Mahamaya Temple, Kukkanur – Legends

Mahamaya Temple, Kukkanur – Legends

Chandrahasa was the king of Kuntala kingdom. The Kuntala kingdom roughly consisted of parts of the present-day northern Karnataka and southern Maharashtra. The story of Chandrahasa is mentioned in Ashvamedhika Parva of the epic Mahabharata. He was the son of the king Sudharmika of Kerala. Chandrahasa was born under the inauspicious Mula star in Arishtamsha. He had six toes in his left foot which is another inauspicious sign. It is said as a consequence of these two, the enemy army killed his father and occupied his kingdom. His mother fell into the funeral pyre of her husband.

Later a maid took him to the Kuntala province and started taking care of him. However, she also died after some time. This orphan was being taken care of by the citizens of the Kuntala country. Once, while playing on the bank of the river, Chandrahasa found a uniquely shaped black round stone which was like a big marble. He picked it up and showed it to a learned priest and asked what it was. The priest wondered that it was a Narasimha Murthy Saligrama which was very rare, auspicious and very beneficial for the person who finds it and worships it.

The priest guided Chandrahasa how to pray and worship the Saligrama. Dushtabuddhi, minister of the king of Kuntala performed Annasantarpane, feeding of people. This boy also went there. The priests who had gathered there noticed the royal features of this boy and told the minister to take special care of the boy. But Dushtabuddhi had other evil designs as the king had no issues and the minister had plans of assuming the throne. In order to get rid of the boy he got some Chandalas and ordered them to kill this boy, promising them suitable gifts.

They took the boy to the forest to kill him. Before killing, they asked him his last wish. Chandrahasa said that for the last time he would pray and worship the Saligrama, which he used to keep always with him. He prayed and then asked the Chandalas why they wanted to kill him. However, Chandalas kept quiet. All of a sudden, all the Chandalas heard the roaring sound of a lion behind each of them and saw a lion jumping on them. Out of fear, they fainted. Chandrahasa helped them and gave them water to drink.

Due to the fear of the lion-sight and behaviour of Chandrahasa, their heart melted, and they cut off only the sixth finger and showed it to Dushtabuddhi as a proof of killing Chandrahasa. Kulinda, king of the forest dwelling tribes saw this boy wandering and crying in the jungle, and as he had no issues of his own, brought him home and started bringing him up. Chandrahasa learnt all the aspects of education and won over all the provinces surrounding his kingdom, also added riches to the treasury.

Once, when Dushtabuddhi visited their kingdom he recognized him and, having learnt the details from Kulinda, wrote a note to his son to poison him and sent the note to his son through Chandrahasa. Chandrahasa came to Kuntala province and was resting in the garden in the outskirts of the town. Vishaye, daughter to Dushtabuddhi had also came to the garden with her maids. He saw the sleeping Chandrahasa and fell in love with him. She opened the letter addressed to her brother and recognized it as her father's note.

She assumed that her father must have meant Vishaye and not Visha (meaning poison), promptly changed it and put it back in Chandrahasa's pocket. Chandrahasa delivered the note to Madana, Dushtabuddhi's son, was honoured and the wedding took place accordingly. Madana informed Dushtabuddhi about Vishaye marriage with Chandrahasa. Upset over the development, he arranged hit men to kill Chandrahasa. He ordered them to kill the person who will come to the Kalika temple in Kukkanur.

Dushtabuddhi requested Chandrahasa to visit the temple in the evening, alone, assuring him that was their custom. He also ensured Chandrahasa would go to the temple. Madana, Dushtabuddhi's son was looking after the affairs of the palace in the absence of his father till now; it happened this day, too. When he went to the palace, the royal priest Galava informed him that the king was on his deathbed and, having seen Chandrahasa earlier had decided he is the right choice as his son-in-law and heir.

Madana was asked to convey this message Madana ran into Chandrahasa, asked him to rush to the palace immediately and took his place to go the temple, was promptly assassinated by the murderers sent by Dushtabuddhi. Chandrahasa went to the palace, was honoured and married the princess Champakamalini. When this news reached Dushtabuddhi, he was heart-broken and devastated when he learnt of his son's death. He decided to end his life and went to the Kali temple and beheaded himself.

When Chandrahasa learnt of this twin tragedy in the morning, he went to the temple and prayed to goddess Kali to restore their lives. When Kali was not appeased, he proceeded to behead himself; Kali appeared, restored their lives, granted many boons to Chandrahasa. Chandrahasa ruled this kingdom for many years having invited Kulinda to Kuntala province. He had a son by name Padmaksha from Champakamalini and Makaraksha from Vishaye, the minister's daughter.

When these two boys were roaming in their kingdom one day, they chanced upon the stallion of Yudhishthira’s Aswamedha yagna; dismayed, they came back and informed their father of it. Chandrahasa came there, met Krishna and Arjuna, treated them in a royal manner, gave them abundant wealth and army for the Yagna. He anointed his son Makaraksha and went with Krishna and Arjuna along with the army. It is said that there is a hidden underground temple dedicated to Kali below the current Mahamaya Temple.

This temple is the same Kali temple associated with Chandrahasa. This temple was place of Narabali, a type of human sacrifice, during ancient times. The temple was buried under earth beneath this temple centuries ago and Digbandhana (spiritual fence by chanting of mantras) done to contain the evil spirits within the earth. There were plans to excavate this temple, however they were cancelled after the villagers protested citing the possible release of evil spirits if it were to be uncovered.