Legend of Parassinikadavu Muthappan

Muthappan, more commonly known as Parassinikadavu Muthappan is considered the personification of the divine powers of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. Being brought up as the adopted son of the feudal lord, Ayyankara Naduvazhi (who was a Brahmin), he revolted against the doctrine of Brahmanism. Hunting wild animals in the nearby forests and enjoying the cooked meat with the tribal people were his favorite hobbies. Being an orthodox Brahmin, his foster parents cannot agree with this. They tried their level best to tame him to be an ideal Brahmin youth but everything went in vain. Losing all the controls over the mind, his mother scolded him once and this made him angry. He displayed his cosmic figure in front of his parents and told them who he is.

He was an incarnation of Vishnu, who was left beside a temple pond. All this was just a play scripted by Lord Shiva as he wanted his devotee Naduvazhi to be blessed with a child. After revealing secrete behind his birth, he told them that the time has reached to fulfill the aim of his incarnation and he had to leave the house for it. Thus he left his house and started wandering here and there. It is believed that during these days, the power of lord shiva got associated with him.

On the way, he stayed at Kunnathoor Padi for some days. During these days he came across the toddy tapped in a pot and he tasted in once. The delicious taste of toddy made him a regular drunkard. He used to steal the toddy from the coconut trees itself. Once the toddy tapper, Chathan saw this act and he tried to attack with his bow and arrow. However, Chathan could not release a single arrow as he fell unconscious well before that. Seeing this, chathan’s wife came there and asked him to save her husband. She addressed him “Muthappa” with due respect and since then he came to known as Muthappan. She offered him boiled peas, fried fish, and coconut peels which are still considered the best offering in all Muthappan Temples.

After living at Kunnathoor Padi for quite some time, he got bored with life and decided to move to some other place. He sent an arrow from his bow and followed it. It touched the earth near the famous and beautiful Valapattanam River and the name of the village was Parassinikkadavu. He made it as his abode and lived there for quite some time.

During this time his foster father has expired and since he did not have any children, Muthappan went there and ruled his princely state for quite some time. After became the feudal lord of that area, he fought with other feudal lords to ensure freedom for their subjects. According to the legends, the aim of the incarnation of Lord Vishnu as Muthappan was to save the hapless tribes from the clutches of cruel landlords. After finishing his task, muthappan went to Puralimala and left his human body to go back to Vaikunta.