Appakkudathaan Perumal Temple or Thirupper Nagar, is a Hindu temple located in Koviladi, a village from Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India. It is dedicated to Vishnu and is one of the Divya Desamsthe 108 temples of Vishnu revered in Nalayira Divya Prabandham by the 12 poet saints or Alvars. This temple is located along the banks of the Cauvery River and is one of the five Pancharanga Kshetrams located on the banks of the Cauvery River.
The temple is believed to be of significant antiquity, with contributions at different times from the Medieval Cholas. The temple is built on an elevated structure and is approached through a flight of 21 steps. The rajagopuram (the main gateway) has three tiers and the temple has a precinct around the sanctum.
Ranganatha is believed to have appeared for king Upmananya and sage Parasara. The temple has four daily rituals; the first begins at 8:30 a.m. and the last at 8 p.m. There are four annual festivals on the temple's calendar; its chariot festival celebrated during the Tamil month of Panguni (March–April) is the most prominent of these.
Legend and etymology
As per Hindu legend, the king Ubhamanyu earned the wrath of sage Durvasar and lost all his physical strength. To get rid of the curse, he was asked to feed one lakh people every day. One day, Hindu god Vishnu disguised himself as an old man, appeared before the king and asked for a meal. The king went on donating and the old man consumed all the food prepared for the people. The king was shocked and bewildered at this strange act. The old man asked for a kudam (pot) of Neyyaappam (a sweatmeal), stating that only it can fulfill his hunger. The king fulfilled the wish and later realised that it was Vishnu who had appeared as the old man. The king was relieved of the sage's curse by the blessings of Vishnu. Because of the legend, Vishnu is called "Appakkudathaan" in the temple.
It is believed that this temple is where sage Markandeya was liberated from his curse from Yama (god of death), who cursed Markandeya to die at 16 years old. The presiding deity is Ranganatha, who is believed to have crushed Indira's (a celestial deity) pride. The place is called "Koviladi" because it is located downstream of the Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple, which is referred as kovil in Vaishnava tradition. The temple is called as "Tiruppernagar" because the region was called "Per Nagar" during Chola times. The Alvars refer the place as "Tiruppernagar" in Nalayira Divya Prabandam, the Sri Vaishnava canon.
The temple has inscriptions from the 18th year of the reign of Aditya Chola. The recorded inscriptions in this temple are numbered 283, 300, 301 and 303 of 1901. As per Nammalvar, the temple was home to the Vedic scholars of the time. The inscriptions in the temple indicate donations given towards the building of the main hall. Koviladi was one of the focal points of fighting in the regions surrounding Tiruchirapalli during the Anglo-French war; there are no records on the contributions or damages caused by this war.
Architecture
The temple has a three-tiered rajagopuram facing west and an elevated structure approached through 21 steps. The Moolavar (presiding deity) of the temple, "Appala Rangan", is seen in Bhujangasayanm (a reclining posture) facing west and is surrounded by Bhooma Devi and Kamalavalli Thayar. The central deity is depicted in a reclining posture called pujanga sayanam, and he is shown holding the holy pot in his right hand. The sanctum also contains the image of Upayamanyu and Dhurvarsa. The central deity is called Appala Ranganathar; he is located away from the Ranganathar in Srirangam. The temple has a prakaram (precinct) around the sanctum. According to historian K.V. Soundararajan, the Rangantha temples in South India built during the 9th and 10th centuries have systematic arrangement of subsidiary deities as seen in this temple along with the Sowmya Narayana Perumal temple at Thirukoshtiyur, Veeraraghava Perumal temple at Thiruvallur, Rajagopalaswamy temple at Mannargudi and Rangantha temple at Srirangapatna.