Nilathingal Thundam Perumal Temple Kanchipuram: History and Timings

Nilathingal Thundam Perumal Temple Kanchipuram: History, and Timings

The shrine of Nilathingal Thunda Perumal is another divya desam for Vaishnavites.In Kanchipuram, you can see this shrine to Lord Vishnu in one of the prakaras of the Ekambareswarar temple. Another interesting thing about this sannidhi is that it is inside the main Shiva Temple. Even now, a Saivite priest offers the prayer at this Vaishnavite shrine. The name of the Lord in this temp le is Ni-lathingal Thundathan or Chandrachooda Perumal. It shows God standing up and looking west. Purushasukta Vimana is where the Lord is.

It is said that Lord Vishnu couldn’t bear the heat of Ha-lahala poison while churning the milk ocean. The cold rays of the moon made him feel better at that time. Because of this, the Lord is called Nilathingal Thunda Perumal, where Nila means “moon.”

Nilathingal Thundam Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram

There is also a story that Goddess Parvati put her hands over Lord Shiva’s eyes for fun. The whole world went dark because Lord Shiva’s two eyes are thought to be the Sun and the Moon. The world was made brighter when Lord Shiva opened His third eye. The Lord was mad at Parvati and told Her to do penance on earth to make up for what She did without thought.
So, Goddess Parvati went to Kanchipuram to make amends. She came to Badarikasrama when she was a child. Katyayana rishi raised her and named her Katyayani. As the child grew up, the rishi learned why She was born and sent Her to Kanchipuram in the south. He gave her thirteen things: a rosary, a holy book, fried green gram, sand from the Ganges, an umbrella, a fan made of palmyra leaves, two chowries (flywhisks), a water pot, Vidayadharam, deepastambham, and Ganges water. He told her that these 13 things would change into a trident, a bilva garland, somavritta, kamadhenu, sprouted green gram dhal, a lingam, a snake-shaped ornament, a parrot, two beautiful women, the base for the lingam, and a needle as soon as she got to Kanchipuram. So, Katyayani set out to go to Kanchi. When she got to Kanchi, she made a Sivalingam out of sand and asked the two beautiful women (Saktis) to watch over it. She stood on top of the needle and did a lot of bad things under a mango tree as punishment.

Lord Siva wanted to test Parvati. He let Ganga out of his pulled-back hair. A flood from the Ganges was getting close to where Parvati was doing her penance, so she used her two “Saktis” to stop the water. One took on the form of Kali and held the flood water in a head in Her hand. The name of her was Maha Pralayabandhini.
Lord Shiva caused the flood water in the head to rise to the top.

For help, Katyayani prayed her brother Narayana to come her rescue. Vishnu took on His viswaroopa form, stopped the flood, and told His sister to hold the sand lingam with both hands so it wouldn’t break. This is what Parvati did. She had worked incredibly hard at being humble, and Lord Shiva blessed her. People say that when Lord Vishnu took on His Visvaroopa form, the moonlight hit His throat right on the spot. He was given the name Nilathingal Thunda Perumal because of this.-