Lord's Wedding:Lord Venkateswara married Padmavathy.
Tirupati, the Home of Lord Venkateswara has long been
the destination of many a newly wed couple. The temple is believed to
have a particular signification for newly weds as it is believed to be
place where Lord Venkateswara married Padmavathy.
An interesting tale forms the backdrop to the temple.
Quarrels are not unknown between happily wed couples and the divine
ones are no different. Following a spat with Lord Vishnu, Goddess
Lakshmi left her heavenly abode and came down to the earth. Here she
stayed in a hermitage on the banks of the Godavari.
Missing his beloved, Lord Vishnu went to search of
her and this search brought him to earth. Ultimately his quest brought
him to the Seshadri hills where he stopped to rest in an anthill. Upset
by the separation between Vishnu and Lakshmi, Lord Brahma and Lord
Shiva decided to intervene. Taking the guise of a cow and a calf they
went to live at the place of a Chola king.
The cowherd took them everyday to graze in the
Seshadri hills where the cow would secretly visit the anthill where
Vishnu was living without sustenance. Emptying her milk, the cow would
then return to the palace.
The cowherd was angry as the cow never yielded any
milk to him. He watched movements carefully and his explorations
brought him to the anthill. In trying to ascertain what lay beneath the
anthill, he struck it with an axe thus injuring Vishnu on the forehead.
In search of herbs to heal the wound, Lord Vishnu
wandered far and wide. His wanderings brought him to the Shrine of Sri
Varahaswamy - the third incarnation of Vishnu as a boar. Here, he
sought permission to stay, but Varahaswamy wanted a rental to be paid;
Vishnu pleaded that he was poor now and needed rent free accommodation.
To reciprocate this gesture of goodwill, he said he would tell his
devotees to worship Varahaswamy before they worshipped him. The
contract sealed, Vishnu built a hermitage and lived there waited on by a
devotee, Vakuladevi who looked after him like a mother. In a nearby
kingdom ruled King Akasha Rajan. Childless for many years, he had one
day found a beautiful baby girl sleeping on a golden lotus in a golden
box while ploughing the fields. He had named her Padmavathy. A
beautiful and accomplished girl, Padmavathy had been granted a boon in
her earlier birth that she would be married to Lord Vishnu. One day,
Vishnu, who had been renamed Srinivasan by his devotee and foster mother
Vakuladevi, went hunting in the forest. His wandering led him to a
garden with a pond. Srinivasan was thirsty and tired. After drinking
from the pond, he rested in the shade of a tree. Soon the soft singing
of Padmavathy who was dancing in the garden with her companions roused
him. He was stunned by her beauty and drawn to her. She too seemed to
be drawn to him, but the angry attendants thinking him a mere hunter
drove him away.
Depressed and unhappy he poured his troubles out to
Vakuladevi. Now for the first time, he revealed to her who he really
was and also told her the story of Padmavathy.
In the meanwhile, Padmavathy was dreaming of
Srinivasa. She had no idea who he really was and knew that her parents
would never let her be married to a hunter.
Srinivasa urged Vakuladevi to approach Padmavathy's
father, Akasha Raja, with the marriage proposal. In the meanwhile he
disguised himself as a soothsayer and went to the court of Akasha Raja.
There, he assured Padmavathy that the hunter she had fallen in love
with was no ordinary man but the Lord and told her that the worries
would soon be over. Padmavathy too poured out her heart to her parents.
At about the same time, Vakuladevi arrived with the marriage proposal.
After consulting with the sages Akasha Raja accepted the proposal and
invited Srinivasa to attend the wedding on Friday, the 10th day of
Vaikasi.
Srinivasa now had arrangements to make. He sought a
loan of one crore and 14 lakh coins of gold from Kubera and had
Viswakarma, the divine architect create heavenly surroundings in the
Seshadri hills.
The day of the wedding arrived, Lord Srinivasa was
bathed in holy waters and dressed in jeweled ornaments befitting a royal
bride groom. Then he set off in a procession for the court of Akasha
Raja. There Padmavathy waited radiant in her beauty. Srinivasa was
hailed with an arthi and led to the marriage hall. There the queen and
King washed his feet while sage Vasishta chanted the Vedic mantras.
Soon the wedding was over and it was time for Padmavathy to take leave
of her parents.
Together, they lived for all eternity while Goddess
Lakshmi, understanding the commitments of Lord Vishnu, chose to live in
his heart forever.
Tirupati, today, stands as a special place,
commemorating the marriage between the two. Everyday, a kalyana utsavam
celebrates the divine union in a celebration that stretches to
eternity. Even today, during the Brahmotsavam at the temple, turmeric,
kumkum and a sari are sent from the temple to Tiruchanur, the abode of
Padmavathy. In fact Tirupati is rarely visited without paying a visit
to Tiruchanur.
In the light of this background, it has become the
favored destination of many newly wed couples who pray for a happy
wedding - a wedding like that of Srinivasa and Padmavathy.
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