Sowriraja Perumal (Neelamegha) Temple, Thirukkannapuram

01The Lord’s hair

Rangabhattar, the temple priest, used to offer the Perumal a garland that came to him from a courtesan, and one day the king found a hair in the garland returned to him as prasadam. Asked how, the priest said it was the Lord’s own hair. The king came to see for himself, and found the Perumal wearing a sowri, a lock of hair, on his head. So the festival image is Sowrirajan. Another katha from the Padma Purana tells of King Vasu, who could fly, and attacked sages here thinking them demons; Vishnu came as a boy of sixteen and stopped him, and Vasu gave the Lord his daughter Padmini in marriage. Her wedding is enacted at the Vaikasi and Masi festivals.

02Five Alvars, 128 pasurams

Periyalvar, Andal, Kulasekara Alvar, Nammalvar and Thirumangai Alvar sing of Thirukkannapuram in 128 pasurams, more than for any temple but Srirangam; Kulasekara’s lullaby for Rama is sung to this Perumal. It is the foremost of the Pancha Krishnaranya Kshetrams and is counted among the eight svayam-vyakta kshetras of the Sri Vaishnavas. Every night the last naivedya is Munaiyadharan Pongal, rice, dal and ghee, named for a devotee whose offering the Lord came home to take. The Nitya Pushkarini in front measures about 140 by 126 m. The image of the Perumal bears a scar that the temple katha links to a devotee’s anger in a time of persecution.

The life of this place