Thirukkachchi Attabuyakaram is traditionally enumerated as number 60 among the 108 Divya Desams — the sacred abodes of Sri Maha Vishnu sung by the Alvars.
This temple is about 2 kms from the temple of Lord Varadaraja. It is in Little Kanchipuram. It is opposite to the temple of Yathoktakari. The Lord is seen beneath a chakragosha vimana, in a standing posture, facing the west. As the very name explains, the Lord here is seen with eight hands (Ashta means eight, Bhuja means hands). The four arms of Lord Vishnu on the right are seen holding sudarsana chakra (the celestial discus), a sword, a lotus flower and an arrow. The four-arms on the left are seen holding the celestial conch, a bow, a shield and a mace.
The sthlapurana of this temple relates to yet another attempt of Goddess Sarasvati to disturb the penance of Lord Brahma. On this occasion, she let loose an army of demons. All these demons were killed by Lord Vishnu. She then sent Sarabha, which was a peculiar type of a ferocious beast. To defeat this beast, Lord Vishnu assumed an unusual form with eight arms equipped with eight weapons, (already referred to above) and destroyed Sarabha. The Lord here is therefore known as Ashatabhuja Perumal.
Some others believe that this is the place where God rushed to the rescue of Gajendra, the elephant, when a crocodile caught its leg. It is believed that everyday, an elephant by name Gajendra used to visit the tank in the Ashtabhuja Perumal temple, pluck a lotus and offer it in worship to the Lord. One day when the elephant was trying
to pluck the lotus from the tank, a crocodile caught hold of its leg and was dragging it inside. The elephant cried out in despair to the Lord for succour. The God used his Chakram and killed the crocodile and released Gajendra from the clutches of the crocodile. The tank in this temple is said to be the place where this incident took place.
A unique feature of this Ashtabhuja Perumal temple is that it is the only Vaishnavite shrine in Kanchi having a paramapadavasal, that is the gateway to paramapadam which is Vaikuntham, where the Lord stays and which is the place which all the human beings try to reach, sO as to become on with the Supreme Lord.
The Goddess is known as Pushpakavalli Thayar. The practice here is to worship the Goddess first before worshipping the Lord.
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