Rajarajeswara Temple Thaliparamba

Rajarajeswara Temple at Thaliparamba in Kannur district of Kerala is one of the greatest Shiva temples in South India. It commands equal respect as great Shiva temples such as Vaikkom, Ettumanoor, Vadakkunnathan Temple etc.

The legend behind the temple starts from Thretha yuga. It goes like this. Sanaka and other sons of Lord Brahma once churned the Disk of Sun God to reduce the heat. They collected the dust thus formed and mixed it with Amruth (divine honey that helped gods to be immortal) and formed three Shiva Lingas. They presented those lingas to their father Brahma who in turn presented it to Goddess Parvathy, the consort of Lord Shiva.

During Thretha yuga, there was a king called Mandhata who was a staunch devotee of Shiva. He underwent penance to appease Lord Shiva. Pleased with his devotion and dedication, Lord Shiva appeared in front of him along with Goddess Parvathy. Then Parvathy presented one of the lingas presented to her by Lord Brahma to the king. She asked him to install the linga at a place where no death has taken place so far and no dead body has fallen so far. He started his journey in search of a place as directed by the Goddess. Finally, he reached a place where he could find a place which is just enough to accommodate a plate where no death has taken place and no dead body has fallen. He installed the linga at that place.

Later this place has come to known as ‘Thaliparamba’ which means the place which can accommodate thalika or plate. However, the linga got disappeared into the earth after the death of the king. Later, another King of the same dynasty called, Muchukundan too underwent penance and received the second linga from the goddess. He too found this place as the ideal one as per the instruction of goddess and installed the linga, which eventually disappeared like the previous one. Then, the king Sathasoman received the third linga from the goddess. Naturally, he too got attracted to the same place and starting installing the linga. To his utter surprise, the linga started going deep down into the earth. He prayed Sage Agasthya, who came there are lighted a lamp in front of the linga and prostrated (Danda namaskaram) for twelve times. When he was supposed to complete the thirteenth one the linga got fixed to the surface of the earth.

This linga gained the power of two other lingas too. King spent the rest of his life there worshipping this powerful linga and after his death, everybody forgot this linga. Once Parasurama was coming in that way and saw a powerful linga in a neglected state. He tried to know the story behind it. Then Sage Narada appeared there and told him the story. Then he took the initiative to construct a temple there and to install the linga inside there. Later it has been renovated so many times and the last recorded major renovation was in the early 11^th century.

It is believed that Lord Rama has visited this temple during his way back from Sri Lanka and worshipped here. Devotees believe the presence of Rama is still there in the namaskara mandapam. Hence nobody is allowed inside the namaskara mandapam. There is a big temple pond there which is called Ashrama Chira. It is believed that the Ashram of sage Agasthy was there. Just beside this pond there is a temple dedicated to Lord Krishna. Whoever is coming to worship Lord Shiva should visit this Krishna Temple first.