1. What is Ananthapadmanabha Swamy Vratha?
Offer everything to Ananthapadmanabha Swamy (Lord Vishnu) - my
actions, my soul, good, bad and bowing to Ananthapadmanabha Swamy by doing
worship (poja).
2. When is Ananthapadmanabha Swamy Vratha?
On chathurdashi (14th day) in the Hindu month of Bhadrapada, August –
September in Gregorian calendar.
3. Who did Ananthapadmanabha Swamy Vratha for the first
time?
According to Bhavishyothara Purana, Lord Krishna suggested Yudhishtira
(eldest brother of Pandavas in the epic Mahabharatha) to perform Ananthapadmanabha Swamy Vratha during
their 14 years of exile.
4. How Ananthapadmanabha Swamy Vratha is done?
“Anatha” means “infinite /
endless” and it is believed that by following this vratha, one is bestowed with
Ayushya / life, Arogya / health and Gyana / enlightenment.
Ananthapadmanabha Swamy
is worshipped in his “Seshashayana“(god sleeping on a snake) posture.
Clean the place of worship, and
draw Ananthanagantu rangoli.
Keep two Kalashas one for Vishnu and the other for Lakshmi. Keep darbe
/ sacred grass. Place one on each of the Kalasha. For one kalasha put a single
Janivara / Yagnopaveetha / sacred thread. For the other decorate with jewellery
and mangalya. Keep Ananthana Dhara / 14 lined red thread on betel leaves and
nut near the Kalasha. Keep some yellow manthrakshathe on the side for Yamuna
pooja as Sri Krishna’s favorite river is Yamuna. For full procedure of puja
read: https://www.itslife.in/festivals/ananthapadmanabha-swamy-vratha
5. Who is Ananthapadmanabha Swamy?
The sage Vilvamangalathu Swamiyar, who resided near Ananthapuram
Temple in Kasargod District, prayed to Lord Vishnu for his darshan. The Lord is
believed to have come in the guise of a little boy. Sage Vilvamangalathu
Swamiyar, requested boy to stay with him. On the condition that sage
Vilvamangalathu Swamiyar shall not become angry on the boy or else he leave and
go to Anantha Kadu (Forest). The little boy who was very very mischievous. One
day boy took the idol Lord Vishnu and start playing. Sage Vilvamangalathu
Swamiyar became enraged at this and chased away the boy. Boy left and sage
Vilvamangalathu Swamiyar and went to forest.
After a long search, when sage Vilvamangalathu Swamiyar was walking on
the banks of Arabian Sea, he heard a pulaya lady threatening her child that she
would throw him in Ananthankadu. The moment the Swami heard the word
Ananthankadu he was delighted. He proceeded to Ananthankadu based on the
directions of the lady of whom he enquired. The Sage reached Ananthankadu
searching for the boy. There he saw the boy merging into an Iluppa tree (Indian
Butter Tree). The tree fell down and became Anantha Sayana Moorti (Vishnu
reclining on the celestial snake Anantha). But, the edifice that the Lord
assumed was of an extraordinarily eight miles in length, with His head at
Thiruvallom, navel at Thiruvananthapuram, and lotus-feet at Thrippadapuram
(Thrippappur), making him some eight miles in length. The Sage requested the
Lord to shrink to a smaller proportion that would be thrice the length of his
staff. Immediately the Lord shrank to the form of the Idol of 20 Feet that is
seen at present in the Temple.
6. Why there are 3 doors in the
temple to see Ananthapadmanabha Swamy?
In continuation from the last answer…..But even then many Iluppa trees
obstructed a complete vision of the Lord. The Sage saw the Lord in three parts
– thirumukham, thiruvudal and thrippadam. Swami prayed to Padmanabha to be
forgiven. The Swami offered Rice Kanji and Uppumanga (salted mango pieces) in a
coconut shell to the Perumal which he obtained from the pulaya woman. The spot
where the Sage had darsan of the Lord belonged to Koopakkara Potti and Karuva
Potti. With the assistance of the reigning King and some Brahmin households a temple
was constructed. Koopakkara Potti was made the Tantri of the Temple. The
Ananthankadu Nagaraja Temple still exists to the north west of the Padmanabhaswamy
Temple. The Samadhi (final resting place) of the Swamiyar exists to the west of
the Padmanabha Temple. A Krishna Temple was built over the Samadhi. This
Temple, known as Vilvamangalam Sri Krishna Swami Temple, belongs to Thrissur
Naduvil Madhom.
7. What is Ananthapadmanabha Swamy made up of?
The deity is made from 12,008 saligramams. These saligrams are from
the banks of the Gandaki River in Nepal, and to commemorate this certain
rituals used to be performed at the Pashupatinath Temple. The deity of
Padmanabha is covered with, "Katusarkara yogam", a special ayurvedic
mix, which forms a plaster that keeps the deity clean. The daily worship is
with flowers and for the abhishekam, special deities are used.
8. What is there in Ananthapadmanabha Swamy temple?
First, to enter in to the temple, there is dress code:
At the centre of the temple, all can we see from the 3 doors of the
same as Sage Vilvamangalathu Swamiyar saw the Ananthapadmanabha Swamy in three parts – thirumukham, thiruvudal
and thrippadam for the first time.
Inside the Temple, there are two other important shrines, Thekkedom
and Thiruvambadi, for the Deities, Ugra Narasimha and Krishna Swami
respectively. There are also shrines for Rama accompanied by Sita, Lakshmana
and Hanuman, Vishwaksena (the Nirmalyadhari of Vishnu and Remover of
Obstacles), Vyasa, Ganapati, Sasta, and Kshetrapala (who guards the temple).
Grand idols of Garuda and Hanuman stand with folded hands in the Valiya
balikkal area.[3] The thevara idols of Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma and
Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma are housed in the south east part of the
Temple.
The foundation of the present gopuram was laid in 1566.[24] The temple
has a 100-foot (30 m),[25] 7-tier gopuram made in the Pandyan style. It is said
that, If a person stands on 7 –tier, he can see the sea directly without
obstruction.
9. Is Ananthapadmanabha Swamy is the richest god?
Yes, it seems to be and the list of the rich gods are as follows:
1. Padmanadhaswamy Temple
2. Tirumala Tirupati Balaji Venkateswara Swami Temple
3. Shirdi Sai Baba Temple
4. Puri Jagannath Temple
5. Siddhivinayak Temple
6. Viashno Devi Temple
7. Somnath Temple
8. Guruvayurappan Temple
9. Meenakshi Temple
10. Kashi Vishwanath Temple
10. How much gold is there in Ananthapadmanabha Swamy temple?
This is the first temple where Dhaliths are permitted to enter and do
the poja.
The temple and its assets belong to Lord Padmanabhaswamy, and were for
a long time controlled by a trust, headed by the Travancore Royal family.
However, for the present, the Supreme Court of India has divested the
Travancore Royal Family from leading the management of the temple. T P
Sundararajan's litigations changed the way the world looked at the Temple.
In June 2011, the Supreme Court directed the authorities from the
archaeology department and the fire services, to open the secret 6 chambers (Kallaras)
A, B, C, D, E and F OR it even called by name 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 chambers of
the temple for inspection of the items kept inside. These chambers are 20 feet
below the ground level.
5 and 6 chamber are open on regular basis which contains ornaments of
lord used on daily basis. 3 and 4th chambers opened thrice in one
year on festivals and on special occasions as these chambers contains special
ornaments of lord. Remaining 1 and 2 chambers, which was not open from 150
years. After T P Sundararajan's litigations, searcing staff tried to open the 2nd
chamber, but they failed to open.
Then they tied to open the 1st door after 7 Hrs of time. They
found one more door to passage and found tons of gold. They took to account
them for 6 months.
Leaving the 2nd chamber, the accounted price is approx.
1,20,000 Crores. But since this is antique items, the cost may be hiked by 10-20
times more. One coin price 2.5 crore. But
still, 2nd door was not opened. I2 more underground chamber found
and named as 7 and 8th. 2 passages are found and they are directed
towards the sea.
11. Where did these much of
gold come here?
These are may be collected from 2000 year back and the collection from
the followings sources:
1. God Tax, King used to keep 1 part to god.
2. Collected from defeating the other king places.
3. Some kings like Sri Krishna Deva Raja, Gowri Lakshmi Bhai, etc used
to donate the gold, diamonds to god.
4. At the time of Gowri Lakshmi Bhai hide more gold here for saftey.
5. Exchange of Black pepper (Kari mensu) at the cost of gold.
12. Who is Babiya guards (Vegetarian
crocodile)?
Babiya only eats the temple prasad which is made of rice and jaggery
and does not harm anyone, including the fish in the lake. The crocodile is
believed to be vegetarian and is guarding the temple for more than 60 years! A
trustee of the temple has said that Babiya is a total vegetarian and is fed
daily after the noon worship conducted at the temple, it is given the prasads
offered by the devotees and they feed her like an elephant by putting the
prasad in its mouth.
Another temple caretaker narrates a different story about Babiya’s
existence. Once Sree Vilvamangalathu Swami, devotee of Lord Vishnu, was doing
penance for his favourite lord.
Etc……
Many thanks to google.com, wikipedia.org, yoyo TV kannada, …etc…. from
where the data has been collected.