CHENNAI : The small but historically rich village of Pon Vilainda Kalathur (P.V.Kalathur) near Chengalpattu, has three Vishnu temples and a shrine for Siva.
Of the three Vishnu temples, two are for Rama. One of these is the Pattabhirama Swami (Kodandarama Swami) temple, which houses the unique image of Rama with Sita on His lap and Lakshmana standing beside Him. Hanuman faces the deities in this sanctum.
Adjacent to the Pattabhirama Swami temple is the shrine for Darbhasayana Sethurama facing north. The entrance to this temple is through a doorway in the compound wall of the Pattabhirama temple. The utsava-murti (bronze image) of Rama worshipped in the Darbhasayana Sethurama temple was found in a well in front of the main sanctum inside the temple’s premises with the words ‘Darbha Sayana Rama’ inscribed on His crown and ‘Tirupullani Sethu Rama’ etched at the base.
This beautiful bronze image of Rama has, like most of the other images of this deity, a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other. But what makes this murthi unique is that each of the arrows in the quiver on His shoulder look different. The utsava-vigrahas of Sita and Lakshmana were made later and worshipped here.
The stone image, now in worship in the sanctum, made later and consecrated here, looks just like the Rama image in the Adi Jagannatha Perumal temple at Tirupullani (Ramanthapuram district) where this deity reclines in Veera Sayanam on a bed of darbha grass. The temple at Thirupullani is a well-known Divya Desam (important places for Vishnu eulogised in the Tamil pasurams or verses of the Azhvars) in Pandya Nadu or the ancient Pandyan country in south Tamil Nadu. Thirumangai Azhvar had visited this temple and has sung twenty-one pasurams in praise of the deity here.
It is a well-known episode in the Valmiki Ramayanam that Rama lay on a bed of darbha grass (darbha-sayana) on the sea-shore to propitiate the God of the ocean to secure a safe passage to Lanka. When the latter did not appear before Him, Rama was enraged and dispatched arrows aimed at the ocean. It was at that time that Samudra Raja (God of the ocean) appeared before Rama and assured Him that it would be easy for His army to cross over the waters to Lanka.
The image of Rama in the Darbhasayana Sethurama temple in Ponvilainda Kalatur is in a reclining posture with His bow resting on His chest and the arrows laid to His right. Lakshmana stands with bow and arrows behind the recumbent Rama, while Anjaneya stands with anjali hasta (palms pressed together) at the deity’s feet. Interestingly, next to Hanuman is the rare image of Samudra Raja also in anjali hasta, paying His respects to Rama.
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