Thirukovalur is one of the 108 Divya desams or holy shrines of Lord Narayana. The Lord resident in this holy shrine is known as Trivikrama (Ulagalandha Perumal). In this dhivya desam, the Sankam is on the right hand as with Lord Parthasarathy at Thiruvallikeni. Sankam is the symbol of divine Jnanam.
Sthala Puranam:
At Thirukovalur, the Lord responded to the tapas of Sage Mrugandu (Father of Sage MaarkandEyar) at this place directed by Brahma. When the Lord appeared before him, Mrugandu Maharishi asked for the boon of being blessed with the darsanam of the Lord as He appeared during Thrivikrama avataram, since he was not living in those days of vibhavam. Our Lord obliged and stayed in that form at the request of the Maharishi to bless other devotees with that Thrivikrama form with Sankam on the right hand and Chakram on the left. Further, our Lord was not going to destroy Mahabali with the Chakram but was intent on placing His Sacred foot on his head to push him to the PathALam, when there was no place to measure with the third step.
Besides the reversed sanga-chakrams, this kshEtram is known for another uniqueness, the existence of a shrine for DurgA Devi within the ardha mantapam of this temple. Vishnu Durgai is regularly worshipped here and protects the kshEthram from all inauspicousness.
Swami Desikan was inspired by the special symbolism indicated by Trivikraman at this divya desam and celebrated it by giving us his blessed work known as Sri Saccharithra RakshA. This composition deals with certain religious practices of SrivaishNavAs. Swami Desikan explained to us the significance of samAsrayaNam (taptha mudra dhAraNam) or the wearing of the Vishnu chinnams of Chakram and Sankam on the upper arms of SrivaishNavAs in the first chapter of this work; The second chapter deals with the meaning of Urdhva Pundra DhAraNam (wearing of the 12 pundrams on one's upper torso). The third chapter covers Bhagavath prapatthi and BhagavAn-niveditOpaYoga.
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