THONDAIMAN

Mythology says that Lord Srinivasa appeared in the dream of Thondaiman and asked him to build a temple for Him where He turned into stone. So comes into being the temple for Srinivasa on the seventh hill, named Venkatadri or the Venkata Hills.

The marriage of Lord Srinivasa and Padmavathy happened with a great pomp in the town of Narayanapuram. After the ceremony of the wedding was over, the king offered a dowry of costly gold crown, one crore gold coins, several diamond ornaments, god vessels, several varieties of furniture, gold -laced carpets, one hundred elephants, ten thousand horses, attendants, etc, as was the tradition of the Kings. He also honoured everyone who attended the marriage with several gifts. The marriage jubilations lasted as it was traditional for five days. Finally Srinivasa took leave from the King taking away with him his spouse Padmavathy. Akasa Rajan spoke to him, "Srinivasa we understand that you are the Overlord of the universe. By the touch of your feet, our entire descendants of our lineage are elevated. By this it is assumed that we had accumulated a vast spiritual heritage from the distant past. I have been much favoured to get you, the Almighty Lord to be my son -in -law. Then turning to his daughter, "Padmavathy it your duty duty to bring honour to your parents. Be an idealistic companion and also remember us." With these words to both Srinivasa and Padmavathy the King and the Queen bade their farewell to them. Srinivasa sat on his vehicle Garuda and flew to spend some time in the hermitage of sage Agasthya. Thus Srinivasa and Padmavathy were spending happily their time in the hermitage.

One day a messenger from Narayanapuram came to the hermitage and informed, "Our King's health is failing. He is bed-ridden. He wishes to see you both." Srinivasa and Padmavathy at once started out to reach Narayanapuram along with sage Agasthya. When they reached the King's palace, the King was lying on the death bed, his eyes were closed. Padmavathy could not tolerate the scene. She embraced the Queen Dharani Devi and wept. Then the King woke up and saw both his daughter and son- in- law. Drawing his strength, the King spoke to Srinivasa, "O Lord of the Universe, Vasudeva, Govinda; I had the rare fortune of seeing you on my parting time. I am really fortunate, spiritually sanctified; you may favour me by granting me a help. My son Vasudasa and my brother Thondaiman both of them need your guidance to come up in their lives. Please help them both." Then the King turned to Padmavathy and said, "Child, you are the mother of the Universe. By your birth everyone one of us was elevated with this life. Your bondage with us has ended. May you live long." With these words, the King passed away. Everyone present wept for the departed King. In the funeral ceremonies, the queen Darani Devi fell into the pyre and ended her life, as it was a honoured tradition in those days. They attained together liberation. Srinivasa later returned to the hermitage. Before we get to know what happened to Vasudasa and Thondaiman, let us read about Thondaiman's previous birth and how he was blessed by the Lord to be born as the brother of Akasa Rajan.

Once there lived a great devotee of Lord Sriman Narayana. His name was Viganasa. He was very much anxious to see the Lord in his Avatara as Lord Sri Krishna. He did rigourous penance and invoked Lord Narayana. Sriman Narayana appeared before him and said, "O Devotee, Ask your heart's desire. I shall grant you thee your aspirations." He fell at once at the feet of the Lord and said, "O Lord, of immense grace, I seek nothing but the dharisanam of your Sri Krishna Avatara. You may grant me that Dahrisanam." The Lord was pleased with this request and said, "Now it is not possible for you to see the Avatara of Sri Krishna. However Sri Krishna has incarnated as Srinivasa at Seshachalam. You can go there and worship him." With these words the Lord vanished. Viganasa immediately started his journey to the Seshachalam. On his way he met another devotee of the Lord by name Rangadasa. Rangadasa enquired him, "Where are you going?" Viganasa replied him "The Lord has incarnated as Srinivasa at the Seshadri hills. I am going over there to worship him." This excited Rangadasa too! He joined the pilgrimage of Viganasa to the Seshachala. At the hills, Rangadasa took up the gardening work for Viganasa so that they may worship the Lord with flowers. He planted fragrant flower plants in his garden and raised them. He dug out a well for irrigating the garden. The well was later known as "Poovula Bhavi" at Seshadri. Rangadasa was continuing his service to the Lord through Viganasa by offering flowers regularly.


One day when Rangadasa came near the lake, he saw a gandharva couple along with few others playing on the banks as they bathed in the lake. Rangadasa saw this and was struck dumb at their romantic play. He forgot his routine work of flower gathering for the Lord's worship. He was much fascinated by the strange play of the Gandharvas. The worshipping hour elapsed. Rangadasa forgot to come back to his consciousness and gather the flowers. The gandharav couple after playing flew back to their homes. Only then Rangadasa felt he was delaying Viganasa's daily flower worship. Quickly he rushed to the garden, gathered the flowers and went to Viganasa. He repented very much for what has happened.He also narrated to Viganasa the strange romances of the gandharava couple, he had seen on the banks of the Swamipushkarani. He was apologizing for his delay. At that time a bright light suddenly dawned there and in the centre of the blinding light was Srinivasa. The Lord said, "You need not repent for what has happened now. You shall be soon reborn to King Sudharama of Narayanpuram. You shall be known as Thondaiman and shall enjoy all the blessedness of a royal life." With these words the Lord disappeared. Rangadasa was later born at Narayanpuram as Thondaiman, the brother of Akasa Rajan.

Soon after the demise of Akasa rajan a keen competition rose between Thondaiman and Vasudasa for succeeding the throne of the Kingdom. Thondaiman wanted to succeed to the throne as he was the brother of King Akasa Rajan. But Vasudasa equally wished his succession as it was a time honoured tradition that the son should succeed the father. The verbal duel led them to sword duel. Finally both of them decided to test their strength in a battle and the victor should succeed the throne. The advice of elders to compromise fell deaf to their ears. Both of them wanted to show the other their personal power and strength. The war broke up. Both of them sought the help from Srinivasa. To Thondaiman the Lord gave his chakra (the disc) and Sanka (the conch). For Vasudasa he himself came to defend him. War rose to the climax. A lot of people were killed on both the sides. As Thondaiman had his mighty weapons Sudharsana chakra and Sankayudha, he could easily blow off all. Finally Thondaiman had to attack the Lord Himself. He sought an arrow at Srinivasa, which hit Srinivasa on his head. He fell unconscious. The news was carried to Padmavathy, she came lamenting to the battle field. She attended to the Lord. A little later Srinivasa came to his consciousness. Why have you come here "Srinivasa asked his consort Padmavathy, she appealed to the Lord to put an end to the war. She said, "Both Thondaiman and Vasudasa are close relatives. Eventuall as the war continues one of them shall be victorious killing the other. Please compromise both of them and amicably settle their disputes."

Whereupon the Lord sent word to both Thondaiman and Vasudasa to settle their disputes. Srinivasa spoke to Thondaiman, "I would like to compromise your dispute. Before that would you like to say anything about it?" Thondaiman politely replied, "O Lord, I am your devotee and shall always be at your services. I shall follow your directions in this matter absolutely." Srinivasa then spoke to both of them, "Children, war between father, brother and son should not rise at all. It is unlawful too. You should divide your kingdom and rule separately without harming anyone. To this Vasudasa also agreed.The Kingdom was divided into two regions by Srinivasa. They both happily accepted their partitions. They also gave thirty two villages to Padmavathy. Srinivasa and Padmavathy returned back to the hermitage of Agasthya. One day Thondaiman came to see the Lord Srinivasa. The Lord enquired Thondaiman what had brought him there. Thondaiman said, "O Lord, I have no special reasons for coming over to the hermitage but to have your dharisanam. I am happy everytime, I have your dharisanam. So kindly grace me with your frequent dharisanam. Then the Lord replied him, "O King, I can fulfill your wish, if you would build a shrine for me at Seshachalam. That's the only need for me to fulfill your wish of frequently visiting me." Thondaiman was much pleased to here this. Thondaiman, being a great devotee wanted to build not only the shrine but also several other things in the hill, including a footh path to the uphills. The Lord greatly appreciated the devoted work of Thondaiman. The shrine tower was named Ananda Nilayam.With auspicious music and recitations of the Vedas, the Lord with his consort entered into Anada Nilayam to abide in it.