Thiruvadamadurai

Thiruvadamadurai is traditionally enumerated as number 102 among the 108 Divya Desams — the sacred abodes of Sri Maha Vishnu sung by the Alvars.

This divya desa lies on the Delthi-Agra railway line. After alighting at Mathura Junction, one has to travel about two miles to reach the temple. About seven mniles away is Brindhavan. When one speaks of Mathura one has to simultaneously think of Brindhavan as well as Govardhan. The Lord here is known as Balakrishna. He is seen in a standing pose facing east. The consort is Satyabama. The theertha is Indra theertha, Govardhana theertha and Yamuna river. The vimana is known as Govardhana vimana. God appeared to Indra and other devas as also Brahma, Vasudeva, Devaki etc. About 1 1/2 miles away from Mathura is the place known as Janma bhoomi where a new temple has been built. Besides the prison cell where Sri Krishna was born is next to the temple. About 8 miles away from Mathura is Govardhanagiri, where Krishna and his cowherd friends grazed. cows. Vallabacharya has built a small temple on the top of this hill. The deity is Srinatha. The devotees even today circumambulate this Govardhanagiri whose circumference is 15 kilometers long. At the foot of the hill, there is a Lakshminarayana temple where worship is offered,as per the regulations laid down by Ramanuja. It is said that the temple and the murthis to which the alvars did mangalasasana are not there now. The frequent mohamedan invasions had taken their tolls in all the divya desas in North India. Mathura is regarded as one of-the seven mukthi kshetras. The other six are Dwaraka, Maya, Avanti, Ayodya, Kanchipuram and Kasi.

Let us now turn to the sthala purana of Mathura. Once upon a time when Rama was ruling the country and Ramarajya was the order of the day, some of the rishis like Bhargava, Shravanar who were residing on the banks of Yamuna river came and met Sri Rama and complained to Him that an asura by name Lavana was giving them untold hardship. They said that during Kiruta yuga a very just king by name Mathu did deep penance to Rudra. Pleased with his devotion, Rudra gave him an amsa of His holy trident viz. Sula. Siva then said that whenever Mathu took that Sula for any warfare, the Sula would help him by burning to ashes the entire army of the enemies and would return to his hands.