Varadharaja Perumal Templeਵਰਦਰਾਜ ਪੇਰੂਮਲ ਮੰਦਰ (ਕਾਂਚੀਪੁਰਮ)

In Vishnu Kanchi, the eastern quarter of Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu, stands the largest temple of the city: Varadharaja Perumal Temple, also called Hastagiri, Attigiri and simply Perumal Koil, the Temple of Perumal. It is dedicated to Vishnu as Varadharaja, the king who grants boons, and it is one of the 108 Divya Desams, the holy abodes of Vishnu sung by the Alvar poet-saints. Together with Ekambareswarar Temple and Kamakshi Amman Temple, it forms the Mumurtivasam, the abode of the trio that defines Kanchipuram: Shiva, Vishnu and the Goddess in one sacred city.

The boon-giver on Elephant Hill

The temple rises on Hastagiri, Elephant Hill, a low hillock about 360 metres long. Temple tradition ties the name to Indra, king of the gods, who is said to have been cursed to roam as an elephant and freed here by Vishnu. Another tradition tells how Brahma performed a great sacrifice on this spot, and how Vishnu lay flat to hold back the flooding river Vegavati so the rite could finish, emerging from the sacred fig tree as Varadharaja. These are devotional traditions, told here as the temple tells them. What is certain is the sanctum arrangement: devotees usually visit the shrine of Perundevi Thayar, the goddess, first, then climb to the main shrine, where the granite image of Varadharaja, about 3 metres tall, stands facing west beneath the Punyakoti Vimanam.

Rebuilt in 1053, written over with 350 inscriptions

The Cholas renovated the temple in 1053, and the great Chola kings Kulottunga I and Vikrama Chola expanded it; a further wall and gopuram came in the 14th century, and Vijayanagara-era kings added some of its finest sculpture. Around 350 inscriptions survive in its walls, left by the Chola, Pandya, Chera, Kakatiya, Hoysala and Vijayanagara dynasties, recording gifts of villages, gold and land. In 1688, fearing a Mughal invasion, the temple's main image was carried away to Udayarpalayam and only brought back in 1710 after long negotiation, an event the temple still commemorates. A later visitor left a famous gift: Robert Clive presented a valuable necklace, still known as the Clive Maharkandi, which the deity wears on special occasions.

What will you see inside the 23-acre complex?

The complex covers about 23 acres in three outer courtyards, with 32 shrines, 19 vimanams and hundreds of pillared halls. You enter through a seven-tiered rajagopuram about 40 metres tall; unusually, the eastern gopuram is taller than the western one. The masterpiece is the 100-pillared hall, a Vijayanagara-era mandapa whose pillars carry scenes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and whose corners hold the temple's most famous carving: a chain sculpted from a single stone. Near the sanctum, two carved lizards, one plated in gold and one in silver, recall the legend of two disciples of the sage Gautama who were cursed to live as lizards and freed by Vishnu's grace. The temple tank, Anantha Theertham, lies within the complex, and on its eastern side stands a shrine to Chakrathalvar, the discus of Vishnu, with one of the largest such images in India. The whole complex is a textbook of Dravida temple architecture, built up over six centuries.

Athi Varadar: the wooden god who rises every 40 years

Hidden under the water of the temple tank lies the temple's strangest treasure: Athi Varadar, a 3-metre image of the deity carved from the wood of the athi, or fig, tree. Tradition says it was the original presiding image, hidden in the 16th century to protect it from invaders and rediscovered in 1709 when the tank was emptied. Since then it has been raised for public worship once every 40 years, for 48 days: first in a reclining posture for 24 days, then standing for 24 days. The festival was last held from 1 July to 17 August 2019 and drew enormous crowds to Kanchipuram. The next rising is due in 2059.

Ramanuja and the six questions

Few temples are so bound up with a philosopher. Ramanuja, the great teacher of Vishishtadvaita, is believed to have resided here, and tradition says he received answers to his six questions from Varadharaja through the devotee Thirukkachi Nambigal, who walked daily from Poovirundhavalli with flowers and fanned the deity. Ramanuja ordained Nambigal's descendant Tirukkurukai Piran Pillan as the first of his 74 teaching seats and chose him to write the first commentary on the Tiruvaymoli. The Alvar hymns sing this shrine too: Thirumangai Alvar wrote four hymns for it, Bhoothathalvar two and Peyalvar one. The temple follows the Pancharatra tradition, its hereditary custodians are the Thathacharyas, and it is administered by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department of Tamil Nadu.

Festivals and visiting today

The great festival is the Brahmotsavam in Vaigasi, May to June, when thousands fill the courtyards and the crowds double again for the Garuda Vahanam procession and the temple car festival. Kanchipuram is about 75 km south-west of Chennai, and Vishnu Kanchi lies in the eastern part of the town; most visitors combine Varadharaja with Ekambareswarar and Kamakshi in a single day, the Shaiva, Vaishnava and Shakta hearts of one city. Among the mandirs of India, Varadharaja is the one where a wooden god sleeps under water for 40 years at a time, and where a philosopher's questions are still part of the daily story.