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| Sree Vaikom Mahadeva Temple | |
|---|---|
 Sree Vaikom Mahadeva Temple | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Hinduism |
| District | Kottayam |
| Deity | Shiva |
| Festivals | Vaikom Ashtami,Maha Shivaratri |
| Governing body | Travancore Devaswom Board |
| Location | |
| Location | Vaikom |
| State | Kerala |
| Country |  India |
| Coordinates | 9°44′59.8″N76°23′45.5″E / 9.749944°N 76.395972°E /9.749944; 76.395972 |
| Architecture | |
| Type | Traditional Kerala style |
| Specifications | |
| Temple | One |
| Elevation | 27.52 m (90 ft) |
| Website | |
| vaikomtemple.org | |
TheVaikom Sree Mahadeva Temple is a temple dedicated to theHindu godShiva inVaikom, Kottayam,Kerala,India.
The temple, along with theEttumanoor Shiva Temple and theKaduthuruthy Shiva Temple is considered a powerful place ofShiva. The belief is that if a devotee worships all the three temples before theUchapuja, all his/her wishes are fulfilled. It is one of the oldest temples in Kerala and is famous for its Vaikom Ashtami festival.
The temple is one of the few temples which is held in reverence by bothShaivas, the adherents ofShiva andVaishnavas, the adherents ofVishnu. In Vaikom, Shiva is fondly called asVaikkathappan, the lord of Vaikom. Thelingam here is believed to be from theTreta Yuga, the second age of Hinduism and is considered one of the oldest temples in Kerala wherepuja has not been broken since its inception.
The temple is one of the major Shiva temples in Kerala held in reverence along with the temples inEttumanoor,Kaduthuruthy,Vazhappally,Chengannur,Ernakulam,Vadakkunathan,Sreekanteswaram Mahadeva Temple, Thiruvananthapuram,Punnayam Mahadeva Temple,Thirunakkara.[1]
The demon Khara, on receiving theShaiva Vidya Upadesha, (the knowledge of Shaivisim) fromMalyavan went to the holy city ofChidambaram in present-dayTamil Nadu and did severe penances and meditation for the attainment ofMoksha or liberation. Pleased with his penance,Shiva appeared and granted all the boons he asked, and presented him with three great lingams, drawn out of Him. Assuring that He will ever be present in them, Shiva asked Khara to worship the Lingas to attain salvation and disappeared. When Khara was returning south from theHimalayas with the three lingams, one in his right hand, one in his left hand and other by the neck, he felt tired and rested awhile. After rest when he tried to pick up the lingas, they wouldn't budge. He realized that it was Shiva's magic (maya) and when called unto, the heavens spoke thus, "I shall remain here giving Moksha (salvation) to whoever takes refuge in Me!". Khara, having attained liberation, entrusted the lingams to the custody of the sageVyaghrapada who had followed him invisibly and asked the sage to protect and worship them.
On the day ofVrichika Ashtami (According to Malayalam calendar),Shiva and his consortParvati appeared before Vyaghrapada. The Lord proclaimed, "This place shall be known asVyaghrapadapurma", and disappeared. The world-famousVaikkathashtami festival and all connected holy festivals are observed here even to this day on the sameVrichika Ashtami.
Vyaghrapada continued the puja with full devotion for some time and went on a pilgrimage. Months and years passed.Parashurama had passed by the place one day. Seeing good omens, he alighted and saw a lingam submerged in water emitting heavenly rays. He could understand that it was the lingam placed by Khara.Parashurama thought to himself that, Vyaghrapadapurma, the holiest place on Earth, could be a great refuge for the devoted who wish to attain liberation. He consecrated the lingam here with his earnest prayers and recited holymantras.
Pleased with his devotion, Shiva appeared with his consort Parvati before Parashurama. He was so pleased to see that the lingam was consecrated with the customs and rites by Parashurama, his greatest devotee.
Full of joy and gratitude, Parashurama performed puja there for some days. Then he built a temple here and entrusted a noble Brahmin man from the Taruna village. He taught the brahmin, the holy chants, mantras, procedures and shlokas necessary to perform puja to Shiva and initiated him as the chief priest of the temple. Parashurama donated the whole temple to the brahmin and disappeared. It is the belief that the temple and its connected customs and rites are planned and fixed by Parashurama himself.
It is believed that Shiva, also known here asVyaghralayesha (the lord of Vyaghrapadapurma), gives His blessings to the devotees in three incarnations oravatars, in the morning asDakshinamurthi, in the afternoon asKiratamurthi, and as Shakti Panchakshari in the evening.
The temple was in the ownership of 108 families in olden days. The owners were divided into two groups and one group joined the king's side. Their disputes and quarrels increased day by day. One day a section of the divided group came to the temple at noon. The chief of one of the groups, Njallal Namboothiri barged into the temple to stop the puja. At that time thenaivedyam, the food offered to the deity, was used to be placed in the western side of the Namaskara Mandapa hall. Njallal Namboothiri barged through the western door, kept his shawl above the western door and spat the remains of hispaan on the food. Thus, the puja was disrupted. On return, while he was taking his shawl from the door top, he was bit by a highly poisonous snake. He crawled himself outside the western door and died. The door automatically closed itself and a heavenly voice was heard from inside the sanctum sanctorum saying, "This door should not be opened anymore!". The door remains closed to this day to show the wrath ofShiva against the disruption of his worship.
One of the biggest temples in Kerala, the temple has a courtyard of about eight acres of land. The premises levelled with river sand is protected by compound walls with fourgopurams or entrance towers on all the four sides. Even though temples are generally constructed near perfect East-West direction (e.g., the temples inEttumanoor andKaduthuruthy), the Vaikom temple is built a tilt of five degrees in the North-South direction.[2] The sanctum sanctorum is apparently round in shape roofed with copper sheets and with two chambers. In fact, this is the only temple in Kerala with an oval shaped sanctum, though externally it appears like a circular temple. This oval shape is evident when the width ofantharaala is measured. Only builders with exceptional skill can execute such marvellous architectural structures. The remnants of the basement of the original sanctum at the temple inChengannur also reveal that it was elliptical in shape. It is believed that both these structures were built by Perumthachan, who was an exceptional architect of his time.[3][4] The Mukha Mandapa, the first pillared hall and chamber is built in shaped stone and single piece woods. The walls and pillars are very strong. Thegarbhagriha or the sanctum sanctorum – the second chamber is built completely in stone including the roof in a square shape. It is a very curious and peculiar fact that we are unable to obtain thedarshana of the lingam from the sanctum without passing through a staircase with six steps, either from the entrance or the sanctum. It signifies the sixvikaras (impurities) which areKama (lust),Krodha (anger),Lobha (power),Moha (attachment),Mada (ego) andMatsarya (envy). Crossing the staircase signifies the devotee letting go of these six impurities and attaining liberation ormoksha. This is well depicted in the famous Malayalam song,Naranayingane Janichu Bhoomiyil, written about the deity of this temple.
The Vaikom temple is famous for the Vaikom Ashtami (Vaikathashtami), one of its main festivals, which is held in from November–December. The exact date of the festival is determined by theMalayalam calendar.[5] Vaikathashtami is celebrated on the day of Krishna Ashtami in the Malayalam month ofVrischikam. It commemorates the appearance of Shiva before Vyaghrapada.
http://www.vaikomtemple.org/Default.aspxArchived 7 December 2013 at theWayback Machinehttps://www.templespedia.com/vaikathastami-myth/
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