Narayanavanam is a town in Tirupati district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is the headquarters of Narayanavanam mandal in Sri Kalahasti revenue division. The town is known for Kalyana Venkateswara Temple dedicated to Lord Venkateswara and constructed in 1541 AD. According to Skanda purana, Lord Venkateswara married Padmavati at Narayanavanam. The Kalyana Venkateswara Temple at Narayanavanam is believed to have been originally built by King Tondaman, brother of Padmavati.
Once several rishis headed by Kashyapa began to perform a sacrifice on the banks of the Ganges and requested Sage Bhrugu to identify the God who could be worshipped in their sacrifice. Sage Bhrugu first went to Satyaloka, where he found Lord Brahma, reciting the four Vedas in praise of Lord Vishnu, with each of his four heads, and attended upon by his consort Saraswati. Lord Brahma did not take notice of Bhrugu offering obeisance.
This made Bhrugu to conclude that Lord Brahma was unfit for worship and he cursed Brahma that no one will worship him in Kaliyuga. At Kailasa, Bhrugu was not allowed inside by the guards as Lord Shiva was romancing with his wife Parvati. The sage cursed Lord Shiva saying Shiva will be worshipped only in the form of Lingam. At Vaikuntam, Lord Vishnu was reposing on Adisesha with Sri Mahalakshmi in service at His feet.
Finding that Lord Vishnu also did not notice him, the sage was infuriated and kicked the Lord on His chest, the place where Mahalakshmi resides. At once, Lord Vishnu hastened to apologize to the angry sage and pressed his feet to allay the pain caused to Bhrugu’s leg. While doing so the Lord smartly removed the eye in the foot of the sage, thereby stripping Bhrugu of his special powers. Thereupon, the sage concluded that Lord Vishnu was the most supreme of the Trimurtis and told the rishis the same.
Sri Mahalakshmi angered by the action of her Lord in apologizing to Bhrugu leaves Vaikuntha and resides in Karavirapur (now known as Kolhapur). After the departure of Mahalakshmi, a forlorn Lord Vishnu left Vaikuntam and took abode in an ant-hill under a tamarind tree, beside a Pushkarini on the Venkatachalam Hill, meditating for the return of Lakshmi, without food or sleep. This was the place where earlier Lord took the form of Varaha (wild boar) to rescue Mother Earth from the deep ocean by killing the demon Hiranyaksha who dragged the earth into deep ocean. Deeply concerned about Lord Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva decided to assume the forms of a cow and its calf to serve Him.
Surya, the Sun God informed Mahalakshmi of this and requested her to assume the form of a cowherd and sell the cow and calf to the king of the Chola country. The king of the Chola country bought the cow and its calf and sent them to graze on the Venkatachalam Hill along with his herd of cattle. Discovering Lord Vishnu on the ant-hill, the cow provided its milk, and thus fed the Lord. Meanwhile, at the palace as the cow was not yielding any milk the Chola Queen reprimanded the cowherd severely.
To find out the cause of lack of milk, the cowherd followed the cow, hid himself behind a bush and discovered the cow emptying her udder over the ant-hill. Incensed over the conduct of the cow, the cowherd tried to hit the cow with his axe. Lord Vishnu rises from the ant-hill to receive the blow and saves the cow. When the cowherd saw the Lord bleed at the blow of his axe, he fell down and died of shock.
When the cow returned with blood stains all over her body the Chola King wanted to find out the cause of the cow’s terror, and followed her to the scene of the incident. The King found the cowherd lying dead on the ground near the ant-hill. Lord Vishnu rises from the ant-hill and curses the King saying that he would become an Asura (demon) because of the fault of his servant i.e., cowherd.
When the King pleaded innocence, the Lord blessed him by saying that the king will be reborn as Akasa Raja and the curse would end when the Lord will be adorned with a crown presented by Akasa Raja at the time of his daughter Padmavati’s marriage with the Lord. With these words Lord turned into stone form. Thereafter, Lord Vishnu in the name of Srinivasa, decided to stay in Varaha Kshetra, and requested Sri Varahaswami to grant Him a site for His stay.
Srinivasa built a hermitage and lived there, attended to by Vakuladevi who looked after him like a mother. Vakuladevi is regarded as the reincarnation of Yashoda who was the foster mother of Lord Krishna in Dwaparyuga. When Yashoda complained to Lord Krishna that she couldn’t witness any of his marriages, Lord Krishna assured her that she would get such opportunity later in Kali Yuga.
When King Akasaraja was tilling the earth for performing a sacrifice he found a box in which there was a girl child on a lotus in the Padmapushkarini situated at present day Tiruchanur in Andhra Pradesh. She came to be known as Padmini (Skandapurana) and Padmavathi (Bhavishyottara purana).
Vedavati takes birth as Padmavati
Vedavati was the daughter of Brahmarishi Kushadhvaja, who was the son of Brihaspati, the guru of the devas. Kushadhvaja wanted to get his daughter Vedavati married to god Vishnu as her husband. Ravana, the king of Lanka found Vedavati sitting in meditation as a tapasvini and was captivated by her incredible beauty. He proposed to marry her and when she rejected he tried to assault her. The furious Vedavati cursed Ravana that she would be born once more, and would be the cause of his death. She subsequently leapt into the ritual havan that was present in her vicinity, immolating herself.When Vedavati enters the fire to immolate herself, the fire-god Agni provides her refuge.
In later stage, when Sita is to be kidnapped by Ravana, Sita seeks shelter in the fire and exchanges places with Maya Sita, who is Vedavati in her previous birth. Ravana abducts Maya Sita, mistaking her to be Sita. After Ravana is killed by Sita’s husband Rama, Sita and Maya Sita switch places in the Agni Pariksha. Vedavati asked Rama to be her husband. Rama, being of utmost loyalty to Sita, declines, but promises to marry her in his next incarnation. Thus, Vedavati appears as a child in a box on a lotus when Akasaraja was tilling the earth for performing a sacrifice, and she is named Padmavati.
One day, Lord Srinivasa, who was hunting, chased a wild elephant in the forests surrounding the hills and enters a garden, where Princess Padmavati and her maids were picking flowers. The sight of the elephant frightened the Princess and her maids. But the elephant immediately turned around, saluted the Lord and disappeared into the forest. Srinivasa returned to the hills in haste, leaving his horse behind.
Vakuladevi found him lying on his bed, not interested in anything and realises that he had fallen in love with Padmavati, daughter of King Akasaraja. Meanwhile, Akasa Raja and his queen Dharanidevi learn about Padmavati’s love for Srinivasa of Venkatachalam Hill. Akasa Raja consults Brihaspati who advises that their marriage would be in the interest of both the parties. Kubera lends money to Lord Srinivasa to meet the expenses of the marriage.
As the marriage took place in Narayanavaram, Padmavati’s brother King Tondaman built two Temples; one is at Narayanavanam, another in Tirumala to commemorate this occasion. Narayanavanam is one of the few temples where we can see both Venkateswara Swamy along with Padmavati Devi in one complex.
Temple history
The temple was rebuilt in 1245 AD by Narasimhadeva Yadavaraya. Subsequently in 1541-42 Penugonda Veerappa again renovated the temple. In 1943 further renovation to the temple was done by Surajmal Karva, the manager of the principality of Alwar Veera (Rajasthan). On 29th April, 1967 the temple came under the supervision of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam.
The main rajagopuram of the temple was built by the King Sri Krishna Devaraya which has seven tiers and rises to 150 feet height. The second gopuram was built by Veera Narasimha Devaraya with three tiers. Lord Venkateswara is seen facing east in this temple. His consort Lakshmi is seen residing on his bosom. A dasavathara band adores his waist.
A garland of salagramas (ammonite fossil stones) along with Conch and Discus adorn his shoulders. He carries a hunting sword in his hand. This Temple has four small shrines of Sri Padmavati, Andal, Sri Prayaga Madhava swami and Sri Varadaraja Swami. At the entrance in front of the Sanctum is the small Garudalwar Sannidhi. In addition to these, there are five more temples to the main one.
These are dedicated to Sri Parasareswara Swami with his consort Champakavalli, Sri Veerabadhra Swami, Sri Sakthi Vinayaka Swami, Sri Agastheeswara Swami with his consort Marakathavalli and Sri Avanakshamma. (Amnam means Veda or sacred tradition, Akshi means eye, Amnakshi means Goddess who possesses vedas as her eyes. As time passed by Amnakshi turned to Avanakshamma). It is said that Adi Shankara installed sree chakra in the Avanakshamma temple.
Festivals
Annual Brahmotsavam is conducted in the main Venkateswara Temple here as well as in Veerabadhra Swami and Sri Avanakshamma Temples. Navarathri celebrations are also held in the Avanakshamma Temple.
At the end of Sankranthi every year, Giri Pradakshinam (i.e., circumambulation of the Hill) is held and the Utsava moorthis of Sri Parasareswara Swami and Sri Champakavalli Ammavaru, Sri Agastheeswara Swami and Sri Markathavalli Ammavaru are taken in procession.
How to reach Narayanavanam Sri Kalyana Venkateswara Swamy Temple?
Temple is located at a distance of 37 Km from Tirupati and Nearest Railway Station is at Puttur, which is about 5 km. Tirupati airport (Renigunta) is the nearest airport to Narayanavanam.
–Dr. B.N.V. Parthasarathi
