Tuesday, January 27, 2015

The Devi Temple where Goddess Appeared in Front of Tipu Sultan

Kollam Pishari Kau, one of the prominent temples dedicated to Goddess Durga is located near Koilandy in Northern Kerala. It is believed that the goddess appeared in front of Tipu Sultan when he came here to loot the temple. It is a historical fact that Tipu Sultan had evaded Kerala and looted many temples and taken away lots of wealth including gold, silver, and precious stones. During that time he came to this temple. The priest requested him to spare the temple and warned Tipu that the goddess present there is very powerful. Just to test it, Tipu worshiped there and then the priest gave him Prasadam (Sandal paste given as the symbol of blessings of the deity present in each temple). Then Tipu told the priest that if the goddess is very powerful, she should come directly and give the prasadam. Suddenly the goddess appeared in front of Tipu and gave him prasadam. Whether it is just a story or a fact, Tipu left the temple without taking anything from there. In turn, he started giving some amount as a regular donation to that temple every month. After the British conquered the region, they also continued this donation.

The legend behind this temple goes like this. There were many merchants belonging to the Vysya community in Kollam of Southern Kerala. On those days, Kollam was under the rule of powerful king Marhtanda Varma of Travancore. One of them used to visit Oorakath Temple dedicated to Goddess Durga. Pleased with his devotion, one day goddess appeared in his dreams and told him that now there is no need for him to come all the way to Oorakam to visit her; instead, she will come along with him in the form of a sword called Nandakam. He suddenly woke up to see a sword near his head. Taking those as the words of Goddess Durga he carried the sword to Kollam and constructed a temple there and installed the sword in the sanctum sanctorum. He started worshiping the sword as Durga.

Although he belonged to the business community, he was an expert doctor treating snake bites too. Such professionals are called as “Vishahari” in the local language Malayalam. Hence the temple came to be known as “Vishahari Kovil” which later corrupted to Vishari Kau and to Pishari Kau.
After the worship has started, the community became very strong in all aspects. They started challenging the rules of the land and avoided paying taxes and other mandatory payments to the king. This provoked the king and he ordered them to leave the place immediately. Although they were very rich, they could not match the strength of Marhtanda Varma. Hence they left the place with whatever they can take from their homes.

They traveled by water towards the north and on the way, they saw a thick forest. The most fascinating thing about that forest was that all wild animals were living there in good harmony. Deciding that forest as the ideal place to stay, they got down from the boat. That place was under the rule of Kurumbanattu King, hence they took permission from him and constructed houses. Along with that, they constructed a temple for the divine sword which they took from Kollam. They installed the sword in that new temple. As they still had nostalgic feelings about their land, they named the temple as Kollam Pishari Kau.

Earlier, the rituals were being conducted by the community members and hence meat and liquors were used to offer to the goddess. In between, the community brought a Brahmin priest and he stopped all such practices. He started tantric rituals which resulted in the enhancement of the power of the goddess. It became difficult for the devotees to enter the temple without fear. When it became unbearable, they stopped the tantric rituals and started the shaktheya style of worship. Even now tantric rituals are being performed in this temple by Brahmins for three days in a year. 

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Taking revenge on Goddess by committing suicide

As mentioned earlier, you can see many instances in the Kerala Mythology where, gods, celestial creatures, and human beings interacting with each other. The legend behind the Thozhuvancode Devi Temple in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala also has one such instance.

Thozhuvancode was a dense forest once upon a time. It has been inhabited by many demi-gods and several celestial creatures such as Yakshi. Once there was a Yakshi who was very cruel. She used to kill the persons traveling through the forest in the night and used to drink their blood. Once an eligible Brahmin tantric caught hold of that Yakshi and made her his slave with the power of his tantric rituals. He then decided to stay back in Thozhuvancode. He constructed a house there and brought his family. There was the presence of Goddess Durga at that place. There was a Naga Raja and Naga Yakshi (Serpentine Gods) to give company to Goddess Durga. The young tantric installed the energy of Yakshi also along with them.
This tantric was more into black magic and he misused his power and the energy of Yakshi to earn more wealth. Angry with this attitude, Goddess Durga started cursing him and as a result, he started losing all his wealth and the life of his family members. In the end, he decided to take revenge on Goddess Durga. He went in front of the Durga idol and committed suicide. As Brahmahathya (Death of a Brahmin) happened there, the strength of Durga started diminishing. Later the temple and its premises got abandoned and became a part of thick forest surrounding it.

During the days before independence, Kerala has been ruled by several kings and the one who was ruling southern Kerala (Thiruvithamcore) was the prominent one among them. Thiruvithamcore became very strong at the time of King Anizham Thirunal. Unfortunately, he developed a strong relationship with a lady called Abhirama from Ayodhya and married her on the condition that her sons will succeed him on the throne. Till then the royal family was following matriarchy where the nephews (Sons of sisters) used to succeed on the throne. This created fighting between the sons and nephews of the King after his death. King’s nephew Marthanda Varma tried his level best to defeat the sons of Kings known as Ettuveettil Pillais. Kazhakkoottathu Pillai was strong among them and all the efforts to catch hold of him got failed.
Marthanda Varma’s close companion Ramayyan Dalava consulted an astrologer and he told him that there is the presence of Goddess Chamundeswari at the Kalari ( the school attached to the houses of prominent personalities where marital arts being taught) and that power is protecting Pillai. The astrologer also told Dalava that they cannot defeat or catch Pillai unless and until they remove that power from the Kalari. He also mentioned that the power should be removed along with its devotee Mr. Panicker who was teaching martial arts at the Kalari.

Marhtanda Varma, being a staunch devotee of Lord Anantha Padmanabha prayed to him. He prayed for his help to take Goddess Chamundeswari from the Kalari of Pillai for the well being of himself and the nation. Accepting his prayers, it is believed that the holy trinity has approached Goddess and requested her to go away from the Kalari for the sake of the nation and its citizens. She agreed upon a condition that at the new place where she will sit, the presence of holy trinity should be there. They agreed.
On that night, Panicker, who was performing daily rituals for Goddess Chamundeswari had a dream. In his dream goddess came and informed him that it is time for her to move away from the Kalari. Taking it as the orders of the divine goddess, Panicker left the place in that night taking the idol of Chamundeswari.
They reached at the banks of a river where a yacht was ready for them. Goddess gave directions to Panicker and he in turn gave directions to those who were rowing the yacht. Finally, they reached Thozhuvancode. According to the wishes of the goddess, Panickar consecrated the idol there. It is custom to offer some food articles for the goddess after consecration. Panickar could not find anything inside the forest except for a cock. He sacrificed the cock and offered it.

After the divine power went away from the Kalari, Pillai and all his brothers fell down and Marhtanda Varma became the King of Thiruvithamcore. He donated a good amount of wealth to the Thozhuvancode Temple which has been taken care of by Panicker and his family members. After the death of Panicker, his predecessors have taken care of the temple. They were not as devoted as Panicker and all they interested were in the wealth donated by the king. This gave rise to a family feud and it turned to war. Thus they lost many family members. Now the temple has been taken care of by the locals and the rituals are followed as per the instructions of the goddess from time to time. It is believed that the goddess will enter into the body of devotees who will start shivering and then start giving the instruction of the divine mother.


Thursday, January 22, 2015

Arackal Dynasty, the symbol of Hindu Muslim Unity in Kerala

As mentioned earlier several times, the state of Kerala has been divided into smaller princely states and was being ruled by different kings before the independence of India. Arackal Dynasty is the only one Muslim the dynasty that ruled Kerala and there is an interesting legend behind the origin of this dynasty which says about the broadmindedness of Hindu rulers who were ruling Kerala on those days in many words.

The headquarters of Kolathu Dynasty was in Ezhimala till the 7th century. As the number of members increased, many of the members had to leave the palace and to get settled in some other places. Even then, the king used to stay at Ezhimala, and even now there are remains of a fort built by the then kings in Ezhimala in Kannur district of Kerala. The king who ruled in the 7th century has built up a beautiful palace in the valley of Ezhimala and used to stay over there with his close relatives. There was a river flowing along the boundary of the compound where the palace situated.
King has two nieces who were brilliant and beautiful. They used to go to this river for having a bath every day. Once the younger one was enjoying swimming in the calm waters of the river, the climate got changed suddenly. The heavy downpour caused more flow into the river and she lost her balance. As she was screaming for help, a Muslim youth, who was a member of the army of the king came there. He jumped into the troubled waters and saved the king by bringing her to the shore by holding her arms. Even after reaching the shore, she was reluctant to get out of the river as she lost all her attires in the water. Realizing this, the youth offered her his dhoti. Wearing the same she came out of the river and went to the palace.

After reaching the palace, she did not enter the main building, instead, she stayed in the outhouse. When the King and other family members questioned her, she told that even if it is for helping her, a youth has caught hold of her arms and offered his dress to her to cover her body. By this action, that Muslim youth has already married her. As she has married someone out of her cast, she is not entitled to enter the main building. King and other family members pursued her a lot to change her mind. Their argument was that the youth did it to help her from death and he never thought of marrying her. They were even told her that they will bring the family priests to do necessary rituals so that she will be serene again.
No arguments can change her mind and finally, the king called the Muslim soldier to the palace. He asked him to accept his niece as his wife as per the Muslim tradition. Though surprised the Muslim youth whose name was Mohammed agreed. According to the prevailing custom, King has constructed a huge palace for his niece and her husband to stay and give him a part of his kingdom. However, he insisted that the family should follow matriarchy and the entire power will rest with his niece and then will be transferred to her daughters. However, he has adorned the youth with the title Raja and told that the male population of the family can carry the title forever. Even now the ladies of the family are known as Arackal Beebi and the men as Arackal Raja.


They ruled their country with great care and followed the instructions of Kolathiri King. At the end of the 7th century, the commander of Kolathiri King, one Arayan Kulangara Nair got converted into Islam and adopted the name, Mohammed Ali. He married a girl from Arackal family and still continued as the commander of the King. He had seven sons who were known as “Mammali Kidangal” or Sons of Mohammad Ali. Ali Moosa, the eldest among them became the chief commander of Kolathiri King and he conquered Mali Dweep. In appreciation for his bravery, Kolathiri King gave the entire island to the Arackal family. Similarly, he conquered Laksha Dweep also which has been again given to the Arackal dynasty for lease. It remained under their control till the British capture it later. 

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Legend of Mookambika Temple

Although Kolloor, the place where the world famous Mookambika Temple located belongs to present day state of Karnataka, it was a part of Kerala once. The legend behind the creation of Kerala is that Lord Parasurama, the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu has thrown his axe from the hills of Gokarna to the ocean and it fell at the place where the present day Kanyakumari is there. All the land in between those two points has been given to Parasurama and that is Kerala.

Dreaded demon Mahishasura has undergone a penance to appease Lord Shiva and when the lord appeared in front of him he asked a boon so that nobody except women can kill him. Powered with the boon he started troubling gods, saints and ordinary human beings. Fed up with the activities of this cruel demon, all gods and saints approached Lord Vishnu. He directed them to pray to Adi Parashakthi, The mother goddess and they did it. Pleased with their devotion, she appeared in front of him and promised them that she will finish the demon off.
She went to a hillside where Saint Kola was undergoing penance. Mahishasura was there to trouble that saint. There both of them had a long battle and at the end of it Goddess killed the demon. Pleased with the devotion and dedication of Saint Kola, Goddess asked him what she should do for him. He requested her that his presence should be there at that place and the place should be known in his name. Thus the place got the name Kollur.
Years have passed and saint Kola continued his penance at that place. Demon Kamsa, nephew of Mahishasura came to know about all the history and he came to that place. He started troubling saints and poor people there and when the gods approached Lord Vishnu, he directed them to Saint Kola. He agreed to help them and started praying Adi Parashakthi. She appeared and started war with Kamsa.
It was really a great war and the goddess found it difficult to kill the demon. At that time, Lord Shiva drew a wheel (Chakra) in front of a Shivalinga which he used to worship every day. That is Sree Chakra which is revered as the most powerful weapon to distance all our troubles and problems. Goddess took that chakra into her hand and threw it towards the neck of Kamsa. He became dumb. Realizing that he cannot help defeat in the battle, he requested Goddess that she should forget all his sins and give peace in the other world.

Goddess then asked him to sit in meditation and at that time she killed him. By killing a dumb person, she got the name Mookambika, (Mooka being the word for dumb person in Malayalam).
However, there is another legend about this temple which is related to Adi Sankaracharya. It is believed that he has installed the idol here. There are four holy springs here in this place and taking bath in these springs is considered to be serene. Sauparnika, the most important one among them is believed to be the river on the banks of which the Garuda did rituals for his parents after their death. The water in this spring is believed to have the medicinal properties of about 65 medicinal plants.

Sukla theertham, the other holy spring is believed to have formed from the sweat of Goddess while she was fighting with the demon.
Govinda theertham, the third one is related to Lord Vishnu. It is believed that if you chant “Govinda.. Govinda..” three times with great devotion, the water from the spring will be sprayed on your body automatically.
Agni theertham is the fourth one which is believed to have formed from the holy fire used by many saints.