Kamalanathan Temple, Thiruvanvandoor, Alappuzha – Legends

Kamalanathan Temple, Thiruvanvandoor, Alappuzha – Legends

Anju Ambalam:

It is one of the five ancient shrines in the Chengannur area of Kerala, connected with the legend of Mahabharata. Legend has it that the Pandava princes, after crowning Parikshit as king of Hastinapura left on a pilgrimage. On arriving on the banks of river Pamba, each one is believed to have installed a tutelary image of Krishna; Thrichittatt Maha Vishnu Temple by Yudishtira, Puliyur Mahavishnu Temple by Bheema, Aranmula Parthasarathy Temple by Arjuna, Thiruvanvandoor Mahavishnu Temple by Nakula and Thrikodithanam Mahavishnu Temple by Sahadeva.

Naradeeya Puranam:

Once a debate arose between Lord Brahma and Maharishi Narada.  During that debate, Lord Brahma spelt a curse on Narada. To get rid of this curse, Narada came down to this place and performed penance for Lord Vishnu, so that he would teach all the philosophies covering creation and related principles.  Moved by his penance, Lord Vishnu granted him darshan to teach him lessons, based on which Maharshi Narada wrote the treatise on the supremacy of Lord Vishnu and the codes to worship him, titled Naradeeya Puranam.

Recovery of Idol of Balakrishna:

It seems in the year 1325, the king of Ambalapuzha send his emissaries to bring this Krishna statue to the temple at Ambalapuzha as there was some defect in the statue there. Jnazhapalli Nambudiri who was priest of Thiruvanvandur did not want to happen and threw the statue in the river flowing on the east of the temple and disappeared. In 1960, Damodaran, an art teacher in the local school saw a dream, in which he was told that this statue was in the temple pond of Thiruvanvandur. He was instructed to recover the statue and consecrate it.

Damodaran with the cooperation of local people dug the pond for 47 days but still could not find it. A Christian family whose house would be affected if the digging continued warned Damodaran and others to stop the digging next day. The next day they found this great pretty idol of Balakrishna. It was again consecrated in a very grand manner. In memory of this the local people started a festival lasting for 51 days. On the fifty first day, a huge procession starts from Thiruchithat temple and reaches here. A feat in which about 1000 kg of rice is cooked greets the devotees on that day.

Panchali got the Akshaya Pathra here:

People believe that Panchali the wife of Pandavas got the Akshaya Pathra in this temple and in memory of this daily Anna Dhanam is carried out in this temple.

Etymology:

Some people are of the opinion that this place was called “Thiru Pandava Oor” and this name became over years as Thiru Van Vandoor. Others believe that due to heavy population of Bees (Vandu in Malayalam) which make sound around this place. But one of the old inscription call this place as Thiru Van Mandur.

Paambanaiyappan:

The famous Pamba river is near the temple and hence the name of the deity is Paambanaiyappan.

Sage Bhrigu consecrated this Temple:

As per another legend, the temple is believed to be consecrated by sage Bhrigu.

Sage Markandeya got darshan of Lord Vishnu here:

Markandeya Maharishi, one of the Siranjeevi, got the darshan of Lord Vishnu in this place.