Ulagalanda Perumal Temple
Ulagalanda Perumal temple, situated very near to the Kanchipuram bus stand, is one of the most important temples of Kanchipuram, the city of thousand temples. The temple is famous for the gigantic image of the main deity. The main shrine of the temple is dedicated to Trivikraman. Vamana is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. When Vamana took a large image of himself, he is referred as Trivikrama. Lord Vishnu has taken 25 incarnations. Of them, you can find temples mainly for three incarnations - Rama, Krishna, and Narasimha.
Ulagalanda Perumal temples for other incarnations are found very rarely. This is one of the rare temples dedicated to Vamana (Trivikrama) incarnation of Lord Vishnu. In the main shrine, you can find 35 feet long idol of Lord Trivikrama in standing posture with his left leg raised aloft to indicate that his one step has measured the sky. His right leg rests on the head of Mahabali (the demon king).The deity is made up of stucco (sudhai in Tamil language). You can also find the Utsava idols of Lord Vishnu along with his consorts Sri Devi and Bhoo Devi in the same main shrine.The God in this main shrine is also referred as Peragathan, and this main shrine is considered as one of the 108 Divya Desams (108 most popular temples of Lord Vishnu).
On the right side of the main shrine, there is shrine referred as Ooragam dedicated to Lord Vishnu on top of snake Adi Sesha. The word Ooragam refers to serpent.
The temple has three roundabouts (prakaras). The second prakara has a shrine named Neeragam where the Lord Vishnu is referred as Tiru Niragathan aka Jagadeeshwara. The Lord is seen in a standing posture with four arms. The Lord is found along with his consort Nilamangaivalli or Nilamangaivalli Nahiar. Only the Utsava idols (metal idols/procession idols) are seen here and the whereabouts of the main stone idols are not known. This shrine is considered as one of the 108 Divya Desams.
The third prakara has another shrine named Karagam. Lord Vishnu referred as Karunakara is see seated on Adi Sesha along with his consort Padmamani. This shrine is considered as a separate Divya Desam. The details of the original temple and stone idols are not known; only utsaval idols are present now. The third prakara also houses another shrine - Tiru Kaarvanam, where you can find Lord Kaarvannnan aka Navaneetha Chora (Vishnu) in standing posture with four arms under the Pushpaka Vimana. His consort is found along with him and is called Kamalavalli. This is another separate Divya Desam. Only Utsava idols are present here and the whereabouts of main idols are not known. There is a separate shrine dedicated to Goddess Aaranavalli Thayar in this temple.
This architecturally beautiful temple has a unique feature of having four Divya Desams in the same complex.
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