Among the various incarnations of Lord Vishnu, Krishna is
being worshipped widely in Kerala and has a few temples dedicated to Lord Ram.
Thriprayar is one of the most important temples in Kerala dedicated to Lord Sri
Rama. It is believed that this temple was of Lord Ayyappa earlier and later the
Lord Sri Rama has been consecrated as the main deity in the temple.
The legend behind the name “Thriprayar” goes to the period
of the Vamana incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Aim for this incarnation was to kill the
pride in Emperor Mahabali who otherwise was a noble person and an ardent
devotee of Lord Vishnu. When the emperor stated boasting himself, Lord
understood that it will be difficult to provide him salvation. In order to help
him, Lord decided to destroy the pride in him. Lord appeared in front of the
emperor in the disguise of a dwarf Brahmin boy and asked for alms.
Emperor Mahabali, who considered himself the greatest
person in the world asked the Brahmin to ask anything under the sun and he will
get it for sure. Then the Lord Vishnu in the disguise of Vamana, asked for three
feet land which he can measure with his own feet. Although Mahabali felt
insulted with such a humble request, he agreed for it. Suddenly, the dwarf
Brahmin changed to the cosmic form of Lord Vishnu and lifted his right leg to
measure the first feet. At that time, the sharp nail on his toes damaged the
peripheral layer of heaven, and Ganga started flowing down to earth through
the hole created with the nails of the Lord. First Ganga fell on his lotus flowers
and then on the earth.
The Holy River Ganga, when it fell on the lotus feet of
Lord, came to be known as Thri Pada Aru in the local language Malayalam, which
means the river fell on the lotus feet of the Lord. The place where it fell on
the earth also called Thri Pada Aru, which later got corrupted to “Thriprayar”.
As mentioned earler, it was an Ayyappa Temple earlier and
later the idol of Lord Sri Rama has been consecrated here. There are two
different stories about this idol. One is that the idol has been created by the
Vishva Karma, the architect of Gods seeing the form of Lord Vishnu, which he
revealed to the Demon Khara, before killing him. The second one is that Visva Karma
created this idol, keeping in mind the figure of Lord Sri Rama at the time when
Sita Devi disappeared into the earth. In any case, the common thing is that it
has been created by Visva Karma, the architect of Gods and it is believed to be
the idol which has been worshipped by Lord Krishna at his palace in Dwaraka.
Unlike in the other temples dedicated to Lord Sri Rama,
there is no temple or idol of Hanuman in this temple. It is believed that the
presence of the divine power of Lord Hanuman is everywhere in this temple and
hence it is important to chant the “Sundara Kandam” or Ramayana daily in this
temple. Another interesting feature of this temple is the special offering
called “Meenoottu”. Here the devotees will feed the fishes in the river flowing
along the eastern boundary of the temple which is believed to be a major
offering for Lord Sri Rama.
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