Mannadi Temple and Kambithan the Oracle there

Mannadi, a small village in the Kollam district of Kerala is quite often identified with the famous patriot and the freedom fighter Veluthampi Dalava. It is here he committed suicide after a humiliating defeat at the hands of the British army. The village is being visited by hundreds of people and most of the visitors are devotees of Goddess kali at Mannadi Temple known as Mannadi Kavu. 

Mannadi Kavu

The shrine here is believed to be highly powerful and will realize all your wishes if you pray with dedication and sincerity. There is a legend behind the temple.

The entire area was once under the rule of a Brahmin feudal lord known as ‘Vakkuvanjipuzha Pandarathil’. He maintained a private army to protect the land and other properties belong to him and the commander was one ‘Paniker’. Panicker used to stay in the same village and surrounding three sides of his house was a dense forest. Once, the labors of Panicker were clearing the forest to make it cultivable land. When a lady among them rubbed her sickle on a rock to sharpen it, blood oozed out of it. Seeing that the lady fainted and others rushed to Panicker to inform him about the incident.

Hearing the whole story Panicker rushed to his master, Pandarathil and informed him. Being a Brahmin scholar he understood that the blood from the rock indicates the presence of divine power on that rock. He instructed Panicker to get some bananas and boiled paddy to the spot by the time he arrives there. Panicker did the same. When the Pandarathil was about to offer those bananas and boiled paddy, a tribal man came therefrom within the forest and asked Pandarathil not to perform the ritual. He told that it is the divine power of Kali speaking from within himself and she did not want any type of rituals by Brahmins. She instructed Pandarathil to keep the food articles there for quite some time and then to take it back.

However, most of the people gathered there did not believe his words. They thought that it is the Panicker who is making this tribal man speak so. Sensing the situation, the tribal man got angry. He shouted at the gathering’

“Don’t you believe me? Then I will show you who I Am.” Saying this, he ran into the forest. Some enthusiastic youth also followed him. Deep inside the forest, there is a hill lock and the top of it there is a rock with the shape of an umbrella. It is called in the local language as “Kuda Para”. It is quite impossible for an ordinary man to climb on that rock, but this tribal man climbed over the rock and descended three times very easily. Then he went further inside the forest and came out riding on a tiger. Seeing this people got convinced that it is not the tribal man, but the divine power of Kali is speaking from inside him.

Pandarathil, being a devotee of Maa Kali, built a temple there and started worshiping her. However, he was sad as he did not have a child. One day the old tribal man appeared in front of him and asked to pledge that he will offer a bunch of golden hairs to Kali if he is blessed with a son. He agreed and promised the same. To everyone’s surprise, Pandarathil’s wife delivered a son within a year and as promised he offered a bunch of golden hairs, which is still kept inside the temple and will display on special occasions.

Kambithan

The tribal man went missing after this incident and people were very sad as they could hear the words of the goddess through him. One day he appeared in front of Pandarathil and asked him not to worry as they will get a new oracle. After a few days, a man with a long beard and hair appeared in that village. He sat beneath a huge tree near the temple. Suddenly he jumped from there and started uttering something histrionic. When people gathered there he too went inside the forest and climbed on the Kuda Para and then came out riding on a tiger. People approved him as the new oracle through whom the goddess speaks and started calling him kambithan.

During this Kambithan’s period, the King of Madurai offered to present Golden Crown to the idol if the Kambithan comes directly there. Although he decided it he did not mention it to anybody. One fine morning the Kambithan started shivering and he told the devotees that he had to leave the village as some devotees offered something. On that night just before going to sleep, the King of Madurai saw the Kambithan in his bedroom. Kambithan asked the King to give whatever he had offered.

King handed over a crown of sliver to him. This made Kambithan angry. He shouted that either the King should give what he promised or should be ready to face the consequences. Fearing the wrath of Goddess, the king handed over the golden crown which is still at the temple.

Mannadi

After the death of this Kambithan, the temple authorities deposited the sword used by the Kambithan at a deep place in the nearby river. After quite some time another person came there and repeated whatever the earlier Kambithan did and dived into the river and came out with the sword. He became the next Kambithan.

Presently there is no Kambithan there in Mannadi Kavu. The divine sword is resting beneath the water waiting for another Kambithan.

Kalloor Namboodiri, the Undisputed Tantric of Kerala

Kerala tantric rituals are widely known around the world for its effectiveness. They are not mere religious rituals but it involves a lot of science too. Driving out the negative energy and bringing in positive energy is being done in each tantric ritual. The power of rhymes lies in the way they are uttered. The energy generated with a high-level concentration of mind will be emitted through sounds. The energy will get converted into sound energy of different wavelengths and will produce the desired result.

A scene from Kerala Tantric Ritual

There was a person called Kalloor Namboodiri in Kerala who was an expert in tantric rituals. Actually, Kalloor is his family name and Namboodiri is his surname. Even now the members of the family continue the rituals performed by this Kalloor Namboodiri.

Kalloor family is basically from Kottackal, but later got settled in Pattambi in the present day Malappuram district of Kerala. The male population of this family is known as Kalloor Namboodiri and this particular Namboodiri in this story lived in the 17^th century. He decided to visit Vadakkumnatha Temple and to remain there for quite some time worshipping Lord Shiva. He used to enter the temple as soon as it opened in the early morning and sit there chanting different prayers of Lord Shiva and immersed in deep meditation. He leaves the temple premises in the evening for having taking bath and again he used to come back and sit in meditation till the temple is closed. He lived on a single meal all these days. Years have passed like this and there was no change in Namboodiri’s routine.

One day he sat in meditation and the temple priest did not notice him. As usual, the priest locked the doors of the temple and left for the day. Late in the night when Namboodiri woke up from the meditation, he found the temple doors locked and no way to go outside. There was nothing much to do, so he sat behind and started chanting prayers of Lord Shiva. Suddenly a book fell in front of him. He took it in his hand. Suddenly he heard a voice from nowhere which asked him to stop his worship and go back to his house. The voice also instructed him to practice tantric rituals as mentioned in that book.

Another scene from Kerala Tantric Ritual

Believing those as the words of Lord Shiva, Namboodiri left the temple the next day morning and reached his home. After being at the house for a year, he left for a pilgrimage. On the way, he reached Thiruvananthapuram, the present capital city of Kerala, and the capital of the erstwhile Travancore dynasty. By this time he has become very famous as a tantric and hence he received a special welcome by the then king. King arranged a room for him well inside the palace and invited him to dinner together.

After dinner, both were sitting talking about different things. Meanwhile, the king requested a favor from the tantric. He narrated the incident.

His predecessor King Marhtanda Varma has killed Ettuveettil Pillais, a group of warring lords who rebelled against the kingdom. Even after killing, the King could not control his anger. He made all the women folk of their families marry the fishermen, thus putting an end to their clan. When there is nobody to perform after death rituals, the souls of these warring lords could not rest in peace. They used to come to the city and started creating a lot of trouble to the citizens. They come out from the sea where their bodies were immersed after killing and used to wander on the streets till they reach the east fort. They cannot enter the east fort as there is the Padmanabha Swamy Temple. They are afraid of Lord Vishnu who has been worshipped inside the temple.

King told Namboodiri that many tantric have tried their best to remove these evil spirits but everything ends in vain. He requested Namboodiri to try something to get rid of these spirits.

Tantric Namboodiri asked King to send a brave soldier to him. By the time the soldier arrived, Namboodiri finished certain rituals. Then he wakes up from the ritual site and came near to the soldier. Handing over a letter written on palm leaves to the soldier, Namboodiri asked him to go to the West Fort through which the spirits enter inside the city. The soldier is instructed by the Namboodiri to throw the letter to those spirits when they come near to the gate.

The soldier did the same as instructed by the Namboodiri and to his great astonishment, he saw all the spirits weeping in pain as if somebody is beating them. After a few seconds, all of them turn back and started running towards the sea as if somebody is chasing them. They all disappeared inside the sea.

The soldier returned and narrated the entire incident to the King and Namboodiri. Then the Namboodiri assured that they will never come again to trouble the king and his subjects. King was totally happy and presented many valuable gifts to Namboodiri. And since then nobody has seen those evil spirits on the roads. 

Mannarasala, the snake temple of Kerala

Snakes have been worshipped all over the world in the old days. Different cultures and civilizations had their own methods and rituals to worship snakes. However, the one common thing in snake worship was that snake gods have been regarded as the gods who are responsible for the prosperity and continuance of the clan. It is believed that by shedding their skin once in a while, snakes are attaining rebirth. When there is no death, there is no rebirth too. Hence the snakes are reminding us about the inevitable death. This concept and the fact that most of the snakes are poisonously created a sort of fear in the minds of people towards snakes. This also could be a reason for snake worship.

Although the spreading of Christianity and Islam could put an end to snake worship in many parts of the world, it is still prevailing in many other regions. Even in Babylonia, snakes play an important role in their New Year festivals as a remnant of the ancient practice of snake worship. In many parts of Africa and Mesoamerica, snake worship is being carried out in different styles.

However, snake worship is a common practice in India, especially among Hindus. Several snakes had a mention in various epics. Right from the Anantha Nag with thousand heads upon which the Lord Vishnu sleeps and Vasuki, which has been used by Lord Shiva as a garland there are several unholy snakes too just like Kaliya. Snakes have great importance in Hinduism and it is more in Kerala. Earlier, there used to be a designated place for snake gods in every compound. This designated place known as Sarppa Kavu was a replica or a miniature form of nature with one or two tall trees surrounded by bushes and creepers. There used to be a pond or a small water body near to that. Thus the snake worship in Kerala was closely related to the preservation of nature.

Sarppa Kavu

There are some temples also in Kerala, which are dedicated to snake gods, and Aranmula Nagaraja Kshethram is one of the prominent snakes temple in Kerala. Located in the Alleppy district in Kerala, it attracts thousands of devotees, especially childless couples who believe that they can be blessed with children if the snake god blesses them.

The legend of this temple goes back to the period when Lord Parasurama, the sixth incarnation of Lord
Vishnu carved out Kerala from the sea. Varuna, the god of sea withdrew from a certain area to make it a land and the same land has been donated by Parasurama to Brahmins to escape from the sin of killing many Kshatriyas. When this land has been created, it was full of snakes and the soil and water were with a high content of the soil. It was not livable for human beings. Hence those Brahmins whom Parasurama donated the land returned to their original places. This made the lord sad. He underwent a penance to appease the snake god Vasuki and when he appeared in front of him, Parasurama told the incidents happened. Then Vasuki told him that the snakes will absorb the extra minerals in the water and soil and make the land livable. Besides, they will not attack any human beings unless they are attacked. Parasurama reciprocated in the same way saying that the people of Kerala will certainly worship snakes. He designated some families for performing rituals to snake gods and asked others to leave a place for snakes in their compound as Sarppa Kavu. Mannarasala temple belongs to such a family that has been entrusted by Lord Parasurama to carry out snake worshipping rituals and the rituals are strict as Vasuki instructed.

Ayilyam festival at Mannarasala

However, the village which houses the temple derived the name Mannarasala during Dwapar Yuga. When Arjuna, along with Lord Krishna gutted the Dandaranya in the fire, the temperature everywhere on the earth raised. Snakes of this tiny village too suffered a lot from increased temperature. Seeing the pain and struggling of snakes, ladies of this family came out with buckets full of water. They poured water on the soil to cool it. They did it until the temperature level became normal. At that time one of the ladies told that they can stop pouring water as the soil became cool, in local Malayalam language, “mannu aari”. Thus this place is come known as mannu aariya sala or the village where the soil became cool. Later it got corrupted as Mannarasala.

Mannarasala Amma

Pleased on the efforts of the ladies of the family on saving his clan, Snake God Vasuki appeared in front of them and asked them to conduct the daily rituals by the women of the family. The eldest woman of the family will be called as Amma or the mother and should take care of the snakes as her sons and daughters. In turn, the devotees who pray to Amma will be blessed by the snake gods without fail.

Even now, this blessing of Vasuki seems to be effective as the visitors to this temple is increasing day by day. 

Legend of Chottanikkara Devi Temple

Chottanikkara, a temple town that is about 15 kilometers away from the heart of Kochi City in Kerala, the southernmost state of India was a dense forest once. Inside the forest there lived the tribal king Kannappan along with his daughter Manimanga. Since she lost her mother in her early childhood, Kannappan has a special soft corner towards his daughter.

Kannappan was a stringent devotee of Goddess Kali and he used to sacrifice a calf each on every Friday to Kali. Once he stole a beautiful calf from the nearby village and brought it to his house. Although it was meant for sacrificing the next day, Manimanga, his daughter did not agree for that as she felt an attachment to it. As he was not capable of hurting his daughter’s sentiments, Kannappan left the calf with Manimanga and went to catch one other calf. When he returned late in the night with another calf, he saw his daughter sleeping in the company of the calf he brought earlier.

He left the room with a loving smile as he did not want to disturb his daughter’s sleep. However, to his shock, he found his daughter and calf dead the next day morning. They were not only dead but also turned to a single stone. With a broken heart, Kannappan was not able to stay there for a longer period. He left the forest.

Chottanikkara Amma

Years have passed. The thick forest slowly started turning to the village as many people migrated to that place and converting land to agriculture lands. During such efforts to convert one specific area to agriculture land, a lady who was cutting the bushes rubbed her sickle on a piece of stone to sharpen it. Suddenly she saw blood oozing out from that stone and she fainted. The news spread fast and reached in the ears of a Brahmin priest who used to stay in the nearby area. He came along with an astrologer and they found the presence of Goddess along with Lord Vishnu in that stone. The priest went to his home and came with some food articles to offer divine power as a part of the ritual. Later the stone has been removed from there and installed at the place where it is now. The original place where the stone has found initially is still there in the temple compound and is being worshiped as Sree Moolasthanam.

The divine power in the idol inside the main temple is believed to be a combination of Lakshmi, Saraswathi, and Durga. Hence the idol will be adorned with different attires when the priests performing different rituals for each goddess. Besides, there is a presence of Lord Vishnu also there. Hence the devotees chant, “Amme Narayana, Devi Narayana, Bhadre Narayana, Lakshmi Narayana”. Here the word ‘Narayana’ denotes the presence of Lord Vishnu.

There is another temple dedicated to Goddess Kali a few yards away from the main temple. Keezhkkavu, as it is known locally came later. The story behind it goes like this. Once a Brahmin, who was interested in Kathakali went to Tripunithura to see a Kathakali show. Usually, the Kathakali will start late in the night and lasts till early morning. So he left his house after having dinner. As he walked on the street, he saw a beautiful lady who asked him a favor to accompany her till Tripunithura. The Brahmin, who was a womanizer really felt happy to have the company of a beautiful lady on the night journey. They both together walked a few miles.

Then the Brahmin told the lady that he had to visit his Master’s house to hand over a book which he was holding and asked her to wait outside the house. Brahmin went inside his master’s house. After a few minutes talk, both the Brahmin and his master came out. Seeing a lady outside the gate the master asked his disciple about her. He narrated the entire story. Then the master asked him to touch his forefinger and then look at the lady. When he did it, he saw a cruel Yakshi in horrible shape with a long tongue and extended sharp teeth. Then the master told him that her intention was to kill him and drink the blood. Fortunately, the Brahmin had the book of Lalitha Sahasra Nama (a book about thousand divine names of Goddess Durga) with him and with the power of that book, she could not touch her. Now he has returned the book to his master.

Realizing the trap in which he fell and seeing his death in front, the Brahmin requested his master to help him. He gave the towel which he kept on his shoulder to his disciple and asked him to run towards Chottanikkara Temple. He also insisted that he should throw away the shawl as he enters the temple. Brahmin did the same. He ran as fast as he can and the Yakshi followed him. He throws away the towel as he stepped one of his feet inside the temple and at the same moment the Yakshi caught hold of his other feet and pulled out of the temple. However, he managed to hold on the gate tightly and prayed for help. 

Chottanikkara Temple  Front View

At that time Goddess appeared there in the form of Kali and killed the Yakshi. Then she went to a nearby pond to take bath and after that, she sat at the place where there is the Kali Temple right now. This temple is famous for removing the evil effects of people. It is believed that a 41 days prayer by staying inside the temple will ward off all evil spirits in you.

There is a small temple inside the main temple which is dedicated to Lord Dharma Sashtha. Evil spirits with lesser magnitude will be removed there and the powerful ones will be removed at this Kali temple. Even now you can see a huge banyan tree with a lot of nails fixed to that. It is believed that the evil spirits are tied in that tree using nails.  

The Legend behind Tripunithura and the Poornathrayeesa Temple

Tripunithura, a satellite town of Kochi City is just 10 kilometers away from the heart of the city and has its own reputation as the cultural centre of Kochi. Being the capital of erstwhile Kochi princely kingdom, it still houses many ancient structures such as palaces, clock tower, temples etc. Ruins of load rests and sheds that used to serve drinking water to the travelers during ancient days.

It is believed that the Poorna Veda Puri, mentioned in many Sanskrit texts is Tripunithura. The river that flows in between Tripunithura and Poonithura is believed to be the Poorni River which has a mention in Hindu epic Ramayana. There are several legends for deriving the name Tripunithura. One says that since it is on the bank of Poorni River, it got the name Poornithura which means banks of Poorni in local language Malayalam first and later it got corrupted to Poonithura.

Lord Poornathrayeesa Idol

Another legend for deriving the name is connected with Arjuna, the third Pandava. At the end of Dwaparayuga, Lord Krishna has handed an idol of Lord Vishnu to Arjuna. The idol was being worshiped by Lord Krishna himself. He asked Arjuna to install the idol at some serene place. Arjuna started his journey to find an ideal place carrying the idol in his quiver and he reached on the banks of Poorni River. Not so far from the river he found a pond. He went there and had a bath. Before entering the pond, he opened his quiver which is called ‘Pooni’ in the local language and kept the idol on the sand. The place where Arjuna opened his quiver or ‘Pooni’ became pooni thura which means opened the quiver.

Whatever it may be the original name of the place was ‘Poonithura’. Later the King of Kochi shifted his capital from Thrissur to Poonithura. He selected the vast place on the eastern side of the river and constructed fort, palaces and trenches to make it his capital. When the King started staying there the place is come known as Thiru Poonithura where the prefix ‘thiru’ is used as a symbol of respect. Later it became Tripunithura.

After taking bath, Arjuna started worshipping Lord Ganesha and he appeared in front of him. Arjuna asked for a favor from Ganesha. His request was to help him to find a suitable place to install the idol. Extending his help, Lord Ganesha went to search for a place. Not so far from the pond he found an ideal place, but decided to sit there himself rather than informing Arjuna about the place. After waiting for a long time Arjuna came out of the pond and started searching for Lord Ganesha. To his fury he found him sitting at a place which was serene.

Even after repeated requests from Arjuna, Ganesha was not ready to move from that place to facilitate the installation of the idol. Angry with that Arjuna kicked him on the back after reciting Ganesh Prayer. God always loves to be the slave of a devotee who worships him selflessly. Pleased with the sincerity of Arjuna Ganesha allowed him to kick and in the force he moved to another direction. When the particular place got vacant, Arjuna installed the idol there.

Thus the idol at Poornathrayeesa temple is the one which has been worshipped by lord Krishna himself and being installed by Arjuna. The pond where Arjuna took bath is come to known as Arjuna Theertham and it is still there within the compound of the temple.

Padinjare Nada, the oldest structure in the temple premises

Poornathrayeesa temple has many special features. The oldest structure in the temple premises is the Gopuram or the huge entrance gate on the western side. This is believed to have constructed by Mayan, the architects of Asuras or demons in a night. Whatever it may be it is an example for the architectural excellence of past. Unlike many other temples in Kerala, Poornathrayeesa temple does not have sub temples or ‘Upakshethras’. Moreover, it has the tallest flag mast covered with gold in Kerala. Another special feature of this temple is the different types of festivals held here and the legends behind those festivals.

Usually, the Temples in Kerala used to celebrate only one festival, but here there are several festivals. Moosari utsavam or the festival of brazier is one such festival. The legend behind is about the devotion of a brazier who has assigned with the work of making an idol of Poornathrayeesa. He made the trunk part of the idol first and then made the head. However, he could not join both the parts even after continuous efforts which lasted for several days. Depressed with this he busted in to tears and prayed ‘Koottu koodente Poornathrayeesa’ which means in local language to join together. Just after the prayer both parts of the idol got joined and the brazier too got dissolved with the idol. Moosari utsavam is being celebrated to commemorate this incident.

Similarly, there is a Nangeli Utsavam or the Festival of Nangeli. The legend behind this is a great romantic story of an innocent Brahmin girl who fell in love with Poornathrayeesa. She was so fond of the lord that she never missed a chance to visit the temple. As the time passed her marriage has been fixed with a boy who stayed in a faraway place. Depressed with the thought that she could not visit the temple after the marriage, she went to the temple and prayed to help her. It is told that all the bells in the temple rang at the same moment and people saw Nangeli entering the sanctum Santorum of the temple. After that nobody has seen her. It is believed that lord has accepted her. Festival of Nangeli is to celebrate this incident.

Then comes the ‘Ambalam Kathiya Utsavam’ to commemorate the incident when the temple gutted in fire once. On that day the entire compound of the temple will filled with camphor and will light the same at a time. Thousands of devotees gather every year to see this.

Scene from Vrischikotsavam

However the most attractive festival is the Vrischikotsavam or the Festival in the Malayalam Month of Vrischikam. This is an eight day festival which has been started as an entertainment on the orders of a king of Kochi. During these eight days neither the temple nor the denizens of Tripunithura will sleep. The temple premises will be filled with some programs or activities around the clock on these days. Different cultural programs, procession of caparisoned elephants, drums etc are the main attraction of this festival. Usually this festival falls between November 15^th to December 15^th every year.