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.