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..