During the Kali Yug, rishi Kashyap along with others began to perform a Yagna on the banks of river Ganges. Narada Muni visited and asked who the Yagna was being performed for and what was being asked.
Unable to answer this simple question, the rishi’s approached Sage Bhrigu to find the answer to the question. For the correct answer of, who the sages should be performing Yagna for? Saint Bhrigu visited the Trimurti. First to be visited was Lord Brahma in Satyalok.
Sage Bhrigu found Lord Brahma, reciting the four Vedas eulogizing Lord Narayana, Saraswati was attending to him. Lord Brahma did not notice Bhrigu. Thus, deciding Lord Brahma was unfit for worship, Bhrigu left for Kailasa, the dwelling of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva was spending time with his wife Parvati and did not like Bhrigu's intrusion and tried to destroy him. The sage cursed Lord Shiva and left for Vaikuntam.
At Vaikuntam, Lord Vishnu relaxing with Sri Mahalakshmi also did not notice him. This infuriated the sage and he kicked the Lord on His chest.
Lord Vishnu realizing his mistake apologised immediately and pressed the sage’s feet to assuage the pain caused to Bhrigu's leg from kicking him. Sage Bhrigu had an extra eye in his foot that gave him the power to defy the Deva’s. Under the pretext of the apology Lord Vishnu removed the extra eye from the foot of the sage, hence also removing his false egotism. Sage Bhrigu then decided that Lord Vishnu was the most supreme of the trimurthis and the yagna be dedicated to him. Mahalakshmi in the meanwhile angered by her Lord apologising to Bhrigu, who she felt was wrong, left Vaikuntam and refused to return.
Legend of Sri Varahaswami
Before this event, when the whole universe was filled with water and the Earth was submerged in it, Lord Vishnu had assumed the form of a white boar (Sri Varaha) to lift the Earth from the water. He killed the demon Hiranyakshap who opposed him in rescuing the Earth.
Varaha Kshetra was formed when Lord Vishnu decided to stay on Earth in the form of Sri Varaha for some more time to punish the wicked and protect the good.
Lord Vishnu leaves Vaikuntam
At the departure of Mahalakshmi, Lord Vishnu also left Vaikuntam broken hearted and took shelter in an ant-hill under a tamarind tree on the Venkata Hill.
Taking pity on Lord Vishnu, Brahma and Mahesh took the forms of a cow and its calf to serve Him. Surya, the Sun God convinced Mahalakshmi to change her form and sell the cow and calf to the Chola king, so that they can serve Lord Vishnu, who resided in the vicinity.
The king of the Chola acquired the cow and sent them to graze on the Venkata Hill with his herd of cattle. The cow then found Lord Vishnu and fed him daily. Unable to yield milk back at the palace the cow was noticed by the Queen, who then sent the cowheard to find out the reason. Hiding behind a bush he discovered the cow feeding the anthill and decide to destroy her with his axe.
Lord Vishnu came to the rescue and took the blow and saved the cow. The cowherd on realizing his mistake died of shock.
The cow returned, frightened, bellowing and covered with blood to the Chola King. Curious the king followed the cow back to the place of the incident.
Lord Vishnu rose again from the ant-hill and cursed the King turning him into an Asur (Demon) because of the fault of his servant. When the king revealed his innocence the Lord unable to take his curse back gave a boon that the curse would end after Lord was adorned with Kireetam by Akasa Raja at the time of His marriage with Sri Padmavati.
Lord Vishnu stays in VarahKshetra
Lord Vishnu decided to stay on in Varaha Kshetra, and asked Sri Varahaswami for a site for his stay. When this was granted, Lord Vishnu ordained that any pilgrimage to his own shrine must be preceded by a bath in Pushkarini and darshan and puja of Sri Varahaswami.
Legend of SriKrishna and Devaki
Yasoda the adopted mother of Sri Krishna was unable to witness his marriage with Rukmini and this saddened her deeply. Sri Krishna made a promise to fulfill her desires when she will be next born as Vakuladevi. In his next avatar as Srinivasa was served by Vakuladevi who was the servant of Lord Varahaswami, when he sent her to serve Lord Srinivasa.
Lord Srinivasa’s meets Padmavati
The Chola king was re-born as King Akasa Raja who ruled over Thondamandalam. Akasa Raja had no heirs hence he ploughed fields, as part of a sacrifice to get a child. The King found a female child in a lotus in the field and adopted her. She was named Padmavati as she had been found in the Lotus.
Princess Padmavati grew up to be a beautiful maiden. Once she was in the garden picking flowers with her maids when Sage Narada approached her. He convinced her he was a well-wisher and took her palm to read her future. He foretold that she was fated to be the wife of Lord Vishnu himself.
At this time Lord Srinivasa, hunting a wild elephant in the forests, followed the elephant into a garden, where Princess Padmavati and her maids were picking flowers. The sight of the running elephant scared the Princess and her maids. But the elephant on reaching them immediately turned around, saluted the Lord and disappeared into the forest.
Lord Srinivas, who was on horse saw the scared maidens and stopped to appease them. They accosted him with queries about his birth and parentage. He, in turn, was informed that the princess was Padmavati, Akasa Raja’s adopted daughter. When Srinivasa expressed his interest in her, Padmavati’s maids threw stones and him and chased him away. His horse was left behind.
Lord Srinivasa returned repulsed by the maids but started pining for his love. When Vakula devi asked the cause, he declared that unless he married Princess Padmavati, he would never feel good again. Then Vakula devi requested him to tell her about the pricess. The Lord then recounted the story of Padmavati’s previous birth and his promise to wed her, which goes as follows
The legend of Padmavati
In olden times, Goddess Lakshmi, in the form of Vedavati, was staying in an ashram in the forests. Ravana, the lord of Lanka at that time tried to tempt her. In anger, Vedavati put a curse on him that she would be the reason for his death.
To prove that she spoke true words, Vedavati engulfed herself into the fire, but the fire god Agni himself rescued her. Vedavati was taken to his house and entrusted to his wife's care. In the absence of Rama and Lakshmana, when ravana was about to abduct Sita from Panchavati, Agni intervened and offered Vedavati to Ravana as the real Sita. Ravana was fooled into believing that Vedavati was Sita.
Ravana took Vedavati to Lanka, whilst Agni took the real Sita to his home and requested his wife Swahadevi to take care of her. After the Killing of Ravana, Agnidev presented the real Sita in front of Rama.
Sita mentioned to Rama that Vedavati had suffered in Ravana’s hands for 10 months in Lanka for Sita’s sake. Sita asked Rama to also accept Vedavati as as his wife. But it was not acceptable for Rama, as he had pledged to marry only once during his life time. But he promised to wed her in her next birth as Aksa Raja’s daughter Padmavati, when Rama himself will incarnate as Lord Srinivas.
Lord Srinivasa’s marriage to Padmavati
Vakuladevi on hearing Srinivasa’s Story of his promise to marry Vedavati in her next birth as Padmavati, realised that Srinivasa would remain unhappy unless he married Padmavati, She decided to go to Akasa Raja to arrange for the marriage. Meeting the maids of Padmavati returning from the Shiva Temple, she learnt that Padmavati was also pining for Srinivasa.
Akasa Raja and queen Dharanidevi anxious about the health of their daughter, Padmavathi, learnt Padmavati was in love with Srinivasa. Brihaspati was consulted and gave the verdict that the marriage was in the best interest of both the parties.
Unhappy about the wait and unsure of the result Srinivasa assumed the form of a lady fortune-teller and come into the streets of the capital telling fortunes. Padmavathi's maids saw and called her to meet their Queen.
Queen Dharanidevi personally invited the old fortune teller to Princess Padmavati’s room. The old fortune teller advised the queen that Padmavati’s hand be given to Lord Srinivasa in marriage and that when Vakuladevi approaches them the consent be given to the marriage.
Taking the advise of Brihaspati and the old fortune teller, Akasa Raja decide to give his daughter’s hand in marriage to Lord Srinivasa, when VakulaDevi came with the marriage proposal. The palace purohits were asked to fix a muhurat for the wedding.
All the Gods approve the marriage while Kubera lends money to meet the expenses of the marriage. Lord Srinivasa, Lord Brahma and Lord Siva started the journey to the residence of Akasa Raja in his vehicle Garuda.
The wedding took place with all pomp and show with full rites in the presence of all Devas. Lord Srinivasa wedded Padmavati, thus blessing Akasa Raja.
Sage Bhrigu found Lord Brahma, reciting the four Vedas eulogizing Lord Narayana, Saraswati was attending to him. Lord Brahma did not notice Bhrigu. Thus, deciding Lord Brahma was unfit for worship, Bhrigu left for Kailasa, the dwelling of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva was spending time with his wife Parvati and did not like Bhrigu's intrusion and tried to destroy him. The sage cursed Lord Shiva and left for Vaikuntam.
At Vaikuntam, Lord Vishnu relaxing with Sri Mahalakshmi also did not notice him. This infuriated the sage and he kicked the Lord on His chest.
Lord Vishnu realizing his mistake apologised immediately and pressed the sage’s feet to assuage the pain caused to Bhrigu's leg from kicking him. Sage Bhrigu had an extra eye in his foot that gave him the power to defy the Deva’s. Under the pretext of the apology Lord Vishnu removed the extra eye from the foot of the sage, hence also removing his false egotism. Sage Bhrigu then decided that Lord Vishnu was the most supreme of the trimurthis and the yagna be dedicated to him. Mahalakshmi in the meanwhile angered by her Lord apologising to Bhrigu, who she felt was wrong, left Vaikuntam and refused to return.
Legend of Sri Varahaswami
Before this event, when the whole universe was filled with water and the Earth was submerged in it, Lord Vishnu had assumed the form of a white boar (Sri Varaha) to lift the Earth from the water. He killed the demon Hiranyakshap who opposed him in rescuing the Earth.
Varaha Kshetra was formed when Lord Vishnu decided to stay on Earth in the form of Sri Varaha for some more time to punish the wicked and protect the good.
Lord Vishnu leaves Vaikuntam
At the departure of Mahalakshmi, Lord Vishnu also left Vaikuntam broken hearted and took shelter in an ant-hill under a tamarind tree on the Venkata Hill.
Taking pity on Lord Vishnu, Brahma and Mahesh took the forms of a cow and its calf to serve Him. Surya, the Sun God convinced Mahalakshmi to change her form and sell the cow and calf to the Chola king, so that they can serve Lord Vishnu, who resided in the vicinity.
The king of the Chola acquired the cow and sent them to graze on the Venkata Hill with his herd of cattle. The cow then found Lord Vishnu and fed him daily. Unable to yield milk back at the palace the cow was noticed by the Queen, who then sent the cowheard to find out the reason. Hiding behind a bush he discovered the cow feeding the anthill and decide to destroy her with his axe.
Lord Vishnu came to the rescue and took the blow and saved the cow. The cowherd on realizing his mistake died of shock.
The cow returned, frightened, bellowing and covered with blood to the Chola King. Curious the king followed the cow back to the place of the incident.
Lord Vishnu rose again from the ant-hill and cursed the King turning him into an Asur (Demon) because of the fault of his servant. When the king revealed his innocence the Lord unable to take his curse back gave a boon that the curse would end after Lord was adorned with Kireetam by Akasa Raja at the time of His marriage with Sri Padmavati.
Lord Vishnu stays in VarahKshetra
Lord Vishnu decided to stay on in Varaha Kshetra, and asked Sri Varahaswami for a site for his stay. When this was granted, Lord Vishnu ordained that any pilgrimage to his own shrine must be preceded by a bath in Pushkarini and darshan and puja of Sri Varahaswami.
Legend of SriKrishna and Devaki
Yasoda the adopted mother of Sri Krishna was unable to witness his marriage with Rukmini and this saddened her deeply. Sri Krishna made a promise to fulfill her desires when she will be next born as Vakuladevi. In his next avatar as Srinivasa was served by Vakuladevi who was the servant of Lord Varahaswami, when he sent her to serve Lord Srinivasa.
Lord Srinivasa’s meets Padmavati
The Chola king was re-born as King Akasa Raja who ruled over Thondamandalam. Akasa Raja had no heirs hence he ploughed fields, as part of a sacrifice to get a child. The King found a female child in a lotus in the field and adopted her. She was named Padmavati as she had been found in the Lotus.
Princess Padmavati grew up to be a beautiful maiden. Once she was in the garden picking flowers with her maids when Sage Narada approached her. He convinced her he was a well-wisher and took her palm to read her future. He foretold that she was fated to be the wife of Lord Vishnu himself.
At this time Lord Srinivasa, hunting a wild elephant in the forests, followed the elephant into a garden, where Princess Padmavati and her maids were picking flowers. The sight of the running elephant scared the Princess and her maids. But the elephant on reaching them immediately turned around, saluted the Lord and disappeared into the forest.
Lord Srinivas, who was on horse saw the scared maidens and stopped to appease them. They accosted him with queries about his birth and parentage. He, in turn, was informed that the princess was Padmavati, Akasa Raja’s adopted daughter. When Srinivasa expressed his interest in her, Padmavati’s maids threw stones and him and chased him away. His horse was left behind.
Lord Srinivasa returned repulsed by the maids but started pining for his love. When Vakula devi asked the cause, he declared that unless he married Princess Padmavati, he would never feel good again. Then Vakula devi requested him to tell her about the pricess. The Lord then recounted the story of Padmavati’s previous birth and his promise to wed her, which goes as follows
The legend of Padmavati
In olden times, Goddess Lakshmi, in the form of Vedavati, was staying in an ashram in the forests. Ravana, the lord of Lanka at that time tried to tempt her. In anger, Vedavati put a curse on him that she would be the reason for his death.
To prove that she spoke true words, Vedavati engulfed herself into the fire, but the fire god Agni himself rescued her. Vedavati was taken to his house and entrusted to his wife's care. In the absence of Rama and Lakshmana, when ravana was about to abduct Sita from Panchavati, Agni intervened and offered Vedavati to Ravana as the real Sita. Ravana was fooled into believing that Vedavati was Sita.
Ravana took Vedavati to Lanka, whilst Agni took the real Sita to his home and requested his wife Swahadevi to take care of her. After the Killing of Ravana, Agnidev presented the real Sita in front of Rama.
Sita mentioned to Rama that Vedavati had suffered in Ravana’s hands for 10 months in Lanka for Sita’s sake. Sita asked Rama to also accept Vedavati as as his wife. But it was not acceptable for Rama, as he had pledged to marry only once during his life time. But he promised to wed her in her next birth as Aksa Raja’s daughter Padmavati, when Rama himself will incarnate as Lord Srinivas.
Lord Srinivasa’s marriage to Padmavati
Vakuladevi on hearing Srinivasa’s Story of his promise to marry Vedavati in her next birth as Padmavati, realised that Srinivasa would remain unhappy unless he married Padmavati, She decided to go to Akasa Raja to arrange for the marriage. Meeting the maids of Padmavati returning from the Shiva Temple, she learnt that Padmavati was also pining for Srinivasa.
Akasa Raja and queen Dharanidevi anxious about the health of their daughter, Padmavathi, learnt Padmavati was in love with Srinivasa. Brihaspati was consulted and gave the verdict that the marriage was in the best interest of both the parties.
Unhappy about the wait and unsure of the result Srinivasa assumed the form of a lady fortune-teller and come into the streets of the capital telling fortunes. Padmavathi's maids saw and called her to meet their Queen.
Queen Dharanidevi personally invited the old fortune teller to Princess Padmavati’s room. The old fortune teller advised the queen that Padmavati’s hand be given to Lord Srinivasa in marriage and that when Vakuladevi approaches them the consent be given to the marriage.
Taking the advise of Brihaspati and the old fortune teller, Akasa Raja decide to give his daughter’s hand in marriage to Lord Srinivasa, when VakulaDevi came with the marriage proposal. The palace purohits were asked to fix a muhurat for the wedding.
All the Gods approve the marriage while Kubera lends money to meet the expenses of the marriage. Lord Srinivasa, Lord Brahma and Lord Siva started the journey to the residence of Akasa Raja in his vehicle Garuda.
The wedding took place with all pomp and show with full rites in the presence of all Devas. Lord Srinivasa wedded Padmavati, thus blessing Akasa Raja.
About 6 months after this celestial union, MahaLakshmi finds out that her husband has remarried and comes to see him in anger. It is believed that the Lord Turned to Stone on encountering Mahalakshmi and Padmavathi. Lord Brahma and Shiva appeared before the bewildered queens and explained the purpose behind the sequence of events and Lord Vishnu’s desire to be on the 7 hills for mankind’s emancipation from the perpetual sufferings of Kaliyuga. Goddesses Lakshmi and Padmavathi also turned into stone idols conveying their wish to be with their Lord forever. Mahalakshmi accompanies him on the left side while Padmavathi rests on the right side of his chest.
Thondaman brother of Akasa raja had a dream, in which the lord asked him to build a temple in his memory TirumalaVenkateswara Temple on the seventh hill, named Venkatadri for Lord Srinivasa.
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