thuraivan. The temple has a rare eight-armed Narasimha, blessing Prahlada with one hand.
02The Nayaka tower
Thirumangai Alvar sings of Thirunagai in a decad of ten pasurams, in the voice of a girl enchanted by the Lord’s beauty. The temple has two Chola inscriptions, and under the Thanjavur Nayakas the port grew busy with Dutch trade. Jagul Nayakar, an officer of the Nayaka king in the 1650s and a devotee of Soundararajan, built the tower, the halls and the wall; his image and his wife Lakshmi Ammal’s stand in his hall. In 1737 Kundo Pandithar added the Ashtana mandapam and five shrines, and townspeople rebuilt halls in the early twentieth century. Muthuswami Dikshitar sang of the Perumal.
The life of this place
- Alvar periodThirumangai Alvar sings a decad on Thirunagai.
- 1650sJagul Nayakar builds the tower, halls and compound wall.
- 1737Kundo Pandithar builds the Ashtana mandapam and five shrines.
In Nagapattinam town, not far from the Kayarohanaswamy Shiva temple. Masi Magam is the Perumal’s day.
