RE:urchava moorthies

From the Bhakti List Archives

• January 13, 2002


At 09:14 PM 1/12/02 -0800, you wrote:

>I have a doubt. Why is the utsavar a different posture from the moolavar 
>almost always ?  
>
>  Sriram Ranganathan  wrote: 
>
>Dear Sri Sreekanth//bhAgavatAs,
>
>In most of the Sri Vaishnava temples you will find two types of idols. 

Dear Sri Venaktaramani: 

As Sriram Ranganathan mentioned the Uthsava Moorthys 
are for bringing the Lord out on to the streets of
His Raaja Veedhis and neighboring villages on special
occasions , so that ALL can have the blessings of
the Lord as He comes to us with pomp and splendour.
The sick, the lazy ,the elderly and ALL who can not
or do not get to the temple to worship Him there  can NOW
have the blessings of His darsanam with His Devi(s)  
right in front of their homes.The BhagavathAs have also 
their darsanam that fills their hearts with joy. Moolavr
as Dhruva BhEram stays inside the Garbha Graham.

Uthsava Moorthy in most cases are in the standing posture .
One of the exceptions is Sri Govinda Raajan at 
Thillai Thirucchitthirakkoodam.

MOOLAVARS are either in standing posture (Thirumalai-Thiruppathi,
Oppiliappan Koil , Kaanchipuram ); 

or in Sleeping/reclining posture ( as at Srirangam , 
Thirukkudanthai , Thiruvananathapuram and 24 other 
dhivya desams among the 108 uhanthu aruLina NilankaLs
sung by the 12 AzhwArs);

or in standing posture in 60 dhivya Desams 
( ThiruvallikkENi and 59 other KshEthrams);

or in the seated posture as at ThiruarimEya ViNNagaram ,
Thiru Aali , (near SeerkhAzhi),Thirukkadigai ( ShOlingar),
Thirukkoodal ( Koodalazhagar at Madhurai), AhObilam ,
ThiruppAdakam ( Kaanchi KshEthrram ),Thirupputtkuzhi 
VijayarAghavan , ThiruppErai (PaanDya Nadu) ,
ThiruvaNNparichAram ( MalayALa Naadu),ThiruvaraguNamangai,
Thiruvaikuntha ViNNagram and Thirupparama Padham ( seated
facing South).

There are dhivya dEsams , where the Moolavar is in more 
than one posture (e.g): ThirukkOshtioor, ThiruppullANi ,
SrivilliputthUr.

At Srirangam , there is a special distinction between
Moolavar and Uthsavar. Moolavar has been recognized as
KrishNan ( DaamOdhara KaNNan) and Uthsavar as Lord
Raamachandran . 

The directions that the Moolavar faces inside 
His garbhagraham are also different at different 
Dhivya dEsams. At 79 dhivya Desams , The Moolavar 
and Uthsavar Face East . At 19 dhivya dEsams,
He faces west ( Kaanchipuram et al), At 7 dhivya desams ,
He faces South ( Srirangam , SiRupuliuoor ,Parama Padham
(Sri Vaikuntam ), ThiruppARkkadal et al.He faces north at 
three dhivya dEsams ( AyOddhi, URayoor and SaaLagramam).

There are reasons for the directions they face based on
ithihAsams and Sthala PurANam .

Independent of all these details , Dhivya Dampathis 
enter into ArchA forms ( consecrated vigrahams 
or appear as svyam vyaktha vigrahms) with Suddha 
Satthva ThirumEni to bless us and unite us with
the AchAryans for performing SaraNAgathy to attain Him.

BhOgi PaNDigai Day, Vishu Samvathsaram,
V.Sadagopan   
         






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