When
this news reached Srirangam, the people there did not readily believe it, as by then 60
years had elapsed, and the
persons connected with the incident were dead. The idol was not allowed to be taken to the
innermost precincts of the temple, but was allowed to be kept to the west of the Aryapatal
entrance in the third prakaram.
During the absence of Manavala Perumal narrated above, the temple doors were opened again
but, to the surprise of all it was found that the idol of Nachiyar, which was kept hidden
under Vilva leaves, was also missing. Consequently,' they had to install new idols of both
Manavala Perumal and Nachiyar. When 60 years had already passed since the incident of the
loss of idols from Srirangam temple, and subs- ttutes had been installed in their places,
public memory being short, people forgot about theoriginal idol of Manavala Perumal.
Therefore they did not readily believe the story of the regaining of the original idol
under mysterious circumstances.
The next day, the mysterious re- appearance of the original idol of Nachiyar was noticed.
It must then have come to their mind that when Manavala Perumal was taken away, Nachiyar
had also mysteriously disappeared, - but now the presence of the idol being there,
Nachiyar had mysteriously reappeared. They therefore informed the king of the locality
about this. The King heard the full story from the old man but probably could not readily
believe it. To ascertain the truth, he wanted to speak to the oldest man of the locality,
as the incident happened 60 years back. |
