OM SAI RAM. Vadakkunnathan Temple Vadakkunnathan Temple, also known as Tenkailasam and Vrshabhacalam, is an ancient Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva at city of Thrissur, of Kerala state in India. This temple is a classic example of the architectural style of Kerala and has monumental towers on all four sides and also a kuttambalam. Mural paintings depicting various episodes from Mahabharata can be seen inside the temple. The shrines and the Kuttambalam display vignettes carved in wood. The temple, along with the mural paintings, has been declared as a National Monument by India under Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act. According to popular local lore, this is the first temple built by Parasurama, the sixth incarnation of Vishnu. Tekkinkadu Ground, encircling the Vadakkunnathan Temple, is the main venue of the Thrissur Pooram. Non-Hindus are not allowed to enter into the temple. In the year 2012 Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has recommended 14 sites, including Vadakkumnathan Temple and palaces, from Kerala to include in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The story of the origin of the Vadakkunnathan Temple is briefly narrated in Brahmāṇḑa Purāņa and there are references to it in some other works also. Though there are small differences between these accounts as regards details, all agree on the central fact, namely, that the temple was founded by Parasurama. Parasurama exterminated Kshatriyas twenty one times. In order to expiate the sin he performed a yajna at the end of which he gave away all the land to Brahmins as dakshina. He wanted to retire to some new land to do tápasya and so he requested god Varuna to throw up a new piece of land from the sea. According to another version, some sages approached him at the end of the yajna and requested him to give them some secluded land. Parasurama then made the request to Varuna for their sake. Varuna gave him a winnow (surpa) and asked him to hurl it into the sea, as he did a large territory of land was at once thrown up by the sea; this territory that rose out of the sea was Kerala. It was then known by the name Surparaka, from the word, Surpa meaning winnow. According to some other accounts Varuna asked Parasurama to hurl his axe into the sea. Parashurama now wanted to consecrate this new land. So he went to Kailasa to his guru Shiva and requested him to take abode in Kerala and thereby bless the region. Shiva accompanied by Parvati, Ganesha, Subrahmanya and his parashadas went along with Parasurama, to satisfy the desire of his beloved disciple. Shiva stopped at a spot, now Thrissur, for his seat and later he and his party disappeared and Parashurama saw a bright and radiant Shiva linga at the foot of a huge banyan tree. This place where Shiva first manifested his presence through the linga came to be called the Sri Mula Sthana. For sometime the linga of Shiva remained at Sri Mula Sthana at the foot of a huge banyan tree. The ruler of Cochin Kingdom then decided to shift the linga to a more convenient place and enclose it in a good temple. Arrangements were soon made to reinstall the idol in the new place. But there was an initial diificulty. The linga could not be removed without cutting off a large part of the banyan tree. While cutting the branches of the tree there was the danger of a piece of it falling on the idol and damaging it. When the ruler and the others did not know what to do, the Yogatirippadu came forward with a solution. He lay over the idol so as to cover it completely and asked the men to cut the tree. The cutting began and to the wonder of all not a piece of the tree fell anywhere near the idol. The idol was removed with all due rituals and installed in the new place where it has remained till now. Then a beautiful temple was built according to the rules laid down in sastras. The construction of the temple was done at the time of Perumthachan from Parayi petta panthirukulam. It is said that Perumthachan lived during the seventh century; so the Koothambalam may be 1,300 years old. According to Malayalam historian VVK Valath, the temple was pre-Dravidian temple Kavu. Later the temple was influenced by Buddhism, Jainism and Vaishnavism. In the early days, Paramekkavu Bhagavathi was also inside the Vadakkunnathan temple. But Koodalmanikyam Temple, Kodungallur Bhagavathy Temple and Ammathiruvadi Temple, Urakam is older than Vadakkunnathan temple, according to temple documents. The Nambudiri’s who were looking after the temple affairs were called as Yogiatiripppads. When Kerala Nambudiri’s gained the control, the temple also fell into their hands. The Yogiatiripppads was elected from the Thrissur desam. Before, Sakthan Thampurans reign, Yogiatiripppad system was declined. Later the Maharaja of Cochin gained the temple power Adi Shankara is believed to have been born to the Shivaguru and Aryamba couple of Kalady in answer to their prayers before Vadakkunnathan, as amsavatara of the Lord. The couple has observed bhajan for 41 days in the temple. Legend has it that Shiva appeared to both husband and wife in their dreams and offered them a choice. They could have either a mediocre son who would live a long life or an extraordinary son who would die early. Both Shivaguru and Aryamba chose the second option. In honour of Shiva, they named the son Sankara. According to legend, Adi Shankara attained videha mukti (freedom from embodiment) in Vadakkunnathan temple. One tradition, expounded by Keraliya Shankaravijaya, places his place of death as Vadakkunnathan temple in Thrissur. He also established four Mutts at Thrissur, famously known as Edayil Madhom, Naduvil Madhom, Thekke Madhom and Vadakke Madhom. During the invasion of Tipu Sultan, the temple was not attacked by Tipu’s Army. Even though Tipu Sultan destroyed many temples in Thrissur district at that time, he never touched Vadakkunnathan Temple because of its godly power. Historical accounts says that when Tipu Sultan was marching towards the Travancore lines or locally known as Nedumkotta, he had a short stay in Thrissur from 14 to 29 December 1789. In order to feed his Army, he had borrowed cooking vessels from Vadukanthan Temple. On leaving Thrissur, he not only returned the vessels to the temple but presented it a large bronze lamp. During 1750 to 1762, the temple affairs were conducted by Zamorin of Calicut who attacked Thrissur and took control of the temple and the city. In 1762 with the help of Kingdom of Travancore, Maharaja of Cochin captured Thrissur and the temple back. When Sakthan Thampuran (1751–1805), ascended the throne of Kingdom of Cochin, he changed the capital of Kingdom of Cochin from Thripunithura to Thrissur as the King had a personal relationship with Vadakkunnathan Temple. He later cleared the teak forest around the temple and introduced the world famous Thrissur Pooram. The King’s personal interest in the temple also changed the fortune of the Thrissur City also. The temple is situated in an elevated hillock in the centre of city of Thrissur and is surrounded by a massive stone wall enclosing an area of nearly 9 acres (36,000 m2). Inside this fortification, there are four gopuras each facing north, south, east and west directions. Between the inner temple and the outer walls, there is a spacious compound, the entrance to which is through gopuras. Of these, the gopuras on the south and north are not open to the public and have to enter either through the east or west gopura. The inner temple is separated from the outer temple by a broad circular granite wall enclosing a broad corridor called Chuttambalam. Entrance into the inner temple is through a passage through the corridor. The statue of Shiva is in the form of a huge lingam and is not visible. It is covered under a mound of ghee, formed by the daily abhishekam (ablution) with ghee over the years. A devotee looking into the sanctum can now see only a 16-foot-high (4.9 m) mound of ghee embellished with thirteen cascading crescents of gold and three serpent hoods at top. According to traditional belief, this represents the snow-clad Mount Kailash, the abode of Parvathy and Shiva. This is the only temple where Lingam is not visible. It is said that the ghee offered here for centuries does not have any foul odor and it does not melt even during summer. In the outer temple there are shrines for Krishna (Gosala Krishna or Krishna as cowherd), Nandikeswara, Parasurama, Simhodara, Ayyappan, Vettekkaran (Lord Shiva as a hunter) and Adi Shankara. Located on the verandah of the Nalambalam is a large white bullock Nandikeswara or Nandi bull. In the northern side, there is a circular structure with Shiva facing west. The figure of Parvati faces east and is just behind Shiva in the same shrine. These non-facing installations denote Ardhanarishvara concept. The two-storied rectangular shrine of Rama, the 7th Avatar of Lord Vishnu facing west is located in the south. Between these two srikovils stands a third one, circular and double-storied in shape, which is dedicated to Sankaranarayana, the combined form of Shiva and Vishnu and facing west. There are mukhamandapams in front of all the three central shrines. The two important murals in the temple, Vasukisayana and Nrithanatha (Nataraja), are worshipped regularly. Ganapathi shrine is positioned facing the temple kitchen and offering of Appam (sweetened rice cake fried in ghee) to Mahaganapathy is one of the most important offerings at the temple. Propitiating Ganapathy here is believed to be a path to prosperity and wealth. The temple is famous for the rarity of the temple murals, of which the Vasukishayana and Nrithanatha murals are of great importance and are worshipped daily. The temple also houses a museum of ancient wall paintings, wood carvings and art pieces of ancient times. A study done by Archaeological Survey of India on two paintings in the temple has revealed that it is 350 years old. These two rare paintings were a reclining Shiva and a Nataraja with 20 arms. Maha Shivaratri is the main festival which is celebrated in the temple. Cultural and musical programmes are held in the temple premises. Around one lakh temple lamps are lighted in the festival. The idol of Vadakkumnatha is not taken out for procession. The Aanayoottu of feeding of elephants, is the second biggest festival held in the temple. The devotees refer to elephants as Lord Ganeshs incarnation. The festival falls on the first day of the month of Karkkidakam (timed against the Malayalam calendar), which coincides with the month of July. It has been the regular annual practice at the temple for the last 20 years to conduct a large-scale Ashta Dravya Maha Ganapathy Havana and Aanayoottu on the first day of the Karkidakom month of the Malayalam calendar. It involves a number of unadorned elephants being positioned amid a multitude of people for being worshipped and fed. A large number of people throng the temple to feed the elephants. Gajapooja also is conducted once every four years. One of the most colourful temple festivals of Kerala, Thrissur Pooram is conducted in the temple premises but the temple is not a participant in this festival. There is no special pooja or special offering during the pooram day. The main attraction of the Pooram is the Elanjitharamelam, a two hour Chendavadyam (with five instruments) is held near Koothambalam in the temple, by the top most artists from the state. Shiva here is more popularly known as Vadakkunnathan (Sanskrit Vrishabhachala -Tamil Vidaikunrunathan Vidai - Vrishabha, kunru - chala ). The Sanskrit Vrishabhachala refers to Nandi represented as a mound or hill. The town of Thrissur thus also derives a name Vrishabhadripuram. The Malayalam Vadakkunnathan literally translated, means The Lord of the North, though there is nothing to suggest a relation between Shiva and North. It is believed that the Tamil Vidaikunrunathan got transformed over the years as Vadakkunnathan. The temple opens daily at 03:00 AM and closes at 10:30 AM. The temple reopens at 05:00 PM and closes at 8.30 PM after Trippuka, the last rite for the day.
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 01:05:34 +0000
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