Lord Shiva has been worshiped in many forms and one among
them is Vaidyanathan. The concept of Vaidyanathan is related to the curing of
chronic diseases. It can be equated with the Dhanvandari concept of Lord Maha
Vishnu. There is a temple dedicated to this Bhava of Lord Shiva in Kerala and
that is Puramundekkad Shiva Temple. It is also known as Porandekkad Shiva
Temple.
If you go to previous pages of this blog, you will come
across the legend related to the formation of Kerala. It is believed that
Parasurama, the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu created this land. After
creating the land, he had constructed 108 Shivalayas (Temples of Lord Shiva) to
protect the land from evil spirits. Puramundekkaad or Prandekkad Shiva Temple
is one of them.
There is one another legend saying the installation of the idol
has been done by Hara Maharshi.
Years have passed since then and the temple constructed by
Parasurama got abandoned. People who used to reside in this locality have
migrated to different other places and the area has become a thick forest.
People from the villages used to go inside the forest to collect wood logs for
their cooking purpose. Once, such a group of villagers who went inside the
forest witnessed a flame of fire in the atmosphere. It was moving slowly and
the villagers followed it to reach a place where a one-foot tall Shivalinga was
found. Surprised with it the villagers collected flowers from the nearby plants
and worshiped the god with devotion. They offered a few plantain fruits also.
Later the nearby villagers gathered there and constructed a
temple for Lord Shiva. Here in this temple, Lord Shiva is in the Bhava of
Vaidyanathan. As per the Hindu belief, epilepsy is caused by a Yaksha with the
name Apasmaara. Here, the divine concept is that the Vaidyanathan is performing
Thandava Dance upon this Yaksha. In other words, the Yaksha is in total control
of Lord Shiva here. Hence, devotees believe that epilepsy and other chronic
diseases can be cured by this power.
Another interesting fact is the offering of plantain fruit.
It is a practice for the people residing in the nearby villages to offer the
first product from their plantain cultivation to God. When you give it, the
same will be taken inside the temple and will be offered to the Lord. After that,
it will return to you but the sweetness will be lesser then. It is believed
that Lord Shiva is accepting the sweet nectar inside the fruit.
This ancient temple is located in the Ponnani Taluk of
Malappuram district. It is a swayambhoo linga and is facing towards the east.
Unlike in other Shiva temples, there are two Nandi idols are being worshiped
here. Apart from the main deity, Lord Vishnu, Ganapati, Dakshinaamoorthy,
Ayyappan, Sri Krishna is also worshiped here. The temple is just 2 km away
from Edappal Bus stand.
