Thirukkoodalur

Thirukkoodalur is traditionally enumerated as number 27 among the 108 Divya Desams — the sacred abodes of Sri Maha Vishnu sung by the Alvars.

ie. the town where the devas and rishis came and worshipped Perumal jointly.

There are a number of stories connected with this divya desam. The stories are told in Brahmanda puran in several chapters.

The first story is with King Ambarisha and his generosity and qualities of devotion. It is said that once Durvasa rishi wanted to test the King’s religious faith. He met the King on a dwadasi day. He wanted to see whether he could make the King break his dwadasi vratham. When the rishi met the

Thiru Kudalur (Aduthurai Perumal Koil) 103

King and asked him to give him food, the King readily agreed. Usually on the day preceding Dwadasi i.e. Ekadasi people fast. It is broken the next day during the Dwadasi gadia. The rishi promised the King that he would go up to the river, have his bath and come back to partake of the food. But he delayed his bath. In the meantime, it looked as if the dwadasi gadia would be over.The King was anxious not to partake of the food until and unless he had fed his athithi i.e. Durvasa rishi. But at the same time, he was anxious not to allow his Ekadasi vratha to remain incomplete. He had a discussion with the ministers and they said that there was nothing wrong if instead of regular food, he could symbolically break the Ekadasi fast by sipping tulasi water and thus reap in full the benefit of Ekadasi vratha. The King agreed. Even as he was sipping the tulasi water, Durvasa appeared on the scene. He got angry and he said that the King had committed the sin of having taken his food even before the guest was fed. All the pleadings of the King with Durvasa were of no avail. He was about to curse Ambarisha. Ambarisha then appealed to Perumal. Perumal is said to have released His Chakrayudham on Durvasa rishi. Durvasa ran away from the fiery chakra. But the chakram chased him wherever he ran. He appealed to Indra, Brahma as well as to Perumal. But all of them finally asked him to go back to Ambarisha and seek his forgiveness. Durvasa returned, fell at the feet of Ambarisha seeking forgiveness. The King interceded on his behalf with Perumal.