Thread by @DReclaimation

You all might heard of Athi varadar- The Lord who is worshipped once in 40 years!
But do you know the Islamic Invasion which led the temple management to immerse Lord athi varadar vigraha under the sacred pushkarini back then?

Read on to know!
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#IslamicInvasion

Athi-varadar- The deity who gives darshan once in 40 years has given his darshan recently from july 01,2019 till August 18, 2019. Located in Vishnu Kanchi, Tamilnadu.

The deity of Athi harwar is one among the four deities of Lord Varadaraja worshipped by Lord Bramha. It is said that the deity was carved out of fog tree wood by Vishwakarma in Satya Yuga.
This was the Mula-Vigraha worshipped in the sanctum of Kanchi Varadaraja Perumal temple.

Until the early 16th century. Due to the Islamic Invasion the Athi- varadar vigraha was immersed under the sacred Pushkarini of the temple secretively and the truth was known to only one family.

The two brothers in the Dhatacharya lineage under whose authority the deity was hidden, passed away, taking away the secret forever. Their two sons tried their best to bring back the deities to Kanchipuram. One devotee brought the Utsav Murthi back from Udar papaya forest.

Where it was hidden. Unable to find the Original Athi varadar vigraha, the temple authorities decided to install the deity made out of stone and thus a deity was brought from the Padma Girl in Pazayaseevaram located approximately 30 kms away from Kanchipuram.

This deity was know as Devaraja Perumal and was worshipped. Pazayaseevaram is located on the confluence of Payasvini, Vegavathi and Bahunadhi rivers.
After 1720 the Pushkarini of the temple was emptied and Lord Athi varadar was seen at the base of the Sacred Pushkarini.

The authorities then decided to take the Vigraha out only once in forty years for 48 days and keep him back.
The deity is kept safely inside the Ananta Sarovar- The temple Pushkarini of Vishnu kanchi.
Only once in 40 years, the deity is brought out for the darshan for 48 days.

This decision was taken based on the puranic Story of Athi- varadar.

The fire once touched the wooden Deity of Sri Athi Varadar while Brahma was performing a yagna at Kanchipuram. Brahma asked the Lord for a solution to worship the Deity, the Lord told him to keep the Deity inside the lake surrounded by Ananta Shesha’s replicas.

While Brahma adored the Deity alone, Lord Vishnu says to Brahma, “You are constantly worshiping Me. You should also give others the opportunity to worship. To this Lord, Brahma decided to allow only a few nano-seconds to worship the Lord.

Likewise, upon the request of Lord Vishnu, when Gajendra and Brihaspathi were worshiping, they only permitted the worship for a few minutes during their time. Likewise, upon the request of Lord Vishnu, when Gajendra and Brihaspati were worshiping, they only permitted the worship,

For 48 days once in an year. The Lord is immersed back in the Ananta Sarovar after this period.
According to puranic scriptures the time varies from one Loka to the other.

A moment of Brahma residing in the Satyaloka which is the highest planetary system, in this material realm is considered as a year.

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