Tiruvinnagar - Uppiliappan Koil

Famous in legends as Dakshina Tirupathi and Tiruvnnagaram, this Arulmigu Venkatachalapathy Swamy koil is one of the 108 Divya Desas of Vaishnavates and has been drawing thousands of all classes of people over several centuries. This beautiful temple is enshrining many other adorable deities, like Yennappan, Ponnappan, Maniyappan and  Muthappan. The image of Moolavar in standing posture bears many resemblances of the image of Tirupathi Balaji, the Lord of Seven Hills. Many similar traditions are followed besides performing several rituals. It goes by many other names such as Bhuloka Vaikuntam, Tulasivanam and Markandeya kshetram.

According to legend, the illustrious sage Markandeya brought up Bhudevi as his daughter here, and Lord Mahavishnu sought her hand and was wedded here. And has been abiding here to blessing the devotees since then. The image of Bhudevi in sitting posture is seated at the feet of her Iord along with Sridevi too on the other side. As the story goes, the sage Markandeya requested the Lord to accept food without salt. So the Lord agreed. Hence the practice of preparing Naivedyam without salt. So the Lord is called lavana Varjita Venkateswara, or Uppiliappan, the Tanul word equivalent to it. The temple tank is called Ahoratra Pushkarini supposed to contain Ganga water anal so called Dakshina Ganga.

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