page_title: Thirucherai
section_title: Sri Saranatha Perumal Temple
hierarchical_section_title: Thirucherai / Sri Saranatha Perumal Temple
caption_attribution_description: English: this photo show a divine of tje lord
context_page_description: Thirucherai is a village in the Kumbakonam taluk of Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu, India. It is bordered Aandiruppu on its eastern side.
context_section_description: The Vaishnavites of Thirucherai use the attribute ‘Sara’ (quintessence, core, soul, etc.) to denote the Perumal enshrined here. The kshetra is known as Sara-kshetra. The Moorthi is known as Sara-nathan, His Consort as Sara-nayaki, the temple tower as sara-vimanam and the temple tank as sara-pushkarani. It is therefore that the Saivites have also chosen to call their Lord as Sara-Parameswarar, the Lord who is the core of all beings. The Shiva temple is popularly known as Arul migu Gnanavalli-samedha-Sara Parmeswarar Koil.
  Temple:
  This temple has two prakarams. The temple is 116 meters in length and 72 meters width with 22 meters high Raja Gopuram.
  There are shrines for Yoga Narasimhar and RajaGopalaswamy with his consorts Rukmani and satyabama. It is also believed that Anjaneya blesses the devotees from the west end of Pushkarini and Ganesh from northeastern side.
  Naayak King of Thanjavur, who was attached to Vishnu temples, sent construction materials to Mannargudi for the construction of the Rajagopalaswamy temple. A minister of the king decided to bring a few bricks on every trip to Thiru Cherai for the renovation of this temple.
  Suspecting this, the king decided on a sudden inspection. A worried minister prayed to Rajagopalaswamy and to the surprise of the Nayak King, the Mannargudi Lord is said to have appeared before the king at Thirucherai, at the time of the inspection. A delighted king immediately allocated funds towards the construction and renovation of the Thirucherai temple.
  In the inner sanctum, River Kaveri has been personified as a mother holding a child on her lap.! The importance given to forces of nature – i.e. the sun, moon, planets, stars, and every aspect of the universe like, rivers, trees, etc. in Hindu religion is indeed remarkable. Every temple honours the stala vruksham- a tree, a mount--- e.g. Garudan or Nandi ( i.e. an animal); and at Tirucherai we can see the river Kaveri in her maternal status as a life- giver.
  Legend:
  Markandeya and Kaveri Amman meditated upon Lord Vishnu. It is also believed that brahma made a clay plot to rescue and preserve the Vedas during pralaya, but none of the pots made by Brahma whenever he tried. There upon he was directed by Lord Vishnu to proceed to Thirucherai (Saara Kshetram) and make a pot out of the clay on the banks of kaveri, and thus the Vedas were protected in a pot made out of tough mud at this place.
  Once Ganga, Cauvery and other big rivers were playing at the foot of the Vindhya Hills. A Gandharva, who was passing by, waited for a minute and saluted them. Peculiar to know who he looked at, they approached the Gandharva who answered that his salute was addressed at the senior most among them.
  While the rest of them gave way, Ganga and Cauvery got into an argument as to who was senior among the two and went to Brahmma for the decision. Brahma pronounced that the water he used for the special pooja of Lord Vishnu flowed down as the Ganges and hence she was the most sacred.
  Depressed by this, Cauvery was eager to get herself a similar stature. Brahmma asked her to undertake penance at ThiruCherai and invoke Vishnu’s blessings as he was the only one who could provide her with a solution.
  Cauvery requested the Lord to stay at Thirucherai in the same form and he accepted her wish. Also, she wanted to achieve the status of the "sacred water". After more than 1000 years of thapus, Lord appeared before Goddess Kaveri and blessed her with following:
  1. She will be equal to ganga in southern part of vindya.
  2. He will stay at this Kshethram for ever and bless all those who visit this place.
  It houses Sri Saranathan Perumal Temple which is a Divya Desam
  கண்சோர வெங்குருதி வந்திழிய வெந்தழல்போல் கூந்தலாளை
  மண்சேர முலையுண்ட மாமதலாய வானவர்தம் கோவே என்று
  விண்சேரும் இளந்திங்கள் அகடு உரிஞ்சு மணிமாட மல்கு
  செல்வத் தண்சேறை எம்மெருமான் தாள் தொழுவார் காண்மின் என் தலைமேலாரே
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thirucherai_kulam.JPG
caption: Saranathan
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