Lakshmi Narayana Perumal Temple, Neervalur, Kanchipuram
Situated in the temple city of Kanchi is the Sri LakshmiNarayana Perumal temple at Neervalur. Kanchipuram. It is around 80 kilometers from Chennai.
This village has an interesting legend around it. It is said that the Tamil poetess Avvayar had visited this village and asked the villagers for water. The villagers refused to provide water to her. She cursed this village that it should suffer from water scarcity.
Several centuries rolled by but still the water scarcity continued. During that time, the Vaishanava saint Sri Ramanuja appeared in the dream of the 6th pontiff of the revered Ahobila Mutt and told him about an idol of Vishnu which was buried somewhere near Kanchipuram.
As instructed in the dream, the saint travelled to Kanchipuram and met the king there. When the saint asked for some land for the temple, the king was sceptical and granted the barren land of Neervalur (The name neervalur came to this place much later on) to the saint.
On reaching Neervalur, the saint understood the problems faced by the village. He prayed to his deity Lord Narasimha to bless the village. His prayers were answered with torrential rains which swept away years of draught. Sri Ramanuja appeared in the form of a snake and came to the saint. The saint followed the snake as it went. It just disappeared at a particular point. When the place was dug out idols of Lord Lakshmi Narayana along with his consorts were discovered. A temple was built in the same place by the saint, thus Lakshmi Narayana Perumal Temple came into being. The abundant rains resulted in the formation of a huge lake and thus the village got its name as Neervalur (Neer meaning water in Tamil). This huge lake is still there and is called as JeeyarKulam.
Since it was Sri Ramanuja who instructed the Ahobila Mutt pontiff to this place, it is also called as Sri Bhashyapuram. (Bashyakara is another name for Sri Ramanuja). The Ahobila Mutt,Jeeyar also installed a small deity of Ugra Narasimha in the temple.
During the last century, efforts were made to construct a separate shrine for Goddess Lakshmi in this temple. But the Lord appeared in the dream of the people in the village and told that he himself is Lakshmi Narayanan and there is no need for a separate shrine for Lakshmi. After this incident, the locals abandoned their efforts for constructing a Shrine for Lakshmi.This temple is managed by the Ahobila Mutt and the priest stays just next to the temple. It is a must visit for people travelling to Kanchipuram. If we take the Chennai Bangalore highway, just before Kanchipuram, we will see a Pamban oil mill (which is now abandoned). Take the cut near the Pamban mill and the straight road will take you to the temple. It should be around 14 kms from the Kanchipuram city bus stand
Location: Neervalur, Tamil Nadu, India
