THIRININRAVOOR a Sri Vaishnava divya desam is located 30 kms from Chennai on Arakonam route – and 5 kms from Thinnanoor station . As Goddess Maha Lakshmi arrived from Sri Vaikuntam and stayed here, this place came to be known as “THIRU” “NINDRA” “OOR”
(THIRU= LAKSHMI, NINDRA= STANDING, OOR=PLACE).
Lord MahaVishnu and Samudrarajan ( Goddess mahalakshmi’s father) once reached Bhoolokam in search of Thayar as without Her presence, Sri Vaikuntam was null and dull life .
Samudra rajan ,in the course of his search reached this place. He was overwhelmed to see his glorious daughter Mahalakshmi and addressed HER as “ENNAI PETRA THAI” (mother who gave birth to me emphasizing the fact that Mahalakshmi Thayar is the Divine Mother for the entire world).
Meanwhile , Varuna, the Demi God of rain who came in search of Samudrarajan (as he had to quench the sea water for forming clouds ) saw Samudrarajan at this place. Hence, Samudrarajan and Varunan can be seen in the sannidhi along with Divya dhampadhigal.
Despite Samundrarajan’s pleas to his daughter , Goddess ( Thayar ) continued to stay here. A small mantapam in front of the pushkarini was built later as remembrance. Perumal conceded to his bhaktan, Samudrarajan’s request to pacify Thayar to return to SriVaikuntam and descended on the earth as Bhaktavatsalan (one whose devotees are very dear to Him) and succeeded in the attempt.
Based on Samudrarajan’s request who had the darshan of the Divya Dhampadhigal on bhoomi for the first time in Kalyana Thirukolam, Perumal continues to reside here. There is an interesting story related with this kshetram relating to our Acharyar. The temple priest informed us that Swamy Ramanujar’s sister and brother-in-law who were without any progeny for a long time undertook piligrimage to Tirumala from Poondamalli near Chennai .
Enroute they stayed in Lord Sri Ramar temple at this place. They had a divine vision of the Lord. Lord blessed them that He would be born to them as Sri Mudaliaandan and do kainkaryam to Swamy Ramanujar who was an amsam of Adisesha and thus refrained them from going to Tirumala.
When Thirumangai Azhwar visited this place, as Perumal did not give darsanam, he left the place without doing mangalasaasanam(without singing in praise of the Lord). Thayar pointed out this lapse of Perumal and persuaded Him to request Azhwar to sing mangalasaasanam. When Perumal approached Azhwar, he was singing in praise of Sthalasayana Perumal at Thirukadalmallai (Mammalpuram(Mahabalipuram) and was having vision of Baktavatsala Perumal in his mind’s eye.
He praised that he was seeing the Perumal standing in Thirunindravoor as the one reclining at Mamallapuram. As Thayar was not satisfied with only one pasuram, She again persuaded Perumal to request Azhwar to sing another song on them. By the time Azhwar had reached Thirukannapuram and when he saw the Lord in his divine vision, he compared Thirukannapura Perumal with Thirunindravoor Perumal .
