Kurmanatha
Swamy Temple, Srikurmam – Legends
Kurmanatha Swamy:
As per
legend, this region was called as Swetha Giri and was ruled by King Sweta
Chakravarthy. His Queen Vishnu Priya was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu. She
worshipped Lord Vishnu and observed a fast on Suddha Ekadashi day regularly.
Once, she was observing a fast on Suddha Ekadashi day and shunned herself from
the earthly pleasures. Swetha Chakravarthy approached her with the intention of
making love. She refused and informed him about her fast.
The king
was adamant in his desire. The queen prayed to Lord Vishnu for the unhindered
continuance of the fast. Pleased with her prayers, Lord Vishnu created a stream
of ganga to flow in between the king and the queen. Thus, segregating the
couple and helped the queen to continue with her fast. The king was separated
from his wife started living on the banks of River Vamsadhara.
Sage
Narada taught Kurma Narayana Mantra to the king and advised him to perform
penance on Lord Vishnu invoking the mantra at the confluence of Vamsadhara
river and the sea. As advised, the king performed intense penance on Lord
Vishnu. Pleased with his prayer, Lord Vishnu appeared in the Kurma (tortoise)
avatar with his panchayudhas (conch, discus, mace, sword & bow). Thus, the
place came to be called as Sri
Kurmam.
By the
time of his appearance, the king health got deteriorated due to his intense
penance. Lord Vishnu created Ksheera Samudra through his Sudarshana Chakra. It
is said that goddess Lakshmi, the consort of Lord Vishnu, emerged from this
Pushkarini. She came to be called as Kurma Nayagi. Lord Vishnu advised to take
bath in Ksheera Samudra. As advised, Swetha Chakravarthy took bath in Ksheera
Samudra and regained his health.
As Swetha
Chakravarthy took bath in Ksheera Samudra, the Ksheera Samudra came to be
called as Swetha Pushkarini. The king requested Lord Vishnu to stay and bless
the devotees in his Kurma avathara in this place. Acceding to his request, Lord
Vishnu stayed here in the form of Kurmanatha. Lord Brahma, himself officiated
the celestial rituals and consecrated the deity with Gopala Yantra.
Later,
a tribal king visited the Swetha Pushkarini and was impressed with its origin. The
tribal king stayed in the ashram of Sage Sampangi and worshipped Kurmanatha
sincerely. The ashram was said to be located on the western side of the temple.
The king requested Lord Kurmanatha to turn towards his side as it would enable
him to worship continuously. Acceding to his request, Kurmanatha turned towards
his side i.e. started facing west.
Sri Narahari Teertha:
One of
the inscriptions at this
temple records the life story of a great saint Sri Narahari Tirtha. Sri
Narahari Tirtha (1243 – 1333 CE) was a Dvaita philosopher, scholar,
statesman and one of the disciples of Madhvacharya. He is considered to be
the progenitor of the Haridasa movement along with Sripadaraja.
He served as minister for the Eastern Ganga rulers and had considerable
influence over them. He later served as the pontiff of Madhvacharya mutt.
Sri Narahari
converted the Simhachalam temple into an educational establishment of
renown and a religious centre for Vaishnavism. Stotra Mahodadhi records
the life of Narahari Tirtha and his association with Sri
Kurmam temple. His guru Madhvacharya instructed him to go to the court of
the Gajapathi king and rule the Kalinga acting as a regent to the minor prince
of Gajapati Kingdom. However, Narahari Tirtha preferred Sanyasa.
His
guru informed him that there were important idols of Lord Rama and Mother Sita
in the treasury of Kalinga kingdom without the proper archana. He wanted Narahari
Tirtha to commence proper archana for these idols. Finally, Narahari Tirtha
acceded to his guru request and set out to the Gajapathi kingdom. He was
welcomed and became the regent of the young prince. He then ruled Kalinga for
12 years.
When
the prince grew up to the rule the kingdom, Narahari Tirtha handed over the
kingdom to the prince and returned to his guru with the idols of Rama and Sita.
He gave the idols to his guru. He worshipped the idols for eight years and
handed them to Padmanabha Tirtha, another disciple. Padmanabha Tirtha
worshipped them for six years and handed them back to Narahari Tirtha. Narahari
Tirtha was among the earliest recorded Vaishnava saints to visit this
temple.
Curse of Tillottama:
As per
legend, the king of Anandapuri saw a golden faced deer during his hunting
expedition and started chasing the deer. He reached Sudhagundam, a place near Srikurmam
while chasing the deer. He was not able to track the deer but noticed the
apsara, Tillottama. She was dancing before the Kurmanatha. The king was
awestruck with the beauty of the divine damsel and fell in love with her.
He
failed to notice the presence of the Lord. He begged her to become his love. The
damsel was enraged by his demand and cursed the king to be afflicted with a debilitating
disease. Realizing his mistake, the king performed severe penance on Lord
Kurmanatha for three hundred years. Pleased with his devotion, Lord provided
relief from the curse.
Balarama visit to this temple:
As per
legend, Lord Balarama visited this
temple in Dvapara Yuga and was denied entry by Bhairava, the guardian deity
of this
temple. Balarama got furious and threw Bhairava away from this
temple. Lord Kurmanatha came to know about this incident and gave
permission to Balarama to enter the
temple. However, angry Balarama cursed that Srikurmam
would be the only temple where Lord Vishnu would be worshipped in the form of
Kurma.
Swetamahipati:
As per
legend, after the death of Swetamahipati, when the bones of the king were
thrown into the Sweta Pushkarini tank, they got converted into Kurmas
(tortoises). Hence, this tank is considered sacred. It is also believed that
one should not enter the tank or even touch the water if they are impure
physically.
Moksha Sthanam:
It is
believed that this temple is believed to be the place for salvation (Moksha
Sthanam). It is also said that the Sweta Pushkarini has cosmic cleansing powers.
People perform the last rites of the deceased and immerse the ashes in the
Sweta Pushkarini similar to the immersion of ashes in the Ganges in Kasi. It is
said that the ashes immersed would turn into Salagrama stones.
Ramanuja’s visit to this temple:
As per
legend, Ramanujacharya visited Srikurmam
and worshipped Lord Vishnu at this
temple in 11th century CE. The deity was facing east till then,
turned towards west to bless Ramanuja. Hence, there are dwaja sthambas in the
eastern and western directions. It is also the reason to permit the devotees to
enter the sanctum for a closer darshan of the Lord.
Ganga cleanse herself of all the
sins left by the devotees here:
As per
legend, Mother Ganga takes bath in Sweta Pushkarini every year on Magha Sudha
Chavithi (around February) to cleanse herself of all the sins left by the
devotees.
People worshipped Lord
Kurmanatha here:
It is
believed that Lava & Kusha, the sons of Lord Rama, Balarama, Durvasa,
Narada, Sweta Chakravarthy, Brahma, Ramanuja, Narahari Thirtha, and Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu worshipped Lord Kurmanatha of this
temple.
Guardian of this temple:
As per
legend, Anjaneya agreed to guard the
temple upon the request of Lord Vishnu.
References in Puranas:
The
temple had been mentioned in Kurma, Vishnu, Agni, Padma and Brahmanda
Puranas.
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