Puranic legends: Story of Gajendra Moksha

The famous Gajendramoksa story of Bhagavata purana, which proclaims the lord Visnu's mercy to his devotees. This is also used by the author of Sucindrasthalamahatmya for propagating the glory of the famous Visnu temple of Nattalam (Nakralaya). The source of the story is the eighth skanda of Srimahabhagavta. The story can be summed up like this. The king Indradyamma was transformed into an elephant by the curse of great sage Agastya. The elephant spent his days with extreme pleasure and joy in company with the other elephants. Gradually he became the king of them. One day the elephant along with his herd approached a lake to drink water. When he was drinking the water along with his company, a crocodile bites at one of his hind legs. He tried to free himself from the crocodile. As his effort had failed he tried to get himself free with the help of other elephants. He lost all his pride and began to worship lord Visnu by offering lotus flowers for a long time. At last lord Vishnu appeared before him and killed the crocodile with his Sudarsana. The crocodile was a Gandharva cursed by the sage Devala. Thus Vishnu absolves the curse of both of them. This Bhagavatic story proclaims the importance of the worship of Lord Vishnu. In Sucindrasthalamahatmya nothing is mentioned about the curse of Agastya on Indradyumna. It is also not mentioned that the elephant as a powerful one leading a life of pleasure as the head of other elephants. The story is narrated by Veda Vyasa to Kalavathi daughter of the king Bhanusekhala. He is said to be a king of Ay royal family. Kalavathi who had no issues approached Vyasa for some advice. The sage advised her to go to 151

Nattalam and pray Lord Vishnu. At that occasion the narration of the story of Gajendra-moksha takes place. The Gajendra of Sucindrasthalamahatmya is a pious devotee of lord Visnu who is calm and quite. The crocodile catched him when he was plucking the Lotus from lake which was the dwelling place of crocodile. Hearing the prayers of Gajendra Visnu killed the crocodile and saved the elephant. Then the elephant asked Visnu for a suitable place for him to worship the lord. Visnu advised him to go to the place which is known as Nakrapattanam. According to the poet this place is the Nattalam. He uses the famous puranic story to glorify the temple of Visnu in Nattalam.