A holy journey to see lord vilwadrinathan (Sri Rama), & punarjani on Guruvayoor ekadashi day yesterday. The place Tiruvilwamala is situated in Talappilly Taluk of Trichur district attains great prominence. Vilwadrinatha temple of Tiruvilwamala has a rich heritage in the history of temples. The place is famous for its serene and picturesque beauty.The hills and the Bharatapuzha river (which is only half a mile from the temple ) adds natural beauty to this place. Being a very old temple there are lot of intresting legends about this temple.It is believed that the idol here is the one, which is worshiped by Siva in Kailasa. It is four to five feet tall and is permanently fitted with a gold plated cover for the protection of the image. The main attraction in the temple is the ‘Punarjani Guha’ (cave). The punarjani cave is in between the Vilwamala and the Bhoothamala. The Punarajani cave is a natural 15-meter long tunnel in the rocky cliff. It is believed that by crawling through the tunnel from one end to the other, one washes away all his sins and thus attains rebirth. The ritual is known as ‘Punarjani noozhal’. Once we enter the Punarjani cave it takes about 45mts to reach the exit. The movement through the cave demands all kinds of bodily postures like standing, sitting, creeping, crawling etc. Only men are allowed to perform this ritual, while women can only visit the cave. The ritual is practiced only in one day in an year, the Guruvayur Ekadasi day(this year it was yesterday) in ‘Vrischikam’ (November-December).It is believed that during the Ekadasi day Lord Guruvayoorappan will visit this place to witness this event and blessing the people.Before starting to Punarjani we have to touch the “Ganapathi theertham” (which never gets dried up) on the northern side of the mountain about quarter of a mile eastwards from the temple. Next is “Papanasini Theertham” a steep rock about seventy feet high on travelling about one and a half miles over the mountain. It is belived that this was made by Parasurama and the presence of Ganga has been brought in this Theertha. After making the Punarjani noozhal, custom is to go to papanasini again to purify the body and then go to the entrance once again. Next the devotees have to bathe or wash their hands, feet and face in the “Pathala Theertha” on the west at a distance of about thirty feet. It is believed that Parasurama who had brought the presence of the purified water of “Brahmakamandalu” here made this also. The next is to take holy water in our hands from the “Kombutheertha”, which was formed when Indra’s elephant Iravatha struck his tusk on the rock.Nearby lies the “Ambutheertha” from which water has to be taken out using some stick or anything like that. People believe that one “Janma” or span of life is reduced from the cycle of births and deaths if we go through the punarjani cave once.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 03:38:43 +0000