Welcome to Adiyen Sri Ramanuja Dasan !
" Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha !"
101. Q .: Its mentioned in some books that Govindaraja swamy is the brother of Srinivasa in Tirumala. After Srinivasa kalyam, Gonvindaraja swamy was tired of counting the money and took rest by keeping the dhanam moota as a pillow and got vigraha roopam. Is it true?
In Ramanuja charitra its mentioned that RamAnuja has brought the Govindaraja perumal to Tirupathi and installed it. Its mentioned in one of the sites that this vigraham is made of clay and abhishekas will not be performed to this vigraham. Is that true?
Ans .: Sri Govindaraja Swamy shrine was constucted under the proposals of Ramanujacharya by one of the yadava kings ruling that time. The Temple Rituals strictly follows Vaikhanasa Samhithas. This idol is originally brought from Tiru Chitra Koodam (Chidambaram) divya desam from the disciples of Ramanuja when the Muslim invader Malik Cafur was violent on Hindu Temples. The original idol is of stone and while in the transportation, after reaching Tirupati, idol was slightly damaged and hence the idol was not suitable for worship.
When Ramanuja thought of to construct a temple for Sri Govindaraja, then the Vaikhanasa Priests at Tirumala suggested to build a clay layer over the stone idol, by keeping the stone idol as base. Then the temple sanctum for Govindaraja gets constructed and consecrated by Vaikhanasa Priests at Tirumala Temple. The Priests in this shrine are also Hereditary Priests and they also offer hereditary Archakatvam services at Tirumala Temple.
In a recent renovation 2004, the idol completely redesigned by pasting fresh clay, as earlier by TTD, and I have seen the stone idol internally that time. The renovation work took a year for completion and for a year a Baalaalayam was constructed in the Kalyana Mantapam of Sri Govindaraja Temple, after which the Maha Samprokshana festival took place in the year 2005.
102. Q .: You had mentioned that Muslim invader Malik Cafur was the one who threw the vigraham of govindarajan into the sea. But i read it in some books that the chola king , Kirumi Khanda cholan who was a veera saiva and greatly opposed vaishnavam that was growing under sri ramanuja . thus , he decided to destroy all the vishnu temples in his kingdom and thillai govindarajan was one of them . There are inscriptions quoting that the temple of govindaraja was bigger than of lord nataraja's ( siva ) in the olden days. Kings reduced the size of govindarajan temple and it now stands as only a sannathi .
Ans .: Yes u r right that the idol of Sri Govindaraja Swamy was thrown in to the Sea by Krimi Kanta Chola. And this happened when Malik Cafur invaded several Kshetrams of South, the Mulavirat from Sea and utsava idol of Sri Govindaraja Swamy from Chidambaram were transported to Tirupati. This utsava murthy idol is one of Pancha beras in that temple. Now a days if u have visited Chidambaram temple u'll find the utsava murthy exactly same as Tirupati Govindaraja Swamy Utsava Murthy.
Jai Srimannaryana !
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