Suchindram, The Place where Indra got purified

Although, the Suchindram and famous Suchindram Sthanumalaya  Perumal Temple is located in Tamil Nadu, it was a part of Kerala earlier. The area was under the rule of Travancore Kings once and it has a significant place in the history of Travancore. This temple is marked in history as the place where the test of honesty has been conducted by the Kings. If someone comes under suspicion of theft or any other criminal activity, the person will be brought to this temple. Then a huge vessel will be placed in front of him filled with boiling ghee. The suspect should dip his or her hands inside the hot ghee and if he or she got burned, it is decided that the person is the culprit.

This practice has been followed for many years till Swathi Thirunal abolished it. Actually, the harlequin of King’s court was behind such a move. Once, some of the royal jewelry has missed and everybody pointed fingers to the harlequin. He denied the allegation and told that he is ready to take a test at Suchindram Temple. When all, including the King, was waiting outside, the chief priest of the temple came out with a vessel full of hot ghee. The priest was holding the vessel with a piece of cloth in order to prevent his hands from the heat. Then the harlequin shouted firmly that it was the priest who took the ornaments from the palace. He argued further that if it was not the priest, why he should hold the vessel with a cloth. If he is innocent, his hands will not get affected by the heat. Sensing the logic in the argument, Swathi Thirunal, the King of Travancore stopped that barbarian practice.

This temple is only one temple in India, where the divine powers of the trinity, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva are presented in a single idol. And it is believed that many great saints including Agasthya, Vyasa, Vasishta, etc have visited this temple and worshiped the divine trinity. There are two legends behind the origin of this temple.

In one of them, Saint Athri, along with his wife Anasuya went to the Himalayas and underwent severe penance. Pleased with their devotion, Lord Vishnu appeared in front of them and asked them to go towards the south and to get settled near the Pranja Theertham in Gyanaranyam. He advised them to lead a family living there. According to his instruction, both of them went to Gyanaranyam (It was the old name for Suchindram) and started living there. Once, Saint Athri had to go to Brahma Loka to participate in a Yagna. At that time the holy trinities, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva decided to test Anasuya. They appeared in front of her in the disguise of old Brahmins and requested her to give them alms. When she turned inside to bring something, they insisted that she should serve them food without wearing any clothes. They also told her that if she is not ready to do it, they will not accept the alms and will go back.

She was an intelligent lady. She went inside and took a few drops of holy water kept by Saint Athri for some rituals and sprayed it on the old men after murmuring some holy hymns. Suddenly they all turned to be small kids. Then she fed them milk and food without wearing any clothes. At the same time, Saraswathi, Lakshmi, and Parvathy, the wives of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva respectively, came to know about the fate of their husbands. They came to Gyanaranya and narrated the whole thing to Athri and requested her to save their husbands. She expressed her inability and asked them to wait until Athri came back from Brahma Loka. Three Goddesses spent the whole time in meditation near the Pranja Theertham till Athri came back. The present-day festival in the Tamil Month Markazi (November-December) is being celebrated to commemorate the meditation of goddesses. When Atari came back, he came to know everything. He asked his wife to bring a few more drops of holy water and spray over the kids. When she did that the holy trinities regained their original shape. Quite happy with the incident, the trinities asked Saint and his wife to ask for some boons. They asked them to be present at the premises all the time. Suddenly they created three stone pillars and placed one above the other. Then the trinities told them that the base one is Brahma, the middle one is Vishnu and the top one is Shiva. They assured the saint and his wife that their divine power will be in this pillar shaped idol in the above-said order and asked them to worship it regularly. Even now, the same idol is being used here.

The second legend is connected with Indra, the king of demigods. Once, Indra was going through the skyways, he saw Ahalya, wife of Saint Gowtham watering the plants in their compound. Attracted with her physique and beauty, Indra started developing lust. He decided to enjoy the beauty and youthfulness of Ahalya at any cost. Once he came to their Ashram before the dawn and howled as if a cock. Saint Gowtham mistook it as that of an original cock and thought the sun has risen. He went to have a bath in the river.  Then Indram entered the Ashram in the disguise of Saint Gowtham and had sex with Ahalya. Gowtham realized that it was still the night as soon as he reached on the banks of the river and hence he returned. When he returned he saw both Indra and Ahalya in the compromising position. He cursed Indra to have a penis all over his body as he did a sin due to his uncontrollable lust. Similarly, he cursed his wife also to become a rock. When pleaded, she got relief as the saint blessed her that Lord Sri Ram will visit her during Threthayuga and will give her salvation.

Indra, who became an ugly figure with a penis all over the body due to the curse, went to Gyanaranya and underwent penance there for years. At the end of it, holy trinities appeared in front of him and removed all the ugliness from his body. Thus Indra got purified. The place where Indra got purified became popular as Suchindram (suchi means purification). On the request of Indra, holy trinities transferred their divine powers to a single stone and that is the idol being worshipped here even today. 

Legend of Chelamattom Sree Krishna Temple

The Deity That Gives Salvation to the Souls

Bali is an important ritual in Hinduism, especially in Kerala which is meant for providing salvation to the souls. People used to gather at places to offer Bali to give salvation to the souls of their ancestors who are dead. Chelamattom Sri Krishna Temple, which is located on the banks of Holy River Periyar, in between Perumbavoor Town and Kaladi the birthplace of Sri Sankaracharya is one such holy place where people gather to offer Bali. On the right-hand side of the temple, the River Periyar flows towards east while it flows towards the west in all other areas. The legend is that Sri Sankaracharya changed the direction of the river here to enable him to have morning rituals after taking bath in the river.

Here in this temple, Lord Maha Vishnu has been consecrated in three forms, or in other words the presence of three incarnations of Lord Vishnu is here which a unique feature is. Those three incarnations are Narasimha, Vamana and Sri Krishna. The presence of the furious Narasimha helps devotees to remove all the evil spirits in them too. Before coming to the legend of this temple, let us go through a story in the epic Maha Bhagavatham.

After killing Kamsa, Sri Krishna spent about sixty-four months in the Asram of Saint Sandeepini to complete his studies. After finishing the studies, Sri Krishna asked his Guru (Teacher) Saint Sandeepini, what he should offer as Guru Dakshina (It is custom for the students to offer something in cash or kind to the teacher or Guru as the fee for their service after finishing their studies) Sandeepini told him that he was fortunate enough to be the guru of the person who is the real guru for the world. But Krishna was not satisfied with it and asked again what he should do. Then Sandeepini requested Krishna to return his son, who has died long ago drowning in the sea.

Sri Krishna called Varuna, the god of the sea, and enquired about the incident. Then Varuna told him that one demon with the name Panchajanan has brought the son of Sandeepini and killed. He also informed that Panchajanan is living inside a conch in the deep sea. Lord Krishna entered the sea and took the conch where the demon used to live. That conch is the famous Panchajanyam. Then he entered the Yamaloka, the world of the dead in his cosmic form. Seeing him in cosmic form, Lord Yama, the god of death scared and returned the son of Sandeepini. He also freed all the dead people there at that time. Sri Krishna returned son to Sandeepini. At the same time, all the other souls presented at Yamaloka at the time got salvation as they could witness the cosmic form of the god. Here in Chelamattom, the Krishna idol is in that form where Krishna exhibited his cosmic form in Yamaloka. That is the reason for people gathering here to offer rituals for the salvation of the souls of their dead ancestors.

Now coming to the legend behind this temple, it is believed that only the idol of Narasimha was here initially. Once a group of people belongs to the Pulaya community, a lower cast according to the prevailing system then witnessed a box floating in the river. Rays of light were emitted from it. People dived into the river to capture the box, but nobody could. It neither flowed down along with the current nor could anybody hold it. Surprised with this miracle, people informed the incident to Veliyakkol Namboodiri, a Brahmin staying nearby. Seeing the box Namboodiri jumped into the river swam across and brought the river to the bank. When he opened it, everybody gathered there surprised to see a Krishna idol inside it. The rays of lights were emitting from it. At first, the Namboodiri took this idol to his house, placed at a sacred place, and started performing rituals. Later on, he realized that this is a powerful idol and should not be placed inside the house. Hence he took it to the Narasimha Temple nearby, constructed another temple near to that, and consecrated the idol there.

Similarly, another Brahmin, Thottamattom Namboodiri was worshipping the Vamana idol at his house. Later on, he realized that the lord is not happy to sit there. Hence he too took the idol to the Narasimha Swamy temple and consecrated the idol thereafter constructing another temple. Thus three incarnations of Lord Vishnu came inside the same compound.

Kanjirangatt Vaidya Natha Temple

Idol has been consecrated by Sun God

Kanjiragatt Vaidya Natha Temple is located near Taliparamba in Kannur District of Kerala. This temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and here the lord is being worshipped as Vaidya Natha, the god that cures all diseases. The legend of this temple goes back to the period of Parasurama.

Lord Vishnu has taken the incarnation of Parasurama to destroy the Kshatriyas or the rulers who were behaving rudely. After finishing his duty, he was undergoing penance in a thick forest. One demon named Karaskaran was living in that forest. Karaskaran is the son of demon Bhasmasura who got a boon from Lord Shiva that everybody will ruin to ashes if he put his hands on them. After getting the boon, the demon tried to test it with Lord Shiva himself. If the demon puts his hands on Shiva’s head, Shiva will remain as ashes. Shiva started running to save his life. At that time Lord Vishnu once again took the Mohini incarnation and appeared in front of the demon in disguise of a beautiful woman.

The demon fell for her and asked to marry him. She in turn told him that she will marry only that man who can defeat her in dancing. The demon was ready for a competition. She insisted that if the demon is an expert in dance, he should repeat the steps she shows and he agreed. In between the competition, she showed a special step where she kept both her hands on her head. The demon repeated the same step and as soon as he kept both his hands on his own head, he remained to ashes as per the boon given by Lord Shiva.

Karaskaran, son of Bhasmusara was also equally cruel as his father. His most powerful weapon was loud laughter. People used to scare with that. When Parasurama was undergoing penance, demon Karaskaran came there with loud laughter. It disturbed Parasurama. Angry with the rude behavior of the demon, Parasurama beat him with his ax and that was enough for him to silence the demon. Happy with this act, gods showered flowers on Parasurama from heaven.

After finishing this act, Parasurama started moving to another place. On the way, his leg touched a stone and he realized it as a Shiva Linga. He took seven rounds around the Linga and started performing rituals as per the custom. Then the sage Narada came there and told the story of that Linga.

While the milky ocean has been churned to extract Amruth, the medicine to keep evergreen youth, a poison called Kalakoodam too came out of it. If it falls on the earth, the entire earth will destroy. To save the earth, Lord Shiva consumed that poison wholly. Then he created a Linga for him and both he and his wife Goddess Parvathy started performing rituals to it. Hence, Lord Shiva could save himself from the evil effects of the poison. Once recovered, Shiva and Parvathy kept that Linga at Mount Kailash and used to offer prayers daily.

Meanwhile, God Sun got ill due to many poisonous gases. At that time, Garuda came there and told Sun God about this Linga. Garuda suggested that he should worship that Linga and will be cured. As per Garuda’s advice, Sun God approached Lord Shiva and requested to hand over that Linga. Shiva gave it with pleasure and advised him to consecrate the same at a serene place where there are no cremation grounds and start worship. Sun God finalized this place after a wide search and consecrated the Linga and start worshipping it. Soon he got cured.

When Sage Narada Finished the story, Parasurama bowed in front of the Linga with great respect and constructed the temple there. That is the present Kanjirangattu Vaidya Natha Temple. Devotees are believing that the divine power of Linga, which saved Lord Shiva and cured Sun God is still there and will cure all types of diseases. 

Kottarakkara Chandra Shekharan, the Elephant with a difference (Part II)

Kottarakkara Chandrashekharan and his generosity

Chnadrashekharan started living in Kottarakkara. One Ramsar has been appointed as his mahout and one Kochu Kunju has been appointed as Ramassar’s assistant. The relation between Ramassar and Chandrashekhar was a father-son relation. Ramassar has treated Chandrashekaran as his own son and in return Chandrashekharan respected Ramassar as his father. However, Kochu Kunju has only the status of a servant in the mind of Chandrashekhar. People of Kottarakkara loved Chandrashekharan so much that they demanded to keep him at least for one day at each one’s house. Hence Ramassar will keep Chandrashekharan at some house every day by evening and used to go back to his own house. Next day morning, Kochukunju will come and take Chandrashekharan for a bath either in the temple pond or in the nearby river.

One day, Kochu kunju drank heavily in the night and he could not turn up on time the next day. By the time Ramassar reached near Chndrashekharan, he was fully covered with dust and sweat. The sight really saddened Ramassar. He took Chandrashekharan for a bath. On the way, they met Kochu Kunju. Angry with the behavior of Kochu Kunju, Ramassar scolded him. Kochu Kunju was not in a position to repent on his acts but started fighting with Ramassar. This made Chandrashekhar furious. He came forward and held Kochu Kunju with his huge trunk. Even before Ramassar could stop him, Chandrashekharan threw Kochu Kunju to a huge tree standing nearby. He died on the spot. However, Ramassar too got slapped with the trunk unknowingly and became unconscious. Realizing this fact, Chandrashekharan got worried. He took Ramassar to a nearby house. He kept Ramassar under a shadow and went to a nearby well. One Muslim lady was taking water from the well and filling her pot. Seeing the elephant coming near, she got scared and hid in a nearby bush. Chandrashekharan lifted the pot with water and came near Ramassar. He took water from the pot with his trunk and sprayed on the face of Ramassar. Ramassar woke up from unconsciousness.

By the time Chandrashekharan was thirsty. He went near the well with the pot. The Muslim lady was watching everything hiding inside the bush. Chandrashekharan waited there. Understanding the situation, Ramassar expressed his inability to come there and to pull water from the well loudly. Hearing his words, the Muslim lady came out of the water and filled the pot with water from the well. Chandrashekharan had three pots of water and left the place holding Ramassar in his trunk.

One day after this incident, a person from Kottarakkara presented Chandrashekharan with four bunches of bananas. He kept the best one aside and ate the rest. Then he took the one bunch which he kept aside to the house of the Muslim lady who served him water when he was thirsty. At that time her hut was gutting under fire and nobody was there inside except for three kids. Chandrashekharan went near the hut and pushed the roof which has been caught under huge flames off. Then he entered the hut and took three kids one by one with his trunk and kept them under a tree. When the lady and her husband came back, they realized the entire episode and thanked Chandrashekharan. He presented a bunch of bananas to them. Then he went inside a nearby forest and came back with logs and palm leaves. Using those logs and palm leaves, they reconstructed their house. From that day onwards, Chandrashekharan made it a practice to keep a portion of whatever he is getting aside. Ramassar had to sell it and to handover the money to that Muslim family.

King used to bring Kottarakkara Chandrashekharan for every important festival at Sri Padmanabha Swamy Temple at Thiruvananthapuram. When Chandrashekharan visited Thiruvananthapuram after this incident, the King noticed him keeping a portion of everything he receives aside and asked the reason to Ramassar. Ramassar told the king the incident and told him that it is the decision of Chandrashekharan to sell those articles which kept aside and pay the money to that Muslim family. Touched with the kindness and generosity of this animal, the king asked him to have everything and not to keep anything aside. In turn, he promised that he will pay the value of those items which he has kept aside in cash to Ramassar and he in turn will pay the Muslim family. Since then it made a practice for everyone who is presenting Chandrashekharan with rice, coconut leaves or bananas to give an amount to Ramassar. Ramassar, an honest person never took a single paisa from it but used to handover the amount to the Muslim family. 

Kottarakkara Chandra Shekharan, the Elephant with a difference (Part I)

Elephants have great significance in the culture and tradition of Kerala, the southernmost state in India. The elephant is an unavoidable thing in the festivals in almost all temples here. Procession with caparisoned elephants bearing idols of different gods and goddesses is an integral part of any festival. Even today, elephants are playing an important role in the cultural sector of Kerala. Here it is a common thing to call each elephant by a name and in most of the cases, the names used to call elephants will be of gods or goddesses. Nowadays elephants in Kerala enjoy a great fan following too. There are fan clubs for different elephants where thousands of elephant enthusiasts are members. Believe it or not, even some elephants have fan pages and groups in different social media.

As we cannot talk about the culture of Kerala without mentioning about elephants, we cannot tell mythological stories too without mentioning elephants. There were many famous elephants in Kerala in the past who have craved their names in golden letters in the minds of people. Guruvayoor Keshavan, Tripunithura Gireeshan, etc are a few of such elephants who have lived in the contemporary world. Here we are coming out with the story of a great elephant who has lived a few centuries back. His name was Kottarakkara Chandrashekhar.

As mentioned earlier in many of the stories, Kerala has been divided into different feudal kingdoms and was being ruled by different dynasties. Southern parts of present Kerala was under the rule of Venadu Dynasty while most of central Kerala has been ruled by the Nediyirippu Dynasty. There was a time when the Travancore (south Kerala) has been ruled by the famous king Dharma Raja and Kochi (Central Kerala) has been ruled by the famous Shakthan Thampuran. This period is being considered the best periods of both these dynasties by the historians. Since both Kochi and Travancore were friendly nations, there was no proper fencing or any other types of markings in the boundaries. Tax collection and other official processes have been conducted smoothly.

On those days, catching elephants was a common practice. Elephants are being used for bringing large wood pieces from the forest and also in t construction of huge structures. As mentioned earlier, elephants are being used in various rituals related to temples also. The method of catching the elephant was simple. There are specially trained persons for that. They used to dig huge pits inside the dense forest where elephants are moving frequently. Then cover it with weak wood pieces and cover the wooden slabs with sand and leaves. Elephants cannot realize this trap and they will fall in the deep pits. Then trained elephants will be brought to take them out and to take them to the training centers.

Once such a pit has been dug by the people of Kochi, but three fourth of the pit fell inside the boundary of Travancore. Although Dharma Raja, the King of Travancore came to know about it, he kept quiet as he was maintaining a good relation with Shakthan Thampuran, the King of Kochi. After a few days, a boy elephant fell in the pit and the people from Kochi brought it to their training center. Dharma Raja came to know about this incident. He was also told that the elephant is one of the best ones and is a complete elephant as per “Mathamga Leela” the ancient text deal with the health and habits of elephants. Thus  Dharma Raja decided to bring that elephant to his country and he entrusted the duty with his trusted minister Diwan Keshava Pillai.

Keshava Pillai, in turn, called his trusted lieutenants Kunjikutty Pillai, Vaikom Padmanabha Pillai, and Kuthirapakshi and instructed them to bring that elephant to Travancore by hook or crook. Although Kunjikutty Pillai had heard about the might of Shakthan Thampuran, he decided to carry out the operation. He knew that he cannot win the elephant in a direct flight with Shakthan Thampuran, hence he resorted to a drama.

Padmanabha Pillai and Kuthirapakshi went to the elephant training center in the disguise of two travelers seeking food. Once they reached there, they befriended the mahouts and elephant trainers. Padmanabha Pillai was a master in Mathamgaleela, the ancient text deals with elephants. He chanted some hymns from it and explained the meanings to Kuthirapakshi. Many of the mahouts to have read the text. Hence they developed an interest in the words of Pillai and they all gathered around him.

In between the discussions on various points of Mathamgaleela, Pillai, and Kuthirapakshi invited the mahouts and trainers to the nearby toddy shop. Mahouts and trainers drank toddy in large quantities, but Pillai and Kuthirapakshi abstained from drinking. By the time they returned, all mahouts and trainers were in a highly boozed condition. Some of them even fell asleep as soon as they reached the training center.

Then Kunjikutty Pillai came there in disguise of a mad gypsy. He expressed his ambition to climb on an elephant. As he has entertained the mahouts and trainers with some magic, they were ready to fulfill the ambition. They asked him to select the elephant on which he will climb. He pointed to the boy elephant kept inside a cage. That was the one which has been caught recently. Mahouts rejected his plea as that elephant was not trained properly. At this juncture, Padmanabha Pilla put forth a suggestion that they can allow him to climb on the elephant provided it has been taken out of the cage with the help of two other trained elephants. If something happens to the Gypsy, the mahouts will not be held responsible as they have taken the necessary precautions. Mahouts agreed and did the same.

Once the elephant came out of the cage tied with huge ropes which are held firmly by the trained elephants, the Gypsy climbed on it. Then the three elephants started walking backward. Mahouts and trainers who were under the control of the mesmeric power of toddy could not chase them. Once they entered inside the boundary of Travancore, Padmanabha Pillai left the two trained elephants free and continued their journey to Thiruvanthapuram, the capital of Travancore.

On the way back, they reached Kottarakkara, a small town, and decided to stay there as it was night by then. The very next day, they were about to start their journey, but the elephant was not in a mood to move. Although they tried for two or three days, the elephant did not move from there. Then the elders of the locality came there and told the trio that Lord Shiva, the presiding deity of the local temple might have developed affection towards this elephant and that could be the reason for the strange behavior of the elephant. They further told the trio to offer this elephant to the Lord Shiva of Kottarakkara Temple and they will be able to take the elephant. They informed the King about the incident and he agreed to do so. King himself came to Kottarakkara to offer the elephant to the god. At that time noticed the crescent-like marking on the forehead of the elephant. Thus he named the elephant as Chandrashekharan which means the person with a crescent on his forehead and also one of the many names of Lord Shiva. Thus the Elephant came to be known as Kottarakkara Chandrashekhar.

There are many stories to prove the brilliance, generosity and bravery of this elephant and all those stories will be told in the coming parts.