Temples

The legend says that once there lived a Brahmin saint. The Brahman was a true devotee and was always involved in prayers and meditation. He had a helper named Unnikkoran. Unnikkoran always had the urge to understand the practices of the saint for him to adopt and worship the almighty but was a little hesitant to ask the saint.

Once, unable to suppress his desire Unnikkoran asked the saint what good can meditation bring, how to meditate? What was God? How was he? The saint was surprised by Unnikkoran’s curiosity but thought of Unnikkoran as an illiterate fool and did not have the patience to explain. Selfish, the saint answered so that he gave out nothing worth understanding that he worshiped the non-idol and supreme power of the Universe. Unnikkoran was all the more curious. “What does it look like Guru?” he inquired.

The saint was all the more irritated, “like that bull over there”, he pointed to a wild bull that was grazing far away. Unnikkoran was overcome with devotion; he joined his palms in devotion and prayer to the wild bull and tracked the bull at his sight until it went far into the forest. The saint was amused by this funny scene and laughed out inwardly at the foolishness of the young man and at the intelligence of his own.

During the next days, Unnikkoran started worshiping the bull everytime the bull came out of the forest for grazing.

The Saint one day decided to travel to Kanyakumari. He asked Unnikkoran to pack for the trip and to join him. Unnikkoran packed for the two with food and clothes. The bags were heavy and Unnikkoran had assumed and packed the bags in such a manner that each bag was heavy enough for one to carry. However, on the day of travel the saint asked Unnikkoran to carry both the bags. The saint, free of burden walked ahead at high speed and poor Unnikkoran with the burden of both the heavy bundles heaved behind him. The saint indifferent to the pain undertaken by Unnikkoran didn’t even care to rest for a while and Unnikkoran was nearly fainting now.

“A white bull follows you, hang the bundles on its back”, someone whispered.

Unnikkoran turned around but found no one other than his idol bull that was following him. Without ado Unnikkoran rested the bundles upon the white bull and walked freely behind the saint with the bull following him. They traveled far distance and finally reached the forest in Oachira. The grooves were full of intervening wines and the bull got stuck among the wines. Unnikkoran carefully untangled the wines and made way for the bull to pass freely. “Come this way and you will not get tangled. Be careful”, the saint stopped for the first time.

“Who are talking to Unnikkoran?” he inquired.

“To the bull, Guru”

“Which bull?” the saint was surprised.

“The bull which carries our bundles, he got tangled in the wines, I see him every day in the forest, he came to my help with the bundles”, Unnikkoran replied innocently.

“Unnikkoran! I see only two bundles suspended in the air! What magic holds them!, Where is the Bull?”, the saint was taken aback.

“Undikkavil ( It is here in this groove)”, Unnikkoran was surprised as well.

The saint, realizing his mistake, fell on his legs and cried in agony. “What sin have I done O God, Forgive me for I tried to fool this poor soul and today he has experienced the darshan of your supremacy”. Realizing the true devotion of Unnikkoran the saint bowed before him in guilt and pleaded to be Unnikkoran’s disciple. The essence of the supreme in the form of bull was propounded far and wide and the groove where the saint felt the power of devotion became the temple premises of Oachira. But when the dispute arose as where to build the Temple it was revealed that the Divine exuberance of the groove can’t be restricted under a single roof and hence the entire premise of the groove became the place of worship.

The place where Unnikkoran showed the bull to the saint became the renowned groove “Undikkaav”. Later two banyan grooves were constructed in the premise for shade as well as an abstract form for worship. Various small structures rose to provide shelter to the weary wanderers. And today the Oachira Parabrahma temple resides as a symbol of worship of the Supreme with prime importance to bulls in honor of the bull form that appeared to Unnikkoran. The temple premise also includes the Yakshikkaav where a Yakshi “female nymph form” has been believed to have dwelt nailed into a tree.

A version of the legend of Ponnu Muthappan is narrated here: The King of Ancharamana (Ayyankara Vazhunnor) of Eruvessi village and his wife, Padikutty Amma, had no offspring. Padikutty was an ardent devotee of Shiva and when she found a baby floating in a basket of flowers in the river water when she was coming back after a bath in the river, she took it as the blessing of Lord Shiva, and so was her husband. The child grew up and in his boyhood, he was always for the benefit of downtrodden and poor people. However, to the agony of his family he practiced hunting, and also started eating flesh, which was not allowed for a Naduvazhi. Unable to bear the indictments from his family, the boy decided to leave home. When his mother attempted to stop him, he looked at her in fury and appeared in his original godly figure before the parent. She bowed down before her son. Nonetheless, she requested him to cover his eyes with a Poikannu, a type of shield for the eyes, since she was afraid that such a fiery look on another occasion may cause to emanate the cosmic force, Shakti, that could change the entire world. Wearing a shield on his eyes, he left the family, and passed through various villages in Malabar, such as Kunnathurpadi, Puralimala, Padavil, Thillenkeri, Kannapuram, Parassinikadavu and Valluvankadav.

Malanada - There is a Nada (Temple) on the Mala (Hill). Unlike other temples, there is no deity, nor a ‘Sreekovil’ as such in Malanada. Down the hill on the south and west we see vast low lying paddy fields and on the east and north habitated agricultural land. In place of Sreekovil and deity we could see only a raised platform called ‘Althara’ or ‘Mandapam’. In the absence of an idol, devotees submit themselves to a divine power (of their imagination/understanding) through a mental process of ‘Sankalpam’.

It is believed that the ‘Sankalpa Moorthy ‘at Malanada is ‘Duryodhanan’, the Great Epic Hero of Mahabharatham. The concept is unique in Indian history in as much as ‘Duryodhanan’, the Kaurava King known for his ‘Thamoguna’ driven thoughts and actions, being adored as the principal deity in a temple. Enduring beliefs assimilate into personal value system. The myth unravels: as part of his efforts to trace out the ‘Pandavas’ in exile, Duryodhanan traversed the forests in the south and reached Malanada hill. By that time he was much tired and went to a nearby house on the north west of Malanada and asked for drinking water. It was Kaduthamsserry Kottaram, where Malanada Appoppan, the priest and ruler of the land was staying. An elderly woman gave him toddy which was customary at that time as a mark of respect. The king enjoyed the drink, but realized after seeing the ‘Kurathali’ worn by the woman that she belonged to an untouchable lower cast by name ‘Kurava’. The king consoled himself and appreciated the divinity of the place and its people who possessed supernatural powers (Siddha). Thereafter, in furtherance of his ‘Rajadharma’, the king sat on the hill and worshipped Lord Siva, praying for the welfare of his people (the prajas). As an act of charity he gave away 100s of acres of agricultural land and paddy fields as freehold to the ‘Devasthanam’. Even now the land tax of the above property is being levied in the name of ‘Duryodhanan’.

The king also ensured that Gandhari, the Royal Mother, Dussala,his sister, Karnan, his close associate and ‘Angarajan’, Dronar, his ‘Guru’ and the other members of his family were properly and adequately aboded and worshipped in the nearby places and members of the ‘Kurava’ caste are poojaris in all such places.

The Adhishtana (Plinth) is of the Pratibandha type ending with the Pattika under the Vedi. The murals on the walls are believed to have belonged to the late 16th century C.E. On the interior, the shrine is properly set within the four outer walls with a narrow passage around. The inner shrine has its own circular sikhara piece in brick and plaster. The Namaskaramandapam, Nalambalam and the Agramandapam are located inside the main temple complex. The subshrine of Nagar along with hundreds of Nagar idols are kept in the open in the West of the main temple complex. There is a temple tank too. The temple is being managed by a Trust known as Pundareekapuram Dewaswom.