Athi Varadarar – Lord who is worshiped once in 40 years

Athi Varadar – the Deity who gives darshan once in 40 years only, has been giving His darshan from July 01 till Aug 18, 2019. Kanchipuram in Tamilnadu is buzzing with millions of devotees from all over the world for the darshan of Sri Athi Varadar – the Deity who gives darshan once in 40 years only. What is so special about this Deity? Why He gives darshan once in forty years only?

The history of Athi Varadar

The Deity of Athi Varadar is one among the four Deities of Lord Varadaraja worshiped by Brahma. In the Satya-yuga this Deity was carved out of Fig tree wood by Vishwakarma. This was the mula-vigraha worshiped in the sanctum of the Kanchi Varadaraja Perumal Temple until the early 16th century. Due to the Muslim invasion, the Athi Varadar vigraha was immersed inside the sacred pushkarani of the temple secretively and the truth was known only to one family.

For forty long years, the temple had no Deity for worship thus no puja happening in the temple. The two brothers in the Dhatacharya lineage under whose authority the Deity was hidden, passed away thus taking away the secret forever. Their two sons tried their best to bring back the Deities to Kanchipuram. One Madhwa devotee brought the utsavar back from the Udayar Palayam forest and utsavar puja began.

Unable to locate the original Deity of Athi Varadar, the authorities of the temple decided to install the Deity made out of stone and thus the Deity was brought from the Padma Giri in Pazayaseevaram located approximately 30 kms from Kanchipuram. This Deity was known as Devaraja Perumal and was worshiped by Athri Rishi. He very much resembled Athi Varadaraja. Pazayaseevaram is located on the confluence of Payasvini, Vegavathi and Bahunadhi rivers.

Around 1709 the pushkarani of the temple was emptied and Lord Athi Varadar was seen at the base of the sacred tank. The authorities then decided to take the vigraha out only once in forty years for 48 days and keep Him back.

This Deity is kept safely inside the Ananta Sarovar – the temple pushkarani of Varadaraja Temple in Kanchipuram for forty years. Only once in forty years, the Deity is brought out for the darshan for 48 days. This decision was taken based on the below mentioned lila.

Athi Varadar – why worshiped once in 40 years

Athi Varadar was originally worshiped by Lord Brahma in Satya-yuga, by Gajendra in Treta-yuga, by Sage Brihaspathi in Dwapara-yuga and by Ananta Shesha in Kali-yuga.

Once while Brahma was performing a yagna (fire sacrifice), in Kanchipuram, the fire touched the wooden Deity of Sri Athi Varadar. Brahma asked the Lord for a remedial measure to worship the Deity; the Lord instructed him to keep the Deity in the lake surrounded by the replicas of Ananta Shesha. Hence the Deity is till date in the temple pond.

While Brahma worshiped the Deity alone, Lord Vishnu tells Brahma,”You are worshiping Me constantly. You should also give an opportunity to others for worship as well”.

To this Lord Brahma agreed to allow the Lord’s worship only for a few nano seconds. Similarly, when Gajendra and Brihaspathi were worshiping, they allowed the worship during their period only for a few minutes on Lord Vishnu’s request.

In the similar manner, when Ananta Shesha worships, he allows the worship to be offered by others for 48 days i.e, once in 40 years only. After this period of 1 mandala, the Lord is immersed back in the Ananta Sarovar to be worshiped by Ananta Shesha for next 40 years. Ananta Sarovar is the sannidhanam of Lord Ananta Shesha.

As per the shastras, the time varies from the upper planetary systems to the lower planetary systems. A moment of Brahma residing in the Satyaloka which is the top-most planetary system in this material realm, is considered as a year on this Bhooloka (planet earth) and so on.

This year the auspicious period for the Lord’s worship by the devotees is from 01 July 2019 to 18 Aug 2019. The next darshan would be in 2059. Do not miss the opportunity of darshan of Lord Athi Varadar.