Thiru Paadagam is traditionally enumerated as number 69 among the 108 Divya Desams — the sacred abodes of Sri Maha Vishnu sung by the Alvars.
Another important Vaishnavite divya desam at Kanchi puram is at Thiruppadagam where we have the temple of Pandava Dootha Perumal. The Lord here is under a Badra Vimana. He is in a sitting posture, facing east. This temple is near Ekambaresvarar temple, in Big Kanchipuram.
Janamejaya, the great grand-son of Arjuna and Rishi Hareeta performed severe penance with a view to have a darshan of Lord Vishnu in the form in which He went as an envoy from the Pandavas to the Kauravas before the oreat Kurukshetra War. Lord Krishna granted this prayer of Janamejaya and Hareeta at this place, Padagam.
Asis well known from the Mahabharata, Lord Krishna went as an emissary from the Pandavas to the Kauravas to request the latter to give up their evil fight and give the Pandavas their legal share in the kingdom. But the foolish Duryodhana, planned to kill Him. He dug a deep pit, covered it with a carpet and placed a gem studded chair on it. Hidden in the pit were mallars i.e. wrestlers - boxers. His plan was that when Lord Krishna sat on the chair it would tumble into the pit and the mighty wrestlers in the pit would kill Him. But contrary to the expectations of Duryodhana, the Lord sat on the chair and assumed His Visvaroopa and the deep pit became a small hole which could not hold the Lord.! The holy persons in Duryodhana’s Court immediately started worshipping the Lord by singing His praise and recited the Ashtakshara mantra. Those
who could not repeat the mantra were trembling in their shoes, lest the Lord should kill them also as partners in the deceit. The blind king Dhritarashtra was able to get back his eye sight by the Lord’s grace, so that he could have a darshan of the divine form of the Lord. When Lord Krishna offered Dhritarashtra a boon, he said that he wished to become blind again so that the eyes which saw the Lord in all His glory would not see anything else in this world! Janamejaya and Hareeta wished to have a darshan of the Lord in this form viz., as Pandava Dootha Perumal. They had their wish fulfilled at Padagam at Kanchi.
The idol of the Lord at Padagam is nearly 25 feet in height, perhaps to signify the *Visvaroopam’ of the Lord. Such a huge.idol of Lord Krishna is not to be seen anywhere else. The Lord is depicted with a beautific smile, as if He is amused at the happenings in this material world. ’Pada’ means big and ’Agam’ means a place of stay. Hence Padagam means the place where God is staying and displaying. to His devotees His visvaroopa form.
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