Kurmanatha Swamy Temple, Srikurmam – Legends

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 11^th 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.