Triprangode Shiva Temple, Malappuram – Legends

Triprangode Shiva Temple, Malappuram – Legends

Kalasamhara Murti:

As per legend, the great sage Mrikandu Rishi and his wife Marudmati worshipped Lord Shiva and sought from him the boon of begetting a son. As a result, he was given the choice of either a righteous son, but with a short life on earth or a child of low intelligence but with a long life. Mrikandu rishi chose the former, and was blessed with Markandeya, an exemplary son, destined to die at the age of 16. In due course, Marudvati gave birth to a boy and the child was named Markandeya.

Markandeya was an exceptionally gifted child and became an accomplished sage early in his childhood. Markandeya grew up to be a great devotee of Shiva and had mastered the Mahamrityunjaya Mantra. When he was nearing the age of sixteen, Rishi Mrikandu and his wife became sad. Markandeya enquired about their sadness and they replied that at the age of sixteen, his time on this earth will come to an end. Lord Yama came to take his life away.

The boy, Markandeya then ran to Lord Mahavishnu (the preserver) but he was helpless, and he directed him to Triprangottappan (Lord Shiva). On the way to Triprangode temple, there was a huge banyan tree that stood by making difficulty to enter into the temple. At the time, he reached there surprisingly the tree separated into two parts and then he could easily enter into temple. Markandeya hugged the Shiva Lingam and requested Lord Shiva to protect him from Yama.

Yama threw his noose around the boy-sage; it encircled the Shiva Lingam too. At a blow, the Shiva Lingam burst open with a thundering roar and a majestic, fiery form of Lord Shiva appeared out of the blazing light. Lord Shiva was very anger and asked whether Yama had courage to encircle the Shiva Lingam with his noose, Shiva struck down Yama with his Trident (trishula), and Yama was no more. Markandeya was escaped from death. Lord Shiva blessed Markandeya with eternal life and proclaimed that he shall remain forever as a sixteen-year-old sage.

The assembly of Devas, who had witnessed all these, begged Lord Shiva to revive Yama. Otherwise there will be a situation in the world with people live long without death. This would put unnecessary burden on the earth. Lord Shiva then revived Yama and declared that his devotees were forever to be spared from the noose of Yama. Therefore, the fiery form of Lord Shiva who appeared to save the sage Markandeya came to be called as Kalasamhara Murti.

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.