Kanhirangad Vaidyanatha Temple

Kanjirangat Vaidyanatha Temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is situated in kannur district of north Kerala.It is about 25 km from Kannur district via Thaliparamba. God Shiva here is worshipped in the form of Vaidyanatha(Ayurvedic Physician.Shiva in this temple has genuine healing power and people with incurable diseases reach here to worship him.

Origin

At  a forest near Lakshmipura (Thaliparamba) which was a hiding place of a demon called Karaskara. Son of Bhasmasura,he always threatened  the people around. Parasurama, one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu got into the forest inorder to eliminate the evil power  and recapture the glory of the place.As soon as he entered there Karaskarasura  shouted out and rushed to him. After an encounter between them the demon was killed by the sacred weapon(axe or parasu) of Parasurama.After this event while passing through the forest,Parasurama happened to see a  divine   Shiva linga and  mused from where this holy Sadashiva linga would have come. On spur of moment Sage Narada appeared and  explained to  him the story of the Shiva linga.When the Sun(Surya) was  affected with poison his radiance became dim.'Garuda', the mount (vahana) of the Lord Vishnu suggested a remedy.During the time of Palazhimathanam or churning of milk ocean, Halahala ,the mortal poison vomited by Vasuki,the serpent king was  consumed  by God Shiva.It affected Shivas whole body and to recover he nanifested himself in the form of  Vaidyanatha(Ayurvedic Physician) ,  worshipped it. and got speedy recovery.Garuda advised the Sun to obtain that Shiva linga,  install in a place where there is no burial  ground. and offer Ksheera dhara(pouring of milk on the Shivalinga) every sunday. Following this advice Surya went to Kailasa to worsip Shiva and  soon Shiva installed the Vaidyanatha linga and poured milk on it every sunday.Soon Suryadeva  restored health.Narada told Surya to create a temple there and sanctify it. Parasurama who got information about the devine linga which has great healing power, builted a temple of  Lord Vaidyanatha. The sanskrit  name of Kamjiramgat is Karaskaralayam  which is related to the name of Karaskarasura.

Deity And Significance

Main deity Vaidyanatha is facing east. Bhagavathy Ayyappan and Ganapathy are sub deities.It is believed that Surya power is also included in Shiva because the Vaidyanatha was installed by Surya.Best day to worship Lord Surya is Sunday and so sunday is the best day to worship Vaidyanatha. Skin and eye disases get cured by offering 'bhajan' here(praising the lord).Main offerings are Ksheeradhara(pouring of milk on the idol) and Jaladhara(pouring water)If the 6th of malayalam month is on sunday( Arum Nhayarum)  it is considered favourable day for worshipping Vaidyanatha. People sit in bhajan for incurable diseases here.Worshipping here on sundays  results in  the blessings of both Lord Shiva and Lord Surya.

Shivarathri is the main festival. Thiruvathira on the month of Dhanu is considered  auspicious day to worship here. On this day people chew betel leaves and kanhiram leaves  under the banyan tree there. It is  said that   the bitter taste of kanhiram leaves disappeares on this day. Temple tank contains herbal medicinal qualities and so  dipping   in it considered to cure chronic diseases

T T K Devaswom

Thaliparamba,Trichambaram and Kanhirangat Temples are administered by T T K Devaswom. Women of 5 months pregnancy visiting these three temples collectively(Moonidam Thozhal) is an old custom to have a normal delivery and getting a healthy child.   

Trichambaram Sreekrishna Temple

Trichambaram Sreekrishna Temple is situated at Thaliparamba in Kannur district of north Malabar. It is 21 km from Kannur. This temple is called the North Guruvayur. Main deity is Sreekrishna in child form. He is in a 'raudra roopa(ferocious form) after the slaughter of his uncle Kamsa(,Kamsavadha)the demon king.The name of the temple is related to great sage Sambaramuni the great devotee of Krishna.The place where thw temple is located was a big forest filled with medicinal plants.It is said that Sambaramuni meditated Krishna and  got oneness with God.

Trichambaram temple

Origin         

Great sage Parasurama one of the incarnations of Vishnu, while visiting the temples installed by him,reached the Jaladurga Temple in Sambaravanam. Sambaramuni was worshipping the 'Jaladurga' which is in the middle of a tank.He told .Parasuram that he was waiting for the arrival of  the brothers Sreekrishna and Balabhadra.  Hearing the news Parasurama also  waited for their arrival.Krishna,has promised to his parents Devaki and Vasudeva that their wish to see their childhood plays will be fulfilled in Sambaravana Vasudeva,Rohini,Yasoda and Nandagopa were also eagerly waiting for the brothers arrival.As soon as they reached Vasudeva and Nandagopa hold the two children on their shoulders and started to dance.

After the dance Parasurama requested Sreekrishna and Balabhadra to come every year and provide 

 'Moksha'  to every one. Sreekrishna agreed and disappeared.Then Parasurama built a temple there and installed a Krishna after the Kamsavadha and suggested the poojas.

Deity And Peculiar Customs

Main deity is Sreekrishna and the idol is made of 'Panchaloha'.Upadevas of the temple are Viswaksena and Ayyappa.One of the main customs of the temple is the offering of Nivedya(food) soon after the opening of the shrine for daily rituals.This is because Krishna is supposed to be very hungry after the Kamsavada.Prohibition of elephants in the temple is another custom.There is a story behind this. A royal elephant Kuvalayapeeda stood an obstacle to Sreekrishna and Balabhadra while entering the palace of Kamsa.Krishna eas raged with anger and slaughtered the elephant.Since then due to the hatred of Krishna to elephants no one dares taking an elephant in and around the temple.

The 'Aayirappam' made by Antharjanas(Brahmin women) is another peculiarity of the temple.Aayirappam is one of the favourites of Krishna.Women are not allowed to enter the temple during festival.There is an Ilanji Tree (mimisops elengi) which bears no fruit. Sage Athrri, a worshipper of Vishnu used to sit in meditation under the tree. His body was full of sores and the extreme pain caused to him by the falling of the fruits of the tree made him curse the tree that it will bear no fruit. Since then the tree does not bear fruit. It has leaves and flowers only.

Krisha

Temple Festival

Fortnight long festival(Utsav) begins with the hoisting of flag(Kodiyettam) on Kunbham 22(March 6) and ends on Meenam 6(March 20(.A procession comes from the Dharmikulangara Temple of Balabhadra which is about 5 km from Trichambaram. In this procession a 'Thidambu' of the idol Balabhadra is carried by a priest on his head and is accompanied by musical instruments and people calling out "govinda govinda".Utsava is in the form of thidambu nritha and is performed from 'Pookothunada'.Thidambunritha is an art form related to temple festivals of North Malabar.The Nampoodiri  priests(Brahmins) dance  with the replica of the deity.The replica of the deity is decorated with leaves and flowers and the performers also wears a striking costume. They wears a necklace,bangles,earrings and a decorated turban. They dance to the rythm of the musical instruments.During the Trichambara temple festival the priests hold the replica of Sreekrishna and Balabhadra and dance for a long time from Pookothnada.It looks as if Krishna  and Balabhadra are playing in their childhood.On the last day of the Utsav while dancing when the Palamrutha(person who carries milk) enteres Krishna goes after him and the idol of Balabhadra is taken to Dharmikulangara temple.This event is called 'Koodippiriyal' which the worshippers watch with tearful eyes.

             

Guru poornima 2017

Gurupoornima of 2017 falls on the 9th of july. 

Guru poornima or Vyasa poornima of 2017 falls on 9th of july.It is observed on the full moon day in the hindu month month of ashada(june-july). This day is dedicated to the Great Rishi(sage) Vedavyasa This is a day  People used to worship their Gurus and Masters.In sanskrit language word 'Guru' has many definitions such as Great, massive, huge weighty,important valuable master Another definition follows as,'Gu' refers avidya or ignorance and 'Ru' refers light and thus Guru eliminates ignorance and bring the knowledge out of his shisyas or disciples.Here is the  sanskrit slokas which express the meaning of 'Guru'

                                  गुकारस्त्वन्धकारस्तु रुकार स्तेज उच्यते । 
                                  अन्धकार निरोधत्वात् गुरुरित्यभिधीयते ॥
                                         

Life History of Vedavyasa 

Vyasa was born to Parashara Rishi and Satyavathi. Parashara was a great sage of Hindu culture.He was born in the end period of dvaparayuga and regarded as incarnation of Mahavishnu He was also known as 'Krishnadvaipayana' krishna denotes his black complexion  and dvaipayana denotes his birth in an island or dwipa.Following his fathers steps at an early age he went to the wild forest to take Tapas (meditation). He was considered as greatest sage of Indian historiccal culture. He was a man filled with true spiritual knowledge and austerity He transformed the true knowledge in to literary form through scriptures. He divided Vedas in to four segments, rigveda, yajurveda, samaveda and atharvaveda. He was the author of great epic Mahabharatha and the eighteen puranas.On Vyasa's request Ganapahi agreed to scribe the Mahabahratha when Vyasa narrates.The legend Vedavyasa is a chiranjeevi or immortal soul.

Guru poornima celebration in India

Guru poornima is celebrated through out India to show their gratitude to their gurus and teachers.Various programmes are conducted by different spiritual and cultural organisations especially in north India. The country follows a rich tradition in guru shishya relation and peoples worship their teachers and masters.

                                      गुरुर्ब्रह्मा ग्रुरुर्विष्णुः गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः ।

                                          साक्षात् परं ब्रह्म तस्मै श्री गुरवे नमः ॥

                                                                                                                        

Taliparamba Rajarajeswara Temple

Taliparamba Rajarajeswara Temple is a famous Siva temple which is regarded among the 108 ancient Kerala temples dedicated to Siva.It is situated 24kms away from  Kannur district of north MalabarThe main deity Siva here is in the form of rajarajeswara or empire of empires and is called the ' Perumthrikkovilappan'.It is regarded as one of the ancient Sakthi peethams.The Siva linga here is of thousands of years old. The quadrankular sanctum has two -tiered pyramidal roof.Namaskara mandapam is situated  outside the sanctum.Unlike the other temples Rajarajeswara temple has no kodimaram(flagstaff).It is said that there is a kodimaram made of gold  under the earth .Some years ago an officer tried to remove the kodimaram but he failed in his attempt.This is due to the spiritual power of the God. The large gopurams of the temple were distroyed by Tipu Sultan in the 18th century.

Rajarajeswara Temple 

History

Great sage Parasurama once reached a place where he saw the ruins of an ancient temple of vibrant spiritual power and he was grief-stricken.He enquired sage Narada ,who suddenly appeared there,the story of the temple and Narada told the story. Inorder to protect the earth from the fierce heat of the 'sun' Sanakadi sages(Sanaka and others),the sons of Lord Brahma churned the sun disk. They mixed the powder fallen on the earth (while churning) with elixiror Amrit and produced 3 Shiva lingas and Lord Brahma continued to worship it. Later he presented it to Goddess Parvathi.Parvathi happened to met three sages on the 'Jadathirtha' of Kailasa who were doing meditation. One was Mandhatha,the king of Suryavamsa,who was defeated by his adversaries.The other was his son Muchukunda.Third one was Shathasoman who was the king of Mushaka Kolathiri.. Parvathi gave those Sivalingas to them and advised to install them in a place where there is no cremation ground. During their search for an ideal  place they reached the west of Sahya parvatha(mountain) and found a place which could accomodate only a small plateor thalika in malayalam.This thalika vattam paramba later came to be known as Thaliparamba.On the request of Mandhatha,sage Agasthya installed one sivalinga there.Suddenly this jyothirlingam disappeared in the earth.Muchukunda gave his sivalinga to Agasthya muni and he installed it there.This also disappeared in the earth.Then Agasthya installed the sivalinga given by Shathasoma there.After the installation of the third shivalingam the place became spiritually vibrant threefold.

After telling the story Narada disappeared and Parasurama who understood the glory of the ancient temple  decided to rebuilt the .temple..He invited Viswakarma the son of Brahma. He is the divine draftsman of the whole universe.He renovated  the temple using invaluable properties. Saint Agastya appeared there and  abhisheka (ablution) was done on the idol and lighted the ghee lamp which shines all the time by supplying ghee.

Unique Specialities

 Taliparamba is called Laksmipura and the god there is called 'Lakshmipurathappan'. Unlike other Siva temples this temple did not use' kuvala leaves (Bael) for pujas(worship).The leavrs of' thulsi'(ocinum sanctum)is used for oujas.This is due to the coexistence of Mahavishnu and Siva in this temple.There is a story behind this. Even after the renovation of the temple no prosperity and development was found to the temple and to the surrounding places.Saint Narada found out that this was due to the nonexistence of Goddess Mahalakshmi in the temple.According to his prayer Mahavishnu appeared Thaliparamba with Mahalakshni.WIth the consent of Vishnu Mahalakshmi reached the temple.As soon as she entered the temple Siva wore the form of Vishnu with four hands handling conch,chakra(divine wheel),gada and pankaja(lotus).Thinking that it is her consort Vishnu she entere the sanctum and Vishnu gave her a position on a royal        Later Siva reentered his natural form. Though she realised the truth after a while and tried to exit, she was hiiden behind  his bimba(image shadow) by Siva and the door to the western side was shutout forever. When Mahavishnu tried to escape with Lakshmi Siva appealed to him the requirement of Mahalakshmi in that place. .Since then this place is called 'Lakshmipura'. It is known as the
'Kailasa of Kerala.The temple and surrounding places began to flourish and Lakshmipuram got name and fame. This is the only Siva temple where women are not allowed to enter the nalambalam during day time. Women are allowed after 8 pm because it is believed that in the night there is the presence of Goddess Parvathi.

Main offering of the lord here is offering of  ghee in gold,silver and copper pictures. In most Siva temples important day of worship is monday. But in Rajarajeswara temple wednesday is the important day.Only the sacred water known as 'Ganga jalam' is used for abhishekam.On the day of 'Sivarathri' and 'Vishu' which is considered to be the begining of malayalam year, a procession comes from the nearby Sreekrishna temple of Thrichambaram which includes the idol of Sreekrishna. musical instruments etc; and performs Thidambu Nritha'. Thidambu nritha is an art form related to north malabar temples.The temple awwards the scholars with 'Veerasringhala' or bracelet made of gold.

Sreerama in Thaliparamba

While returning from Lanka ,after the slaughter of Ravana, 'pushpakavimana' suddenly came to a halt when it reached above the temple. He landed there with his consort Seetha and worshipped the Siva or Perumal.He prostrated on the' Namaskara Mandapam'. There after no one has prostrated on the mandapam.

T T K Devaswom

Rajarajeswara temple is ruled by TTK Devaswom which denotes Thaliparamba,Trichambaram and     Kanjirangat. Trichambaram Sreekrishna temple is about 2kms from Rajarajeswara temple and Kanjirangat Siva temple is about 4 kms..