Thirumandhamkunnu Temple, Angadipuram
– Legends
Thirumandhamkunnu:
King Mandhata of Surya dynasty ruled his
kingdom for a long period. He then gave away the kingdom to his successors and
chose to meditate on Lord Shiva and attain the Shiva's feet at the
end. Lord Shiva was pleased with his penance appeared before the King Mandhata
and offered him any boon at Mount Kailash. The king prayed to the lord for
an idol to worship till his death. Lord Shiva gave him the most holy Shiva
Lingam, used to be worshipped by Mother Parvati. King Mandhata carried the
Shiva Lingam on his head and started his journey towards south. He reached the
hill now known as Thirumandhamkunnu in Kerala.
The place was abounded with natural beauty and attracted
the King. King Mandhata felt the Lingam was heavy and hence the Lingam on
ground. Shiva Lingam got struck into the ground and was difficult to move. Meanwhile, Lord Shiva had gifted the Shiva
Lingam to the king when his consort Parvati was away for her bath. She did
not find the Lingam, when she turned up for worship of the Shiva Lingam. She
got upset and enquired about the Lingam. She came to know that Lord Shiva
gifted the Lingam to the King Mandhata. She wanted the Lingam as she was much
attached to it.
Lord Shiva told her that he had no objection to get the
Lingam back from the King. Mother Parvati ordered Bhadrakali and Bhoodha
Ganas to get back the Shiva Lingam from the King. Bhadrakali reached the
northern slope of Thirumandha hill with the army of Bhooda Ganas. The
brightness emitted by the Shiva Lingam installed by king Mandhata was so great
that it dazzled the eyes of Bhadrakali and the Bhooda Ganas. They were unable
to climb the hills. Hence, they started throwing up the weapons from the foot
of the hill. Sages accompanying King Mandhata were unarmed but tried to defend
themselves with whatever things they had.
Finally, they plucked Attanga nuts from their creeper
plants, which were available in plenty and threw them at the enemy. Due to the
grace of Lord Shiva and divine power of Mandhata, the nuts got changed into
arrows instantly. Bhadrakali and her army of Bhootha Ganas fought for fifteen
days. The age-old custom of Attangayeru on first of Thulam (the Malayalam
month) on the new moon day of the same month in the forenoon before pantheerady
pooja refers to the legendary fight between Mandhadha and Kali. Sensing the
defeat, Mahamaya took her Viswaroopa. The sages felt down senseless on seeing
her Viswaroopa.
When she reached the hilltop, even Mandhadha was
helpless on seeing her Viswaroopa form. He embraced the Shiva Linga, but Kali tried
to capture the Lingam by force. Linga got split into in this struggle. A Jyothi
arose from the Shiva Lingam. Trimurthy (Brahma, Vishnu & Shiva) along with
Mother Parvathy arose from the Jyothi. Mother Parvathy told Mandhadha that the
idol was close to her and also informed she did not wish to take the Lingam
away from him against the wishes of Lord Shiva. Also, she informed that she
could not the bear the separation from the Lingam. Further, she stated that she
would enter the Lingam and remain here forever.
As Kali came here first, Parvathy instructed to install
Kali near her facing north. Parvathy entered into the Lingam in the
Sreemoolasthanam and disappeared. The Shiva Lingam here
is still in split condition. Its position is below the Peedam and
Prabhamandalam and can be seen only during the abhisheka before the Usha Pooja.
As ordered by Parvathy, Bhadrakali with Saptha Matrikas,
Veerabhadra and Ganapati were installed facing north. This place is called as Mathrusala.
When Parvathy appeared, infant Ganapathy was also with her. This infant
Ganapathy had also been installed at Sreemoolasthanam.
King Mandhadha spent several years at Thirumandhamkunnu
in meditation. When he knew it was time for him to leave this material world, he
started thinking of entrusting the management of temple to able person for its
maintenance. Two Brahmins visited Mandhadha and he felt that they were the
right persons. Mandhadha gave them a Grandha containing instructions on the
performance of poojas and entrusted the management of the shrine to them. He
then retired to the forest nearby now known as Kukshipparakkad and attained the
feet of Lord Shiva. Devotees go around this forest, pick a leaf from the plants
and keep it in hair with at most reverence. This area is still a protected forest.
One Brahmin cleared the forest around the idol and hence
came to be known as Kattillamuttam. The other Brahmin prepared pavilion for Prathishtai
and came to be known as Panthalakode. The Thantri of Thirumandhamkunnu temple
is still a descendant from either of these families. The Nair karyasthan who
was with them was given the title Chathathumarar and made the blower of holy
conch in the temple. The Namboodiris informed the news to Vadakkara Swaroopam Raja,
subordinate chieftain of Valluvanadu Raja, holding the title Mannarmala Raja.
He immediately rushed to the spot.
Seeing the over lord of the hill, the goddess got up and
paid homage to him. This humility of Devi made the raja blink in shame and he
prayed to the goddess to see him as a son. He then presented an elephant to the
goddess and worshipped her from its rear, standing in its shadow. His
descendants also followed the same practice. Even now direct darshan of Thirumandhamkunnu
Bhagavathy is not permissible to Mannarmala Raja.
The first Valluvaraja who took over the control of the
temple entrusted its upkeep and maintenance to the local feudal lords Ettuveetil
Achans. Sreemoolasthanam does not have a roof, which is
an evidence of it having been a Kavu. The painting on the walls of the Mathrusala
throws light on this legend. In the Devaprasana conducted in 1959, it was
observed that an idol of Mandhadha should be
installed here.
108
Shiva Temples of Kerala:
According to Hindu mythology, Lord Parasurama created
the land between Gokarna and Kanyakumari. Parasurama the sixth avatar
of Maha Vishnu, he was youngest son of sage Jamadagni and Renuka.
It is said that Kerala was reclaimed from the ocean using his axe for
donating to Brahmins after killing of King Kartavirya Arjuna and
other Kshatriyas. He split this land in to 64 villages (64 gramas). Out of
these 64 villages, 32 villages are in between Perumpuzha and Gokarnam and
the spoken language was Tulu.
The remaining 32 villages were in Malayalam speaking
area between Perumpuzha and Kanyakumari. According legends, after
donating the land to Brahmins108 Maha Shiva Lingam and Durga Idols were
installed in these 64 villages. These 108 Shiva Temples are mentioned in the
Shivala Stotram and song is written in Malayalam language. Of the 108
Siva Temples, 105 temples are situated in Kerala state, 2 temples in Karnataka and
1 in Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu.
Among these temples, the Lord Shiva of Gokarnam
Mahabaleswara Temple in the north and Goddess Kumari of Kanyakumari temple in
the south were considered as the protectors of Kerala. The first temple created
by Parasurama was the Thrissur Vadakkunnathan Temple and the last one was the
Thrikkariyoor Mahadeva Temple. This Temple is considered as one of the 108
Shiva Temples created by Lord Parasurama.
