Hare Krishna !
There are many devotees for Srinivasa Perumal. Each of them have their own specialty. Some thought him as friend, some as wife and some became father in law, etc.,
One of the well known devotee of Venkateswara swamy is Thondaman Chakravarthi. He only built the Sri Bhu sametha Sri Venkateswara swamy temple in Thondamanadu. Let’s know about him.
Padmavathi devi was adopted by Akasa Raju. As she did penance for Maha Vishnu in her previous births, she married him who came as Srinivasa for her. (Their marriage was done in the presence of Mahalakshmi devi with her permission). After their marriage, they lived in the asram of Agastya maharshi for 6 months.
Akasa Raju’s wife is Dharani devi. He also had a brother, Thondaman. And son is Vasudan.
After few days of marriage, Akasa Raju got salvation. And Thondaman and Vasudan fought for kingdom. They thought to fight with each other and who wins in that will be the king. Thondaman went to Srinivasa for help.
Lord thought “Thondaman is my devotee. I should help him. But, in his opposition, Padmavathi’s brother is there. She may hurt if I go with Thondaman”. Like this, Lord thought for a while and he gave his Sudarsan Chakra to Thondaman.
After that, Vasudan too came for help. According to the request of Vasudan, Srinivasa went with him. Both Thondaman and Vasudan fought. At last, Thondaman used Sudarsan Chakra in the war. If Srinivasa doesn’t stop, it will kill Vasudan.
So, he stood in the front of Vasudan. Sudarsan hurt the Lord. He acted as he fell unconscious. Both Thondaman and Vasudan stopped the war and started doing service to Srinivasa. After some time, he came to the normal stage. Then, both of them said sorry to Lord and requested to forgive them. Thondaman said “Lord! give this kingdom t o my Vasudan only. I’ll go to Thirth yatra.” Even Vasudan “Srinivasa give this kingdom to my uncle. I’ll go to Thrith yatra”. But, Lord divided the Kingdom and said to rule correctly. They agreed.
Kingdom ruled by Thondaman is Thondamanadu. After six months of their marriage, Srinivasa ordered Thondaman to build a temple for him in Tirumala in which he’ll reside in the whole Kaliyug. And also said about his previous birth. (In his previous birth, Thondaman is a helper to priest. He daily brings flowers to Lord. But, one day, one the way, he saw a couple in the garden. And forgot that he should go to the service of Perumal. After sometime, he remembered that and went quickly to priest. But, priest scolded him for the late and said you are not eligible to do this. He felt sad and Srinivasa Perumal appeared to him and said “don't worry in your next birth, you'll be a king and do my service and attain salvation"). Thondaman felt very happy. After the construction, Lord entered it with Goddess Padmavathi devi and all the devathas including Brahma. Brahma worshiped Lord and kept 2 deepams there and said ‘These will be there until the end of Kaliyug’. After that, Lord Srinivasa blessed them and offered lunch. After all this, they again returned to their lokas.
Thondaman also returned to his kingdom. He daily went to Tirumala and worshiped Lord with golden flowers. One day, he saw flowers made with soil near the feet of Lord. He surprised and asked Lord about that. Lord said him about the devotee Bhima (not the one among the Pandavs). He is great devotee of Srinvisa but very poor. He is potter. So, daily he offers the flowers made with soil to Lord in his house. But, due to his devotion, the flowers reached Tirumala.
Thodaman shocked by listening this and Srinivasa said him the address of Bhima as per request of Thondaman. After the puja, Thondaman went to Bhima. Bhima surprised and invited the king into his house. In between their conversation, Lord appeared there on Garuda vahana and gave salvation to Bhima and his wife. Thondaman requested Lord to give him salvation. Srinivasa said “Not now. You make your son as King and completely get devoted to me. Then, I’ll give you salvation.” Thondaman chakravarthi did that and completely got devoted to Lord. He daily did sevas to Lord at Tirumala.
But, due to old age, he was unable to go to Tirumala and he said his disability to Venkateswara. Lord, daily after Ekanta went to the house of Thondaman with his consorts Sridevi and Bhudevi and took his offerings. One day, Thondaman requested Lord to be there only permanently. He agreed. He build a temple for Lord there and also arranged a well for the temple needs. That temple is in Thondamanadu.
One day, Lord became very happy for the devotion of Thondaman and showed him his Viswaroop. And asked ‘do you want to live some more time or you want to get salvation’ He requested Srinivasa to give him salvation. Lord agreed. Thondaman attained salvation.
Let’s surrender to Srinivasa Perumal and worship. He’ll shower his limitless mercy on us.
Om Namo Venkatesaya !!!
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