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.