Thirumandhamkunnu Temple, Angadipuram – Legends

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.