Veda Narayana Temple, Nagalapuram – The Temple

Veda Narayana Temple, Nagalapuram – The Temple

The temple spread on a very vast area has grand Gopurams and huge prakarams.  Dashavatara Idols can be seen on the Gopuram. This temple is wonderfully maintained by Thirumala Thirupathi Devasthanam with beautiful gardens along the prakarams. This temple is called Mathsya Avataara Sthalam as Lord here is seen in Mathsya Avatar, which is the first and foremost avatar (incarnation) among 10 avatars of Lord Vishnu. The main deity is the Matysavatara form of Vishnu accompanied by Sri Devi and Bhu Devi on either side. He is facing west.

A peculiar feature of the idol is that it holds the Sudarsana Chakra in prayoga (ready for release). The lords feet are seen emerging from a fish form. There are three sets of dwara Palakas for the three doors before entering the sanctum. The first is Vishwaksena and Thapasa, next is Jaya and Vijaya and at the third door are Manikandan and Sandhya. The idol of Sudarsana Azhwar kept in the sanctum sanctorum is very beautiful. The utsava murthy is kept along with the Azhwars.

The Temple is famous for Surya Pooja Utsavam, considered as an astronomical marvel. During this festival the sunrays will directly fall on the presiding deity Veda Narayana in the Garbhagriha for three days of a year. Sun ray’s fall on the Lord during the Sunset (6pm to 6.15pm). The Sunrays travel a distance of 360 feet starting from Temple Tower (Gopuram) towards Garbha Griha in the evening. On first day the rays will stop at foot of the Deity, second day on Navel and third day on Crown. This happens once in a year, 12th, 13th, 14th days of Phalguna Masam (March).

Mother is called as Vedavalli Thayar. She is housed in the separate shrine in the temple premises. Her shrine is situated in south west in front of the main Sannidhi. Mother is in the sitting posture and the hallway pillars all show exquisite carvings of various forms of Anjaneya, Narasimha etc. There are two separate mandapams in the temple in the North west corner and north side of the temple.

There are also shrines for Vishnu Durga, Ganesha, Brahma, Vishwaksena, Lakshmi Varaha Perumal, Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy, Lakshmi Narayana Perumal, Dakshinamurthy, Veera Anjaneya Swamy, Lord Rama with Mother Sita & Lakshmana and Venugopala Swamy in the Temple premises. There is a big Yaga shaala in front of the Ramar Sannidhi where the yagas are performed. Recently while cleaning the temple Tirtham, they found a rare kind of fish in the pond with different colors. Many people came to see this miracle as this is the temple dedicated to Mathsya Avataram.