Hayagriva Temples

Sri Lakshmi Hayagrivaswamy

||Hayagriva Gayathri Mantra||
 Om Vaaheeshwaraya Vidmahe Hayagreevaya Dhimahi
  Tanno Hamsa Prachodayat

             Lord Hayagriva is an Avatar or incarnation of Lord Vishnu where God has appeared with Horse face. Lord Hayagriva is worshipped as the God of knowledge and wisdom and is the Guru of Goddess Saraswathi. Lord Hayagrivar is worshipped as Lakshmi Hayagrivaswamy where Lord is in sitting posture with four hands (Chathur Bhujam) holding Conch and Sudharshana Chakra and with Devi Lakshmi sitting in Lord's lap.

Lord Hayagriva restoring Vedas to Brahma

             Lord Hayagrivar is also worshipped as Yoga Hayagrivar where Lord is in the meditating posture. As per the puranas once the demons Madhu and Kaitabha stole the Vedas from Brahma Deva, As Brahma prayed to Lord Vishnu to restore the Vedas, Lord took Hayagriva avatar and destroyed the demons and recovered the Vedas.

Vathiraja Theerthar

                Sri Vadiraja Teerthar a great Dvaita philosopher and saint, who belonged to 16th century from a village near Udipi was a great devotee of Sri Hayagriva. Vadirajateertharu used to offer daily prasadam to Lord Hayagriva by holding the prasadam on his head. Lord Hayagriva is said to appear in the form of a horse and eat the prasadam by kneeling on Vadirajateertha's shoulders. Vadirajateertharu brindavana is installed in Sodhe temple near Sirsi in Karnataka.

Vedhantha Desikar

             
                Vedanta Desikar was a Sri Vaishnava guru and a great poet and philosopher of Sri Vaishnavism of 13th century from Thoopul, Kanchipuram was also a great devotee of Lord Hayagrivar.


The list of Lord Hayagriva temples in South India.

1. Hayagriva Temples in Tamil Nadu
2. Hayagriva Temples in Karnataka and Kerala
3. Hayagriva Temples in Andra Pradesh