The 21-year-old Sri Narayani Peedam in Thirumalaikkodi, Vellore, has added one more jewel to its crown with the ‘Kanthirappu Vaibhavam’ (Eye Opening Ceremony) of the newly designed golden idol of Sri Swarna Lakshmi made of 70 kg gold at the Peedam premises.
In connection with this, a 48-day Mahalakshmi yagam commenced at the Shanthi Mandapam at the Sri Narayani Peedam on Sunday.
The yagam, marked by the chanting of the Sri Suktam, would be held thrice daily, at 8 a.m., 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. till March 29.
After that the Swarna Lakshmi idol would be temporarily installed at the Deepa Mandapam in Sripuram, which already houses the Sri Lakshmi Narayani Temple (also known as the golden temple) established six years ago. “Devotees visiting Sripuram would be permitted to perform abhishekam to the idol of Swarnalakshmi with Thulasi Theertham,” according to Sri Sakthi Amma, Managing Trustee of Sri Narayani Peedam.
Shrine for Goddess
The head of the Peedam said that a separate temple for Swarnalakshmi would be built within the Sripuram premises later and a shrine for Sripura Srinivasan will be established within the Swarnalakshmi Temple.
While the idol of Sripura Srinivasan would be installed in the sanctum sanctorum, the idol of Swarnalakshmi would be installed at the Ardha Mandapam of the proposed temple.
Sri Sakthi Amma said that Sripuram was established as a spiritual park in 2007 with the objective of enabling the devotees visiting the golden temple to imbibe spiritual knowledge and enjoy the divine bliss.
Welfare activities
Ever since it was established in 1992, Sri Narayani Peedam has been undertaking several social welfare activities, in addition to its spiritual work.
These included implementing schemes such as Vidya Netram, which provides scholarships to poor and meritorious students, and furniture and educational materials to government schools.
“The Peedam runs a 300-bed hospital called Sri Narayani Hospital and Research Centre in the vicinity of the temple. This would soon be expanded into a 500-bed hospital. The Peedam which already runs a Matriculation Higher Secondary School called Sri Narayani Vidyalaya would soon be starting a CBSE school,” said Sri Sakthi Amma.
