Legend of Sarangapani TempleSarnagapani Temple of Tamil Nadu has an
old history. It has a number of legends associated with it regarding its
formation. Maharshi Saunaka and others assembled on the bank of the
river Saraswati to perform a sacrifice. They wanted to know who was the
highest of the three Gods so that they could invoke Him to the
sacrificial fire. To settle the disputed point regarding the superiority among the Gods, they requested Sage Bhrigu to meet the three Lords separately and pronounce a judgment.
Bhrigu met Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Maheswara individually and
pronounced Vishnu to be the greatest because, in spite of his giving a
kick to Vishnu, Vishnu did not lose his temper, but in turn showed every
respect to him and washed his feet.
Bhrigu repented for his action and wanted to serve Lord Vishnu in two births. During his first rebirth he was known as Guha during the epic period of the Ramayana and in his next birth he was known as Sage Hema. He did penance and Vishnu gave him darsan. He wanted three boons viz., (i) Goddess Lakshmi (Vishnu's consort) should be born as his daughter, (ii) Vishnu should become his son-in-law and (iii) he should get Sayujya Moksham i.e., liberation in physical form. Vishnu granted the boons and directed him to find Lakshmi on a thousand-petalled lotus where she had been praying for re-union with Vishnu after her departure in anger when Sage Bhrigu dealt a kick to him in her presence.
In this connection it may be appropriate to refer to the incident when Brahma and Lord Surya (Sun) prayed to Lord Vishnu long ago. Vishnu was pleased with their prayer and created three Vimanas viz., the Vaikuntha Vimana, Pranavakara Vimana and Vaideeka Vimana, and installed himself in each and distributed Vaikuntha Vimana to the residents Vaikuntha (Heaven), Pranavakara Vimana to Brahma and Vaideeka Vimana to Surya.
Surya passed on the Vaideeka Vimana to his son Vaivaswata Manu, who installed it on the banks of the river Sarayu and from him it passed on to Ikshwaku. Ikshwaku heard of the powers of liberation at sight of Pranavakara Vimana possessed by Brahma. He wanted to bring it to earth for the benefit of the human beings. As Vishnu wanted to appear on earth for some time, Brahma had to part with the Vimana and Ikshwaku got it. When the Vimana came to earth and was placed by the side of Vaideeka Vimana, both amalgamated into one. The amalgamated Vimana was subsequently brought to Srirangam.
Bhrigu repented for his action and wanted to serve Lord Vishnu in two births. During his first rebirth he was known as Guha during the epic period of the Ramayana and in his next birth he was known as Sage Hema. He did penance and Vishnu gave him darsan. He wanted three boons viz., (i) Goddess Lakshmi (Vishnu's consort) should be born as his daughter, (ii) Vishnu should become his son-in-law and (iii) he should get Sayujya Moksham i.e., liberation in physical form. Vishnu granted the boons and directed him to find Lakshmi on a thousand-petalled lotus where she had been praying for re-union with Vishnu after her departure in anger when Sage Bhrigu dealt a kick to him in her presence.
In this connection it may be appropriate to refer to the incident when Brahma and Lord Surya (Sun) prayed to Lord Vishnu long ago. Vishnu was pleased with their prayer and created three Vimanas viz., the Vaikuntha Vimana, Pranavakara Vimana and Vaideeka Vimana, and installed himself in each and distributed Vaikuntha Vimana to the residents Vaikuntha (Heaven), Pranavakara Vimana to Brahma and Vaideeka Vimana to Surya.
Surya passed on the Vaideeka Vimana to his son Vaivaswata Manu, who installed it on the banks of the river Sarayu and from him it passed on to Ikshwaku. Ikshwaku heard of the powers of liberation at sight of Pranavakara Vimana possessed by Brahma. He wanted to bring it to earth for the benefit of the human beings. As Vishnu wanted to appear on earth for some time, Brahma had to part with the Vimana and Ikshwaku got it. When the Vimana came to earth and was placed by the side of Vaideeka Vimana, both amalgamated into one. The amalgamated Vimana was subsequently brought to Srirangam.
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