Where Sage Narada Incarnated to Worship Krishna

 

Armed with several facts associated with the temple and its legends, I visualize Baby Krishna joyfully dancing on Kaalia’s hood to the accompaniment of mellifluous compositions of Venkata Kavi emanating from his flute. The poet-saint’s kriti Alai Payuthe Kanna, is apt for my state of mind which is deluged by waves of emotion as I stand entranced before this unique idol of Lord Krishna at Oothukadu.

 

The 1000 year old temple, referred to as Then Gokulam (Gokulam of the South) is believed to be the only temple in India dedicated to Lord Krishna in the Kaalinga Narthana (dancing on the hood of serpent Kaalia) pose. The larger part of the temple - the sanctum sanctorum, ardha mantapam, Raja Gopuram and its several sculptures were built in the Chola period during the reign of Nalankonda Chola. The rest of the structures are subsequent addition made through the centuries.

Oothukadu with its pastoral setting, and once home to Pushpavanam, a garden replete with a variety of blossoms, derives its name from the Tamil words ‘oothu’ (spring) and ‘kaadu’ (forest). It is believed that he celestial minstrel Narada during his wanderings on earth, stayed here and prayed to Sri Krishna to provide water to the region. A pond immediately sprang up in response to his pleas.

The legend of the village is closely associated with Aavoor, a neighbourhood which is home to Pashupathishwara Temple with Shiva as its presiding deity. Nandini and Patti, children of the heavenly cow Kamadhenu served Lord Shiva by providing milk for his abhisheka every day. Also, they would graze in the lush Pushpavanam and would carry back flowers to the Pashupathishwara temple for Shiva’s worship.

Narada would regale the calves with stories from the Puranas and Bhagavatham. During one such narration, the twosome felt extremely overwhelmed hearing the story of Krishna’s tussle with the demon serpent Kaalia. Tears gushed out of their eyes as they listened to Narada explaining how child Krishna bore injuries inflicted on him by the serpent, only to ensure welfare of the earthly beings. The calves expressed their desire to see the dance for themselves. Narada communicated to them his inability to do this and asked them to approach their mother Kamadhenu for help.

 

Kamadhenu immediately appeared on earth at Oothukadu and together with all its people, prayed to Krishna to reveal Himself and enact the dance. Krishna duly emerged from the pond and performed the Kaalinga narthanam. As devas and demigods witnessed His Divine grace and beauty, floral rains showered upon Him from the heavens. The earthly beings thus blessed by darshan of Sri Krishna in this Kaliyuga, were unwilling to let go off Him. Heeding their humble pleas, the Lord transformed himself in idol form and stayed with the people of Oothukadu.  

 

Sage Narada was utterly mesmerized when he witnessed Krishna’s Kaalinga narthanam and his subsequent transformation into the idol form in this nondescript hamlet. He installed the Lord’s idol with Nandini and Patti standing on either sides.

 

With seamless bhakti and love for Krishna, Narada did not wish to move on from the village. He incarnated in the 18^th century as Venkata Subba Iyer (1700 – 1765), popularly known as Venkata Kavi. At Oothukadu he served the Lord by composing several hundred songs in His praise. Between the ages of 16 and 36, Venkata Kavi composed and sang innumerable songs devoted to Krishna and other deities as well. In fact, unable to find a proper music teacher, Venkata surrendered to Krishna who Himself kept the tala for his devotee! Yet others claim that Venkata who visualized the Lord to be asleep on his lap, refrained from performing tala on his lap for fear of disturbing the sleeping Krishna.

It is said that Venkata Kavi once challenged Sri Krishna to a competition, asking him to perform the Kaalinganarthana while he himself would sing in synch with the Lord’s steps. He further placed a condition that the Lord should stop his dance when Venkata would ask Him to do so. Krishna offered to give Venkata darshan as a cowherd, or as a baby stealing butter. Venkata was however adamant in having his way.

Lord Krishna acquiesced. Venkata Kavi composed the evergreen Kalinga Narthana thillana in ragam Gambheera Naatai, to synch with the rhythmic steps of the Lord. Rukmini and Satyabhama descended on earth to watch this delightful sight. According to one version of the story, Venkata immediately asked Krishna to stop his dance. Still other quarters say Krishna stopped his dance and transfigured into the Utsava Murthy idol when Venkata could no longer compose. No matter the version, there developed a hairline gap between Krishna’s foot and Kaaliya’s hood when the Lord stopped his dance midway. Even today, this paper-thin space is visible when seen from behind the idol. Spiritual and or music connoisseurs opine that Venkata had composed and sung the thillana in such manner that at one junction, a particular word is so pronounced as to resemble the hissing sound made by the snake!

The Moolavar or main deity in black stone in the temple is Sri Vedanarayana Perumal along with his consorts Sridevi and Bhudevi in sitting posture. The 2.5 ft tall Kaalinganarthana Krishna is self-manifest or Swayambhu murthi in panchaloham (the tradition 5-metal alloy with sacred significance). Claimed to be the only one of its kind in the main sanctum of any shrine in the world, the idol’s right leg is poised in the dance posture and is in air while his left foot is a hairline breath away from the serpent’s hood. The belief according to some, explaining this gap is that the All-compassionate and merciful Krishna abstained from crushing the serpent under his foot when the latter surrendered to Him. While Krishna’s right hand is in Abhaya Mudra, blessing his devotees, he appears to be holding the tail of Kaalia with his left thumb. A close look of the statuette reveals abrasions said to be scars caused in the fight with the serpent. The iconic figurine is flanked by Rukmini and Satyabhama.

 

The temple, a modest edifice, has shrines dedicated to Vinayaka in dancing pose at the main entrance, Panchamukhi Anjaneya, the Vaishnavite saint and the only woman Azhwar, Andal, and Venkata Kavi himself.

It is perhaps the only temple dedicated to Vishnu, where those suffering from Sarpa Dosham or mal-effects of planets Rahu and Ketu, may be redeemed of these. Rahu is believed to have prostrated before Maha Vishnu here and promised to redeem devotees from such doshas. Hence, it is considered a Prarthana Sthalam for liberation from Rahu and Kethu.

For the musically inclined, Venkata Kavi who followed Advaita philosophy and envisioned all forms of Gods as One, composed songs on several deities besides Krishna. In penning these, he followed both, Bhakti and Jnana margas. According to legend, Venkata Kavi was fortunate to have Lord Kalinga Narthana Krishna himself as his Guru. No less than 14 of the poet’s compositions bear testimony to this. The first song composed by him following his initiation by Krishna, was Aadathey ashangathu vaa Kanna in Madhyamavathi ragam.

Venkata Kavi elaborately describes Lord Narasimha in a shloka form in Sanskrit, titled Narasimha Panchakam comprising five stanzas of five lines each. Following his Guru and Lord, Krishna who himself underwent Sri Vidhya initiation before killing the asura Kamsa, Venkata Kavi is believed to have been initiated into Sri Vidhya worship from Shri Bhaskatraraya, the commentator on Lalitha Sahasranama. In keeping with another tradition in Hinduism as mentioned in Krishna Karnamrutam, Venkata Kavi worshipped Sri Krishna and Goddess Rajarajeshwari as one form, called Gopalasundari, aka Shri Vidhya Rajagopala. Thus emerged his Navavarna Krithis on Kamakshi Devi, based on Sri Vidhya worship.

Venkata Kavi, it is believed, was the first composer to compose a set of seven krithis called Saptaratnas, six of which are in Sanskrit and one in Tamizh. 

The walls of the circumambulatory path in the temple have lyrics of several songs composed by the poet.

It was a profound outpouring of the heart in Alaypayuthey Kanna in Kaanada ragam in which an extremely anguished Venkata rues, not getting a darshan of his beloved Krishna all through his life. Legend has it that at that very instant, the poet could feel a child on his lap! The child further informed him that he had come to take the Kavi to his abode, Vaikuntam.

  

Quick facts

Reaching Oothukadu

It is located about 12kms South West of Kumbakonam, off the Aavoor-Thirukarugavur –Thittai road.

Oothukkadu is about 7 km from Thirukarugavoor, where the famous shrine of Goddess Garbha Rakshambigai is located.

 

Temple Timings: 9.30 a.m.-12 noon and 5 p.m. - 8 p.m.

 

Festivals

Jayadeva’s Ashtapadi is rendered by a Bhagavatar on every Ekadasi day.

Dhanurmasa puja is performed on all days of Margazhi month (Dec/Jan). During the same time period, Radha Kalyanam (wedding of Radha) is performed.

Uriyadi Utsavam on Gokulashtami is a big, crowd-pulling event

Special Alankara and Abhisheka on Rohini star every month