Thread on Tiruparkadal temple and its significance:

Thiruparkadal (திருப்பாற்கடல்) town is located about 100 kms to the west of Chennai, enroute to Bengaluru, along the NH48 Golden Quadrilateral highway.

The town name translates to श्री क्षीरसागर (ocean of Milk) in Hindi.

The town has a rarest among the rare, temple in the country, where Perumal (Lord Vishnu) stands upon the Avudaiyar(pedestal) of Shiva Linga to show the world, the amalgamation of Vaishnavism with Saivism and to enlight both of them are one and the same.

The temple name is Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal temple. The historical name of the temple town is Narayana Chaturvedi Mangalam. It is considered as the 107th Divya Desam among the 108 Divyadesams in Bharata. (the last one being Vaikunta)

It is very well known that பாற்கடல்(क्षीरसागर) cannot be reached with Human body as it is not in பூலோகம் (भू लोक). To make up this loss for devotees, the worship in this temple gives the devotees the gift of darshan of Tirupparkadal as 107th Divyadesam.

Sthala Purana: It is said that Sage Pundarika Maharishi, a staunch Vaishnavite Devotee, took up a pilgrimage to Vishnu temples. He was on his way around the Tirupparkadal town, on a Vaikunta Ekadashi day. He saw a small temple and Pushkarni at this village.

Having taken bath at the pushkarni, he decided to worship the Lord at the temple temple, before the Ekadashi Naazhigai (நாழிகை/घटिका) was over. To his surprise, he found a Shiva lingam in the sanctum Sanctorum named Sree Dooseshwara.

Disappointed that he had not got the darshan of Lord Vishnu and worried that he would not be able to worship him before the Ekadashi auspicious time was over, he walked out off the temple. Lord Vishnu wanted to fulfill the aspiration of the Vaishnava devotee

Lord Vishnu wanted to fulfill the aspiration of the Vaishnava devotee, and transformed himself as an old vaishnavite man, appeared before him and asked him why he was so sad.

When Sage Pundarika narrated what had happened, the old man told him that what he had seen was indeed Lord Vishnu's shrine and invited him to go along with him inside the temple.

On reaching the Sanctum Sanctorum, the old man disappeared and Lord Vishnu gave darshan to the Sage as standing over the Shiva linga with Abhaya Mudra. From that day, the Lord is called Pundarika Varadhan and the Pushkarni is called Pundarika Pushkarni.

Another interesting fact in this temple is that Pradosha puja is also performed here. As the lord manifests with features of both Vishnu and Shiva, Pradosha puja is performed specifically in this temple.

Tirumanjanam (Abishekam) is done to the feet of Lord Vishnu and archana performed with both Tulasi and Vilva leaves, something that is unique to this temple.

This temple is symbolic of the tamil proverb
அரியும் சிவனும் ஒன்னு; அறியாதவன் வாயில மண்ணு!
Translation in Hindi: हरि और शिव एक हैं; अज्ञानी के मुंह मैं धूल है !

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