Srinivasa KalyanamPlease scroll below for more information |
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The rishis headedby Kasyapa began to perform a sacrifice on the banks of the Gangas.Sage Naradavisited them and asked them why they were performing the sacrifice and who wouldbe pleased by it.Not being able to answer the question,the rishis approachedSage Bhrigu.To reach a solution after a direct ascertainment of reality. Bhrigu first went to Satyaloka,the adobe of Lord Brahma.At Satyloka,he foundLord Bramhma,reciting the four Vedas in praise of Lord Narayana,with each of hisfour heads,and attend upon by Saraswati.Lord Brahma did not take notice ofBhrigu offering obeisance. Concluding that Lord Brahma was unfit for worship,Bhrigu left Satyaloka for Kailasa, the abode of Lord Shiva At Kailasa, Bhrigu found Lord Siva spending his time pleasantly with Parvati andnot noticing his presence.Parvati drew the attention of Siva to the presence of the sage.Lord Siva wasfurious at Bhrigu's intrusion and tried to destroy him.The sage cursed Lord Siva and left for Vaikuntam.At Vaikuntam, Lord Vishnu (alsocalled Srimannarayana) was reposing on Adiseshawith Sri Mahalakshmi in service at His feet.Finding that Srimannarayana also did not notice him, the sage was infuriated andhe kicked the Lord on His chest, the place where Mahalakshmi resides At once, Lord Vishnu hastened to apologise to the angry sage and pressed hisfeet to allay the pain caused to Bhrigu's leg.In doing so the Lord removed the eye in the foot of the sage, which gave Bhrigupower as to defy the Devas. Thereupon, the sage decidedthat Lord Vishnu was the most supreme of the trimurthis and told the rishis thesame. Thereupon, they decided that Lord Vishnu was the fruit of the yaga.Sri Mahalakshmi was angered by the action of her Lord in apologising to Bhriguwho committed an offence. She, therefore, left Vaikuntam without heedingthe entreaties of the Lord.At the commencement of the current Sveta VarahaKalpa, the whole universe was filled with water and the Earth was immersed init.Lord Vishnu assumed the form of a white boar (Sri Varaha) and dived into thewater to lift the Earth. He slew the demon Hiranyaksha who was obstructing Himand rescued the Earth Brahma and the other Devas praised Sri Varaha for saving the Earth by chantingthe Vedas and showering flowers on Him.Lord Vishnu decided to stay on Earth in the form of Sri Varaha for some time, topunish the wicked and protect the virtuous.The place then came to be known as Varaha Kshetra and the Varaha Kalpacommenced.After the departure of Mahalakshmi, a forlorn Lord Vishnu leftVaikuntamand took abode in an ant-hill under a tamarind tree, beside a pushkarini on theVenkata Hill .Taking pity on Lord Vishnu, Brahma and Maheshwara decided toassume the forms of a cow and its calf to serve Him Surya, the Sun God informed Mahalakshmi of this and requested her to assume the form of a cowherdess and sell the cow and calf to the king of the Chola country.The king of the Chola country bought the cow and its calf and sent them to graze on the Venkata Hill along with his herd of cattle. Discovering Lord Vishnuon the ant-hill,the cow provided its milk, and thus fed the Lord.Meanwhile, at the palace, the cow was not yielding any milk, for which the Chola Queen chastised the cowherd severely To find out the cause of lack of milk, the cowherd followed the cow, hid himself behind a bush and discovered the cow emptying her udder over the ant-hill Incensed over the conduct of the cow, the cowherd aimed a blow with his axe on the head of the cow However,Lord Vishnu rose from the ant-hill to receive the blow and save the cow.When the cowherd saw the Lord bleed at the blow of his axe, he fell down and died of shock On the death of the cowherd, the cow returned, bellowing in fright and with blood stains all over her body, to the Chola King.To find out the cause of the cow's terror, the King followed her to the scene of the incident.The King found the cowherd lying dead on the ground near the ant-hill.While he stood wondering how it had happened, Lord Vishnu rose from the ant-hill and cursed the King saying that he would becomean Asura because of the fault of his servant The King pleaded innocence, and the Lord blessed him by saying that the curse would endwhen the Lord was adornedwith a kireetam presented by Akasa Raja at the time of His marriage with Sri Padmavati. Thereafter, Lord Vishnu or Srinivasa, decided to stay in Varaha Kshetra,and requested Sri Varahaswami to grant Him a site for His stay. His request being readily granted, Srinivasa ordained that a pilgrimage to His shrine would not be complete unless it is preceded by a bath in the Pushkarini and darshan of Sri Varahaswami, and that puja and naivedyam should be offered to Sri Varahaswami first. Yasoda brought up Sri Krishna, the son of Devaki, in his early years. However, Yasoda was not blessed to witness the marriage of Sri Krishna with Rukminiand she felt very sad. Sri Krishna promised to fulfil her desire in her next birth as Vakuladevi in his next avatara as Srinivasa. In Rukmini's next birth as Vakuladevi,she was serving Lord Varahaswami when He sent her to serve Srinivasa.Sometime later, a King named Akasa Raja who belonged to the Lunar race was ruling over Thondamandalam He had a brother named Thondaman. Akasa Raja had no heirs, and therefore, he wanted to perform a sacrifice. As part of the sacrifice,he was ploughing the fields when his plough turned up a lotus in the ground. On examining the lotus, the King found a female child in it.Akasa Raja was happy tofind the child. He carried it to his palace and gave it to his Queen. At that time he heard a voice from above which said, "Oh! King, tend to it as your child and fortune will befall you." As the child was found in a lotus, the king named her Padmavati In course of time, Princess Padmavati grew up into a beautiful maiden and was attended to by a host of maids. One day, while she was spending her time in a gardenpicking flowers with her maids, Sage Narada approached her. Assuring her that he was her well-wisher, he asked her to show him her palm to read her future.He foretold that she was destined to be the spouse of Lord Vishnu himself.At this time, Lord Srinivasa, who was hunting, chased a wild elephant in the forests surrounding the hills. In the elephant's pursuit, the Lord was led into a garden, where Princess Padmavati and her maids were picking flowers The sight of the elephant frightened the Princess and her maids..But the elephant immediately turned around, saluted the Lord and disappeared into the forest.Lord Srinivasa, who was following on horse back, and saw the frightened maidens, who accosted Him with queries When Lord Srinivasa returned, Vakuladevi brought him his usual dinner comprisingvarious delicacies. However, she found him lying on his bed, pining for hislove When she enquired about the cause, the Lord informed her that unless he marriedPrincess Padmavati, he would never be well again. Vakuladevi then asked Him totell her all about the Princess. The Lord then narrated the story of her(Padmavati’s) previous birth and his promise to wed her In olden times, Lakshmi, in the form of Vedavati, was staying in an ashram in the forests. At that time, Ravana, the lord of Lanka tried to tempt her. In anger,Vedavati cursed him saying that she would bring about his death.To show how true her words were, Vedavati walked into the fire, but Agni, the Fire God rescued her.He took Vedavati to his house and entrusted her to his wife's care.When Ravana was about to carry away Sita from Panchavati, in the absence of Rama and Lakshmana, Agni appeared and offered Vedavati to Ravana as the real Sita who was kept with him by Rama to evade Ravana. Ravana was tricked into thinking that Vedavati was the real Sita Ravana took Vedavati to Lanka thinking she was the real Sita, while Agni took Sita to his house and asked his wife Swahadevi to look after her.After the destruction of Ravana, Vedavati entered the fire when rejected by Rama.Then, Agni, offered the real Sita to Rama. Rama then questioned her as to who the other lady by her side was.Sita informed Rama that the lady was Vedavati who endured Ravana's torture for ten months in Lanka for her sake. Sita requested Rama to accept Vedavati also as his spouse.But Rama declined her request saying that he believed in having only one wife during his life time. However, He promised to wed her in her next birth as Padmavati, born as the daughter of Akasa Raja, when Rama himself would take the form of Srinivasa After listening to Srinivasa's story of how he had promised to marry Vedavati in her next birth as Padmavati, Vakuladevi realised that Srinivasa would not be happy unless he married Padmavati. She offered to go to Akasa Raja and his Queen and arrange for the marriage.On the way she met the maid-servants of Padmavati returning from a Siva Temple. She learnt from them that Padmavati was also pining for Srinivasa. Vakuladevi went along with the maidservants to the Queen.Meanwhile, Akasa Raja and his queen Dharanidevi were anxious about the health of their daughter, Padmavathi.They learnt about Padmavathi's love for Srinivasa of Venkata Hill. Akasa Raja consulted Brihaspati about the propriety of the marriage and was informed that the marriage was in the best interest of both the parties.After the departure of Vakuladevi, Srinivasa could not rest in peace. He doubted if she would succeed in her mission.He, therefore, assumed the form of a lady fortune-teller and entered the streets of the capital telling fortunes. Padmavathi's maids saw her and invited her to the presence of their Queen The maid-servants informed Queen Dharanidevi that the fortune-teller was hesitating to enter the palace without the Queen's invitation.The Queen came out herself and invited the fortune-teller into the palace.The fortune- teller was taken to the presence of Princess Padmavati.The fortune-teller read the palm of the Princess and told the Queen about the cause of Padmavati's indisposition. She advised the Queen to give Padmavati in marriage to Lord Srinivasa.She also told the Queen that a lady would approach her shortly on behalf of Lord Srinivasa, to formally request Padmavati's hand in marriage After the departure of the fortune-teller, Vakuladevi arrived at the palace, and was taken by the maidservants to the Queen.She informed the Queen that she had come on behalf Lord Srinivasa to request the hand of Padmavati in marriage.Having consulted Brihaspati and heard from his Queen about the prediction of the fortune-teller and the arrival of the messenger from Srinivasa, Akasa Raja decided to hand his daughter in marriage to Srinivasa.He asked the palace purohits to fix a muhurtam for the marriage.Akasa Raja informed his ministers and other officials of his plans. Immediately, a letter was drafted requesting Srinivasa to come and marry the Princess Akasa Raja entrusted the delivery of the letter to Sukamahamunin. Suka went to the Venkata Hill with Vakuladevi. He presented the patrika to Lord Srinivasa, who was very happy.The Lord sent his garland for Padmavati through Suka.Kubera lent money to Lord Srinivasa to meet the expenses of the marriage The rishis headedby Kasyapa began to perform a sacrifice on the banks of the Gangas.Sage Naradavisited them and asked them why they were performing the sacrifice and who wouldbe pleased by it.Not being able to answer the question,the rishis approachedSage Bhrigu.To reach a solution after a direct ascertainment of reality The rishis headed by Kasyapa began to perform a sacrifice on the banks of theGangas.Sage Narada visited them and asked them why they were performing thesacrifice and who would be pleased by it.Not being able to answer thequestion,the rishis approached Sage Bhrigu.To reach a solution after a direct ascertainment of reality.Sage Bhrigu firstwent to Satyaloka,the adobe of Lord Brahma.At Satyloka,he found LordBramhma,reciting the four Vedas in praise of Lord Narayana,with each of his fourheads,and attend upon by Saraswati.Lord Brahma did not take notice of Bhrigu offering obeisance. Concluding thatLord Brahma was unfit for worship, Bhrigu left Satyaloka for Kailasa, the abodeof Lord Shiva |