Thus Spake the Divine - Sacred Temples Exhibiting Unity

Thus Spake the Divine

Sacred Temples Exhibiting Unity

There are many temples that exhibit the oneness of Shiva and Vishnu. One such is Sankara Narayana Temple (“Shankara” is Shiva, and “Narayana” is Vishnu) in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu.

This temple has a fused representation of both Shiva and Vishnu as one Deity. There is one other temple in the west, where Shiva and Vishnu are sculpted in one statue, with one half of the image as Shiva and other half as Vishnu.

In Kutralam, Agastya has turned a statue of Vishnu into a Shiva Linga. These are popular places well known by people. I am going to tell you about a place, which is not so popular yet. It is Tiruparkadal near Kanchipuram, located on the Kanchipuram-Velur Road, 20 kilometres from Kanchipuram.

A Vaishnava Brahmin was visiting Vishnu temples wherever he went. He had taken a vow that he would not take his food without doing darshan of Vishnu.

He once passed through Tiruparkadal, where he began his search for a Vishnu Temple. He could not find one. At last, he entered a temple assuming it should be Vishnu’s temple. But to his dismay, it was a Shiva temple. He was hungry as he could not get the darshan of Lord Vishnu.

When he was leaving the temple dejected, he met an old Brahmin. On enquiry, the old Brahmin said it was indeed a Vishnu temple, which led to a heated argument between the Vaishnava Brahmin and the old Brahmin. Seeing them thus, some residents of that town assembled there. On these residents’ mediation, everybody entered the temple.

Once they entered the shrine, something appeared on the Avudaiyar (on which Shiva Lingam is installed). What a surprise! It was not a lingam. It was Vishnu’s idol! The Vaishnava was dumbfounded seeing Vishnu’s idol there. He turned to the old Brahmin to apologise.

By that time, the old man had immersed in the Vishnu idol. Perumal (Vishnu) thus Himself came there to demonstrate that there is no discrimination between Shiva and Vishnu!

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.