Temples

The Legend about the origin of the temple is associated with the popular episode in “Mahabharatha” where Arjuna does penance in Kamyakavanam to appease Lord Shiva to obtain the divine weapon “Paasupathastra”. Lord Shiva approaches Arjuna as a hunter ie. Kiratha with His divine consort Sreeparvathy escorting Him as a huntress, Kirathi. Arjuna is challenged by the Lord in disguise to test the skills of the boon seeker.

In the fierce battle between Lord Shiva (Kiratha) and Arjuna, the arrows that Arjuna showered on Lord Shiva miraculously turned into Thechi flowers by the will of Sree Parvathy and Lord Shiva was fully covered with flowers. The flowers and leaves offered by Arjuna to the Shivalinga were also seen on Kiratha itself. Arjuna then recognizes the Lord and prostrates before him. Having found Arjuna worthy of the deadly weapon, the Lord obliges His devotee very soon, and here He is goaded by Sreeparvathy who hastened the process with a motherly affection to Arjuna. Hastening is ‘twaritha’ in Malayalam and Goddess at Kadampuzha is worshipped as ‘twaritha’ or one who is quick in granting blessings and favours.

During the divine couple’s wandering in the forest, Sreeparvathy once felt thirsty and the Lord brought forth holy water from river Ganga through a welldirected arrow into the earth. This event is immortalized as ‘Kaatan-Ambu-eitha-ala’ where ‘kaatan’ is hunter, ‘ambu’ is arrow, 'eitha’ is shot and ‘ala’ is hole. This became Katanambueithaala which was later colloquialised as Kadampuzha. Devotees thus worship the hole through which river Ganga sprouted and this is the idol, the divine sankalpa in Srikovil.

Jagathguru Shankaracharya during one of his frequent pilgrimages while traversing this forest area was attracted by an all pervading ‘aura’ emanating from the dense undergrowth. Finding it difficult to approach the spot due to the heat generated by the radiation, he meditated upon Lord Vishnu as Narasiminha and the Lord appeared. With the help of Sudarshanachakra of Lord Vishnu the great Saint moved closer only to find the radiance shrinking and finally vanishing into a hole on the earth’s surface.

Through deep meditation using the Divya-chakshussu’, the Aacharya discerned the nature of the phenomenon… nothing other than the divine presence of Sreeparvathy in the forest. The place was consecrated as a temple and in commemoration of ‘shower of flowers’ on Lord Shiva, Poomoodal gained prominence due to the inherent quality and power of flower petals to contain heat. The modalities of worship in this temple are as prescribed by Shankaracharya.

Goddess here is worshipped in three forms viz., Vidya Durga (Saraswathi) in the morning, Vanadurga in twaritha form (Durga) at noon and Aadi Durga (Mooladurga Lakshmi) in the evening. As Durga, she blesses the devotees with health, early marriage and domestic harmony, Saraswathi is invoked for education and career. Lakshmi is of course Goddess of wealth and prosperity.

The origin of the Temple of Sree Padmanabhaswamy is lost in antiquity. It is not possible to determine with any exactitude, from any reliable historical documents or other sources as to when and by whom the original idol of Sree Padmanabhaswamy was consecrated. The Temple has references in Epics and Puranas. Srimad Bhagavatha says that Balarama visited this Temple, bathed in Padmatheertham and made several offerings. Nammalwar, 9th century poet and one among the 12 Vaishnavite saints of the Alvar tradition, has composed ten hymns in praise of Lord Padmanabha. Some well known scholars, writers and historians, like the late Dr. L.A.Ravi Varma of Travancore, have expressed the view that this Temple was established on the first day of Kali Yuga (which is over 5000 years ago). The legends of the Temple are handed down through the centuries. One such legend which finds a place in the old palm leaf records of the Temple, as also in the famous grantha entitled “Ananthasayana Mahatmya”, mentions that it was consecrated by a Tulu Brahmin hermit named Divakara Muni. On the 950th year of Kali Yuga a reinstallation of the idol was done. In the 960th Kali year King Kotha Marthandan built the Abhisravana Mandapam..

Valayanad Bhagavathi is the family deity of the Zamorin Kings (Ilayidath Swaroompam), who ruled Kozhikode in the medieval period. Legends say that in a fight between the Zamorin and Valluva Konathiri (the king of Valluvanad), the Zamorin got defeated in spite of having better military and financial might. The Zamorin pondered this, and decided that the Bhagavathy's blessings were with Valluvakonathiri. The Zamorin undertook Tapas in disguise, at Thirumanthamkunnu temple, the family temple of Valluvakonathiri, until Devi manifested before him. The Zamorin requested Bhagavathy to come to his kingdom. While they were travelling, Devi told Zamorin that whenever he hesitates and turns back to check whether Devi was with him, she will return immediately. After some time, when the jingling of her dance-bells could not be heard, the Zamorin looked back. Devi then told him that she wouldn't come any further, but as a reward for the Zamorin's devotion, would throw her bangle, and the spot where it fell would have her presence. This bangle rotated for a week and landed at the place where the temple now stands.