When Thiruparkadal was churned, a divine flower paarijaatam, came out and Emperuman gifted it to Indira, who planted it in his garden. One day, sage Narada visited this garden and saw this tree emitting its divine perfume. Using his yogic powers he gathered up some of these ethereal blossoms and brought them back to the physical plane and gave them to Rukmini, the favorite wife of Lord Krishna, who was at that time dwelling in Dwaraka. The flowers were so lovely and the fragrance so delicate that Satyabhama another wife of Lord Krishna became desirous of possessing that celestial tree and having it planted in her own garden. She was jealous of the attention Krishna was showing to Rukmini and wanted him to give more time to her.
She implored him to obtain the tree for her. To satisfy her desire Lord Krishna entered into a state of deep meditation and in that state plucked up the tree from the garden. This incurred the wrath of Indra as the tree belonged to his wife Sachi. But Satyabhama would not be put off by any obstacle and said that the tree was the common property of all and had as much place on earth as it had in the heavens.
As a result, Krishna waged a war with Indra. Krishna’s strength prevailed and Indra was forced to retreat. Satyabhama taunted Indra for being a coward but decided to give back his celestial tree. Krishna also consented to return the tree to its celestial abode. But Indra said that there was no shame in being defeated by the avatar of Vishnu and that the tree should be taken to earth and planted it in Dwarka where its fragrance could be enjoined by all the people of the earth.
As Lord Krishna even our Varadar in Kanchipuram is closely associated with this divine flower. Signifying that they are the same!!
During our Sandhyavandhanam we recite the following verse,
Sree ranga mangala nidhim karuna nivasam
Sree Venkadadri Shikaralaya kala megam
Sree Hasthi saila Shikarojwala Parijatham
Sreesam namami sirasa yadu saila deepam.
The first verse refers to Srirangam, and the second refers to Thirumalai while the third verse refers to Kanchipuram and it has a mention of Paarijaatam.
If you look closely in Varadar’s Abhaya Hastham, you would see the paarijaatam between his thumb and his palm.
From what I understand this flower is in our Perarulalan’s swayam thirumeni.
Aalvaar Emberumaan Jeeyar Thiruvadikale saranam.
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