Some great temples of Kerala and Tamilnadu

                         This time, god blessed us in a bit happier way by making us stay in Kalady, the very pious place where the Jagadguru Sri Adi Shankaracharya took birth and spent His childhood. We spent there 4 days spending time doing parayana, Pradaxinas, and visiting some temples nearby. God’s grace was miraculously showed by offering us room for 4 days in the Sringeri Shankar Mutt. Thus our dawns there were welcomed with bath in the Purna River and proceeded with some seva in the temple. First 2 days we stayed in Kalady completely and the other 2 days, we went for temples around for half a day and the rest half was again in the temple premises. There are many sevas in the Kalady temple like Ganapati Homa, Rudrabhishekam, Sahasra namarchana etc. The stay in Sringer Shankar Mutt was really a boon since we can dedicate the whole time to the sacred environment, just by the side of the temple.
                                           

 The 3 rd day, our temples visit started with the famous “Nalambalam” which consists of darshan of Rama, Bhratha, Laxmana and Shatrughna. We altered the order a bit as per the convenience of the route from Kalady. We stated with Laxmana temple of Thirumoozhikkulam which is the only Divya Desam among the four. The order continued as Rama at Triprayar, Bharata at Irinjalkuda and Shatrughna at Payammel. All are really great temples with almost similar decoration to the main deities. Namma Alwar and Thirumangai Alwar mentioned DivyaDesam Thirumoozhikkulam in their prabandhas. The Rishi named Haritha penenced here thus making it more pious. All these 4 temples have Krishna in an Upalayam since these were the idols worshiped by Lord Krishna in Dwapara yuga. 
                                    

After paying pranams to Laxmana, we moved towards Mother Mookambika of Paravur, the unique temple where a pond was surrounding the main sanctum of the temple.
                                 

 Though the idol of the mother is small in size, it looked amazing. Unlike the mother here, the goddess of the next temple Bhagavathy located in Kodungallur is really striking in size as well as appearance. Mother appears stunningly powerful here. This is a huge temple complex.
                                 

 From here we proceeded to Rama, bharata and Shatrughna temples. The temples of Shatrughna closes by 11.30AM.  Unaware of that information, we scheduled it in the last as it makes our route back to Kalady simpler. So we missed the darshan of the youngest of the brothers. But, no regrets since that was a sign that god takes us there again. Thus on 9^th of February, 2016, the momentum of the tour took initiation by the blessings of the divine brothers.

                       To make us more amazed, the next day temples were also started with a Divya Desam hosting Lord Vamana, in whose name the state festival of Kerala Onam is celebrated. The Trikkakkara Vamana temple is a huge complex with Lord Shiva also worshiped inside. The rule is that one should first visit Shiva before going to worship Vamana in this temple. Luckily GPS had shown us the route in such a way that we approached the temple from the side of Shiva temple. One can see the peetham of Bali chakravarthy in the temple complex while coming from Vamana to Shiva’s place. 
                                             

The next destination was Trippunithura which is famous for its Purnatrayeeswara temple, the Lord popularly known as Santana Gopala Swamy. Here the Lord is found in sitting posture on the huge Sesha vahana. The view of the Lord with full Alankara was just stunning.

Sthala puranam: The God in the temple is believed to be Santhana Gopala Murthy . It is believed that Arjuna during the Mahabaratha days promised a Brahmin to prevent the death of the yet to be born child of a Brahmin and promised to him that if he was not able to do it , he will commit suicide. When he was not able to do it, Lord Krishna helped him to recover the soul of the baby from the clutches of God of death. After this Lord Krishna gave him his idol in the form of “Santhana Gopala Murthy” . When he neared his death Arjuna gave the idol to Lord Ganapathy and requested him to find a suitable place and consecrate it. Lord Ganapathi came across the “Poorna Veda Puram” and liked it so much that he himself sat there. It seems Arjuna hearing this pushed Lord Ganapathy away and consecrated the idol of the “Santhana Gopala Murthy there”. Due to the push the Ganapathy’s idol fell facing south and even today in this unique Ganapathi temple, the idol faces the southern direction. Later a temple got built and the Cochin kings adopted it as their family deity .        

As the place was bounded by mustard fields, Arjuna used some mustard seeds to get oil for lighting lamp. You can see a Valia Vilakku situated in front of the idol. Folks say that the burnt oil of this traditional lamp contains medicinal value. On the back side of Sreekovil, there is a small window from where devotees can get a close look at the idol of Santhana Gopala Moorthy of Sree Poornathrayeesa Temple. Devotees can also have a look at the idol of Lord Ganapathi on the extreme south side of the sanctum-sanctorum. It must be noted that, besides the idol of Lord Ganesha, no other Upadevatas are worshipped at Sree Poornathrayeesa Temple.
                                               

                   After this, now Lord Shiva called us to Vaikom to bless us in the form of Mahadeva.

Sthala Puranam: Kharan, the demon upon receiving the advice from his Guru, went to attain Moksham. He reached Chidambaram and immersed fully into deep prayer to Lord Shiva. After months or years even of undisturbed prayer, Lord Shiva was pleased and appeared in front of him. Lord Shiva gave whatever he asked and also gave three idols. The lord asked Kharan to worship those powerful idols to attain Moksham. Kharan was satisfied with that and also, Lord assured him that, He will be always present in those idols. Kharan returned to his place with three idols (Shivalingams) one in his right hand, one on left and one under his neck with his chin holding it. When he had crossed almost three by fourth, he felt tired and decided to sit for a while. After taking a short period of rest, when Kharan tried to lift those idols, they were found to be not moving from the places. Kharan understood Lord's intention and he heard from his inner soul that could be the time for his Moksha and the three idols should be taken care well by someone. Maharshi Vyaghrapaada was following Kharan all the way behind, saw him and Kharan asked the sage to worship, take care of those three idols and attained Moksham. The idol which was on Kharan's right hand is believed to be at Vaikom and the left is at Ettumanoor temple. The one which had carried is at Kaduthuruthi. Surprising but, have to believe that, the distances from the midpoint Kaduthuruthi to Vaikom and Ettumanoor are the same. Some people say that, Kharan had brought the idol at Kaduthuruthi was between his teeth and the place's name was "Kadichchiruththi" Kadichu(Bitten)+ Iruththi (Made to sit) before and, as time passed it became Kaduthuruthi. In Vrischikam, the malayalam month, on an Ashtami day, Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi appeared to Maharishi.  The Vaikkathashtami is celebrated during Vaikom temple festival in Vrischikam. Devotees believe that, Lord Vaikathappan appears in three forms. Every morning as Dhakshinamoorthy, Noon he becomes Kiratha Moorthi, Shivashakthi Panchakshari during the evening.
                                       

            We felt very much blessed to cover the other 2 Shiva temples also the same day. Thus the next stop was at Kaduthurthy Shiva temple and while going to the 3^rd one Ettumanoor, the other great temple we visited was of Mahaganapathy at Malliyur.

   Ettumanoor Shiva is in fearceful form, demolishing the Durgunas in the devotees. 
                                          

After consecrating all these three temples in the same day, Khara is believed to have become a deer and was doing service to the Gods. It is believed that the God in Ettumanoor took the deer in his hand and held it there, Because of that, this place was called Udhruthaina Puram, which translated to Malayalam became Ettumanoor (The place where the deer was lifted).

The major worship in this temple is lighting of lamps. An ever glowing, very big lamp can be seen as soon as you enter the temple. The devotees pour oil on to this lamp. Lately, since the oil is being received more than needed for the lamp, a vessel has been kept nearby where if the lamp is full, devotees can pour the oil they have brought into it. There is apparently, a story behind this. It appears a brass metal worker once made a huge bronze lamp, brought it to this temple and pleaded with its management to buy it from him. They simply laughed at him and informed him that the temple had no necessity to buy a lamp since they already had sufficient lamps. Crest fallen, the metal worker pleaded with the Lord consecrated there and lo ! suddenly a big storm started around the temple. The temple management realized that God was angry at their behavior and bought the lamp and installed it there. From that time the lamp has been constantly burning in front of the deity.
                           The visit to all these temples was finished in half a day as we started at 5 in the morning. So, by afternoon, we were again at the feet of Lord Adishankaracharya and in the evening again we spent time in chanting stotras, parayana and pradaxinas as usual.
                         The next day’s visits started was a unique form of Lord Narasimha swamy. Here we find the Lion headed god in normal human form only. Lord Krishna is also worshiped here in the temple of Chelamattom located just 5 KM away from kalady.
                                           
 The next temple followed was of Bhagavathy in Irinjole where the temple is located in once a dense forest.
Iringole Bhagavathy temple, also known as Iringole Kavu, is dedicated to the Bhagavathy who, in the form of a baby girl, took the place of Lord Krishna, to protect him from the hands of evil Kamsa. It is believed that the power of the goddess still remains in the thick dense forests at Iringole. 
                                                          
              The next destination was to our family diety Lord Subrahmanya at Koottumadam. The idol of the swamy was very cute and small leaving us with a very pleasant darshan. Thogh not much information  is known about his temple,  the Lord here is worth a visit. The other temples of the day were Kallil Bhagavathy temple built on a rock, Kuvappadi Maha Ganapathy temple and Kidangoor Bala Murugan.
                                      
Sthala puranam of Kidangoor: It is believed that the idol of Subramanya Swami came out of the ‘Kamandulu’ or pot carried by maharsi Gauna when it tiled and the water lowed out. According to the legends the Gauna Nadi(Meenachil river) starts from the Kamandalu of Gauna Maharshi like the river Kaveri from Agasthya Maharshi's Kamandalu. Hence this river got the name Gauna Nadi. Gauna Maharshi filled his Kamandalu with Sapthanadi Theertham (water from the 7 holy rivers - Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswathy, Sindhu, Narmmada, Godavari and Kaveri). A beautiful idol of Lord Subrahmanya was also kept in his kamandalu. He was eagerly waiting for the Darshan of Lord Sree Rama in his return journey to Ayodhya after killing Ravana. Sree Rama was accompanied by large number of devotees like Vibhishana, Sugreeva, Hanuman and Angada in the Pushpaka Vimana. So Maharshi Gauna could not see Lord Sri Rama and Sita Devi properly. So the angry Gauna threw the kamandalu away and the idol of Subrahmanya Swami came out. These incidents occurred on a hill and since then the hill is known as Kudamuruttimala. This flow of water became a river and thus the present Gauna nadi was formed. Along with the flow of the water, the idol was carried away to the Vishnu temple in Kidangoor and was later installed in a new sreekovil. This is the present Kidangoor Subrahmanya Swami Temple. So the water in Gauna river is as holy as the Sapthanadi Teertham.
    Then by afternoon we were again in Kalady to spend the evening in parayana. Thus the visits to temples associated with stay in kalady went on very smoothly as the temple manager in Kalady agreed to extend our room there for 2 more days despite being it a busy season.
                After a very happy stay in kalady during the stating of Magha masa, we unexpectedly drove towards Trivandrum, just by god’s grace. So, by the evening of 12^th of February 2016, we stepped into the holy treasured land of Lord Anantha padmanabha swamy.  
                                             
                     
Sthala puranam: The sage Vilvamangalathu Swamiyar, who resided near Ananthapuram Temple in Kasargod District, prayed to Lord Vishnu for his darshan or "auspicious sight". The Lord is believed to have come in the guise of a little boy who was mischievous. The boy defiled the Idol which was kept for Puja. The sage became enraged at this and chased away the boy, who disappeared. After a long search, when he was walking on the banks of Arabian Sea, he heard a pulaya lady threatening her child that she would throw him in Ananthankadu. The moment the Swami heard the word Ananthankadu he was delighted. He proceeded to Ananthankadu based on the directions of the lady of whom he enquired. The Sage reached Ananthankadu searching for the boy. There he saw the boy merging into an Iluppa tree (Indian Butter Tree). The tree fell down and became Anantha Sayana Moorti (Vishnu reclining on the celestial snake Anantha). But the edifice that the Lord assumed was of an extraordinarily large size, with His head at Thiruvallom, navel at Thiruvananthapuram, and lotus-feet at Thrippadapuram (Thrippappur), making him some eight miles in length. The Sage requested the Lord to shrink to a smaller proportion that would be thrice the length of his staff. Immediately the Lord shrank to the form of the Idol that is seen at present in the Temple. But even then many Iluppa trees obstructed a complete vision of the Lord. The Sage saw the Lord in three parts – thirumukham, thiruvudal and thrippadam. Swami prayed to Padmanabha to be forgiven. The Swami offered Rice Kanji and Uppumanga (salted mango pieces) in a coconut shell to the Perumal which he obtained from the pulaya woman. The spot where the Sage had darsan of the Lord belonged to Koopakkara Potti and Karuva Potti. With the assistance of the reigning King and some Brahmin households a Temple was constructed. Koopakkara Potti was made the Tantri of the Temple. The Ananthankadu Nagaraja Temple still exists to the north west of the Padmanabhaswamy Temple. The Samadhi (final resting place) of the Swamiyar exists to the west of the Padmanabha Temple. A Krishna Temple was built over the Samadhi. This Temple, known as Vilvamangalam Sri Krishna Swami Temple.
                             
We were blessed with pleasant company of my brother and sisiter-in-law in Trivandrum and even visited the Kovalam beach.
The next early morning, we started flying towards the most awaited Thiruchendur, the last one to be covered among Aaru Padaiveedu. On the way, the temple of Suchindram was found to be at distance of just 8KM from Nagacoil. We couldn’t miss that wonderful temple. 
Suchindram temple is unique in the whole of India in that it is dedicated to three different deities represented by one image in the sanctum and is called Sthanumalayan (Sthanu-Shiva; Maal-Vishnu and Ayan-Brahma) kovil. The temple is rich in sculpture and architecture and a visitor to this temple is amply rewarded with the sight of such exquisite art of hundreds of years old.
                                       
                             
                          
Suchindram temple history:
There are many legends associated with this temple. Anasuya, the wife of Atri Maharishi was famous for her chastity and her devotion to her husband - an embodiment of a Hindu wife. She could perform miracles by sprinkling the 'paatha theertham' (water with which she washed her husband's feet) to bring rain to a parched earth or to transform objects to her desire.
When the three Devis, - Goddesses Lakshmi, Saraswathy and Parvathy(athishakthi) heard through Sage Naradha the powers of this earthly woman they wanted to test her chastity. They approached their husbands Lords Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva to test Anasuya's devotion to her husband. The three Moorthys transformed into three old mendicants and went to the hermitage where Anasuya was living and sought alms from her. When Anasuya was about to serve them food they told her that they had taken a vow whereby they could not accept alms from a person wearing clothes. As it was a sin to refuse alms to mendicants she prayed to her Lord and sprinkled a little 'paatha theertham' on the three old beggars. They were all immediately transformed into babies and throwing off her clothes she offered them food.
The Goddesses learning what had happened pleaded with Anasuya to grant them 'maangalya biksha' (gift of married life) and to give them back their husbands. Anasuya showed them the three babies. The Devis ran to the cradle and picked one baby each. Anasuya then prayed to her Lord to restore them back to their original form. Lo and behold! Brahma was in Lakshmi's embrace, Siva in Saraswathy's lap and Parvathy cuddling Vishnu. They accepted that Anasuya's fame as the chastest woman on earth was justified. Thus the Thrimoorthy came to be represented by the Lingam at Suchindram; the bottom represents Brahma, the middle represents Vishnu and the top Shiva.
There is another lore associated with this temple. Once Indra was infatuated with Ahalya, the wife of Rishi Gautama. One night he came to the hermitage where Gautama was living and crowed like a cock indicating the approach of dawn. Rishi Gautama thinking that dawn was imminent awoke from his sleep and went to the river for his ablutions prior to commencing his prayers. Realizing that it was too dark for dawn and too early for morning to break he returned to his hut. In the meantime Lord Indra took the physical appearance of Rishi Gautama, approached Ahalya and satisfied his desire. Rishi Gautama returning from the river was enraged when he saw his wife in another man´s embrace and cursed the man's entire body be covered with 'yoni' (the female organ) and his wife Ahalya to become a statue of stone. Lord Indra in order to get rid of this curse went to Gnanaranya and prayed to the Three Moorthys to rid him of this curse. When he was rid of his curse and transformed into his original form he built a temple and installed the Lingam to represent the three Moorthy - Thanu-Maal-Ayan, and the name of the place came to be known as Suchi-Indran (the place where Indran was purified).
The temple has quite a few sculptures and art. In the 'Alankara mandapam' adjacent to the Northern corridor there are four large pillars each formed by a group of smaller pillars all carved from a single stone. Two of these large pillars have 33 smaller pillars and the other two 25 each. These are the famous musical pillars. Each of these smaller pillars produce a different musical note when tapped. Unfortunately these pillars are surrounded by iron grills to prevent vandalism.
Step out of the 'Alankara mandapam' and you come face to face with a gigantic figure of Hanuman.
                                                 
The figure is 18 feet high and depicts 'visuvaroopam'. There are other carvings and sculptures on every pillar and panel throughout the temple, which are a feast to the eye and the imagination.
                         Last and the best was Thiruchendur, the abode of Lord Subrahmanya. The puranic name or historical name for this temple is jayanthipuram.It is also one of the Arupadaiveedu (six major abodes) or Six sacred temples of Kaumaram religion. It is the only one among the Six sacred temple complexes to be situated near the sea shore. Other five are situated in mountain region.
                                        
It is one of the largest temple complexes (by area) of India and it is one of the most visited temple complex in India (devotees from countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, England, Australia). It is the only temple in Tamil Nadu which has a separate bus terminal. The sannathi street of this temple is the longest of its kind among the temples of Tamil Nadu. This is the only temple where Raja gopura is situated in western gate. This temple is the largest temple among all the temples built by saints. This temple is not constructed by Kings, it is built by three holy saints. It is one of the richest temple (by wealth) of Tamil Nadu. This is the only Hindu temple which has no Eastern gateway. This temple is the fourth Hindu temple in Tamil Nadu to get ISO certification. This is the only temple in Tamil Nadu where sanctum sanctorium is below the ground level.The 133 feet Rajagopura,built in the shores of Bay of Bengal,very near to the sea,just within 200 meters is still a mystery and an outstanding example for the Tamil temple architecture and an example for extreme civil engineering of Ancient Tamils.

STHALA PURANA OF TIRUCHENDUR

Many thousands of years back, the Tamilans worshipped Nature as Muruku (a Tamil word meaning: 'youthfulness, tenderness, fragrance, etc'). Temples were constructed in natural settings -- around forests, hilly areas, waterfalls and seashores. Tiruchendur temple is one among them, but it has a special significance. It was here that Lord Murugan arrived with his band of warriors to fight against the Asura, Soorapadma. So a temple was constructed at Tiruchendur for Lord Murugan in rememberance of this.
Soorapadma was a very powerful Asura who was causing immense hardships to Devas and mankind alike by his wicked deeds. The Devas appealed to Lord Shiva to spare them from the tortures of Soorapadma. Lord Shiva in response to their appeal told them that He would produce a Son from His Sakti to annihilate Soorapadma.
Lord Shiva generated six powerful sparks from His third eye called Netrikkan. Lord Vayu (god of air) and Lord Agni (god of fire) carried these sparks to river Ganges. Goddess Ganga carried them to Saravana Poygai, a holy pond.The sparks became six divine small male babies. By God's grace, six divine water nymphs (the six Krittikas) nurtured these babies.
When Lord Shiva and Parvati Devi came to earth to behold these babies, Goddess Parvati embraced all the six infants at once and made them into a single child with six faces and twelve hands. From Goddess Parvati Devi's anklets, nine shaktis appeared. Veerabahu and lakhs of soldiers emerged from these Nava Shaktis. These men headed by Veerabahu became the warriors of Lord Murugan. Lord Shiva for His part gave Lord Murugan a vel (spear) called Vetrivel destined to give success at all times (Vetrivel - spear of success). He also endowed him with eleven Rudras. Eleven Rudras were changed into eleven arms.
With the blessings of His divine parents, Lord Murugan came to Tiruchendur with His armed group. He immediately sent Veerabahu as an emissary to Soorapadma and asked him to release all the Devas imprisoned by him. But the Asura refused. So Lord Murugan had no option but to wage war against Soorapadma and his legions. It lasted for ten days.
Lord Murugan defeated the Asuras and converted Soorapadma into a peacock and a cock. The peacock or Mayil became the vehicle of Lord Murugan. Therefore He is also called Mayilvahanan. Ceval or cock adorned his flag.Hence,He is called Ceval kodiyon.
The guru (teacher) of Devas Lord Brihaspati, Lord Indra, Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and all the Devas hailed Lord Murugan's victory and worshiped him nine times (Nava Kala Pooja). Lord Murugan in turn worshiped Lord Shiva in the form of Linga called Sivalinga. Since Lord Murugan and the devas emerged victorious at Tiruchendur, it is also called as Jayanti Nagar as Jaya means victory.
Lord Murugan blesses everyone who worships Him. He extends His arul or supreme grace to all those who pray before Him. He removes all the ills of people who come to Him. He never lets down His disciples. Worship Lord Murugan at Tiruchendur and seek His blessings. He will present everything to you. He will bless you with a blemishless and peaceful life. 

                           we came to know much about this temple Lord from the discourses of Sri Chaganti Koteswara rao garu as well as Sri Samavedam Shanmukha sarma garu. the Vibhuthi given here as Prasadam is said to posess magical and divine powers. When we went for Darshan, we were blessed to see the Lord Murugan just having finished Abhishekam with vibhuti and He appeared really divine and sacred. That was just amazing.

Thus finishing the tour, we drove towards our sweet home, packing with us blessings of God in all forms to be treasured for a life time.