CHENGANNURMAHADEVA TEMPLE COMPILEDAND FORWARDED
Dear friends, My late mother was an ardent devotee of Chengannur Devi.Though Siva temple, importance is for Devi in the temple. Chengannur is about12 KM north of Pandalam in the MC Road. The temple is about 1 KM from Busstand. So mostly we availed Taxi to visit the temple. Even in my college days,my mother was specific to go to Chengannur temple once a month. She used to getsome sort of relaxation after visiting the temple and worship Devi. Whenever I visit native or on important occasions, I used tovisit the temple with my family and relations in home. The temple is actually on top of a very small hill. So fromMC road, the way to temple is steep. Hence taxi is most preferred. Nowadaysauto also ply. Normal Entrance is through west nada. The speciality with the temple is the Devi here is havingoccasional menses, nowadays. I have heard it was monthly menses at one time. I have compiled the information from different sources. Thetemple website is copyright. So only one can read from there. Gopalakrishnan 4-6-24 1 Chengannur Mahadeva Temple-Introduction Affiliation Hinduism District Alappuzha Deity Mahadeva (Shiva) Bhagavati (Bhadrakali, Kannaki, or Parvati) Festivals Varshikotsav (yearly festival) Shivaratri, Chitrapournami, Special- Thripputhu Architecture Dravidian architecture Keralaarchitecture Creator Perumthachan Chengannur Mahadeva Temple (also called Bhagavathy Temple) isa prominent Hindu temple, dedicated to Shiva and located in the town ofChengannur in the South Indian state of Kerala. The temple is one of the majorShiva temples in Kerala, along with the Ettumanoor Mahadevar Temple,Kaduthruthy Mahadeva Temple, Vaikom Temple, Ernakulam Shiva Temple andVadakkunnathan Temple There are shrines for Ganesha, Dakshinamurti, Subrahmanya,Shasta, Krishna, Nilagriva, Sthalisha, Hanuman, Ganga, and serpent deities inside and outside thetemple complex. The temple is considered one of the major Bhadrakali templesin Kerala. The temple celebrates a rare menstruation festival for Bhadrakali, calledThripputhu (Malayalam: തൃപ്പൂത്ത്), during which the temple is closedfor three days for the irregular menstruation of the deity. There are five daily pujas done in the temple, three sribaliesfor Shiva and three for Bhadrakali. Tantric worship is led by a member of theThazhamon Madom family. The yearly festival (vaarshika ulsavam) is celebratedfrom December to January and lasts 28 days. The temple is administered by the Travancore DevaswomBoard. 2.Legend As per Hindu legend, Bhadrakali is considered the goddess ofKerala and protector of the masses. It is believed that Parvati, the consort ofShiva, came here after marrying him in the Himalayas. Sage Agastya, who couldnot witness Shiva and Parvati's sacred marriage, was visited by the pairafterwards. Since Parvati was menstruating, she waited for 28 days to givedarshan to the sage. 3 Architecture The temple is located in the heart of Chengannur, very closeto the Pamba River. The town is considered one of the 32 Namputiri town inKerala, and Mahadeva (Shiva) is believed to be the god of the town. Thepresiding deity Mahadeva in the form of a lingam faces east, while the image ofhis consort Bhadrakali is located behind it facing west. The temple isapproached through a temple tower, built in Kerala style, and by passing agolden flagstaff, both of which are axial to the central shrine. There areshrines around the temple in the second precinct for Shasta and Nilagriva,while an image of Ganesha is seen in the first precinct. The image of Bhadrakali is made of panchaloha, an alloy offive metals. It is believed that Perumachuten brought the image to the temple. The temple is built in Kerala-style architecture, which iscommon in all temples in the South Indian state of Kerala. The temple has atwo-storeyed gopuram or gateway tower, with the upper storey having woodenrails covering the kottupura (a hall of drum beating during festivals). Arectangular wall called the kshetra-madilluka, pierced by gateways, enclosesall of the temple's shrines. The metal-plated flagstaff or dvajasthambam islocated axial to the temple tower leading to the central sanctum, and there isa deepastambha, which is a lamp post. The chuttambalam is the outer pavilionwithin the temple walls. The central shrine and the associated hall are located in arectangular structure called nalambalam. Between the entrance of the nalambalamand the sanctum, there is a raised square platform called a namaskara mandapawhich has a pyramidal roof. Thevrapura, the kitchen used to cook offerings tothe deity is located on the left of the namaskara mandapa from the entrance.Balithara is an altar used for making ritualistic offerings to demigods and thefestive deities. The central shrine called the sri-kovil houses the image ofthe presiding deity. It is on an elevated platform with a single door reachedthrough a flight of five steps. Both sides of the doors have images of guardiandeities called Dvarapalakas. The sanctum is circular. Both Lord Siva and Devi arehoused in the same sanctum, separated in middle, with a door. Through thisdoor, the priest comes to both deities. As per Kerala rituals, only the main priest called Thantriand the second priest called Melshanthi can enter the sri-kovil. The central shrine hasa circular plan with a base of granite, superstructure of laterite and conicalroof made of terracotta tile supported from inside by a wooden structure. Theroof projects in two levels to protect the inner structure from heavy rainsduring monsoon seasons. The roof of the temple and some of the pillars havelavish wood and stucco carvings depicting various stories of ancient epics, theRamayana and Mahabharata. 4 Festival and worshippractises There are five daily pujas done in the temple, three serialisefor Shiva and three for Bhadrakali. Tantric worship is done by a member of theThazhamon family. The temple celebrates a rare menstruation festival for Bhadrakali, calledThripputhu, during which the temple is closed for three days during theirregular menstruation of the deity. The appearance of a stain in the whitegarment is considered an aspect of devotion. As per accounts of thetemple officials, in modern times, the feature is observed once in three orfour months, while it was regularly observed during the olden times. Theceremony usually resembles the puberty ceremony of high class girls in Kerala. Thesanctum is closed during the three daysand opened after a purification ceremony is performed during the fourth day. 5 Thiruppooth Arattu Thiruppooth Aratt is afestival celebrated in the temple at least thrice a year when the festivalimages of Mahadeva and Bhadrakali are taken in a procession on decoratedelephants to the Pamba River. A holy dip, called arat is offered to the imagesand the decorated images are taken back to the temple. Women devotees carrytraditional thalappoli lamps during the procession. The procession isaccompanied by a temple orchestra and panchavadyam. The major festivals in thetemple are flag hoisting on the Thiruvathirai month of Dhanu and Aaraattuduring the Thiruvathirai month of Makaram. The yearly festival is celebratedfrom December to January and lasts 28 days. 6 Chengannur MahadevaTemple (Addition) This temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathy, isbelieved to have been built by the legendary traditional architecture andsculpture Perunthachan over 1,500years ago. Thriputharattu is the main festival of this temple. It isassociated with the menstruation of Goddess Parvathy. The four-day uniquefestival is celebrated when the sign of menstruation is seen on the vesture ofthe Goddess. The temple has stunning Mandapams (pavilions) and amesmerizing mukhamandapam (frontage of the sanctum), covered with exquisitewoodwork. Another peculiarity of the temple is that the idol of theGoddess here is made with an alloy of five metals (Panchaloham). Chengannur MahadevaTemple is situated near Chengannur Railway Station in Alappuzha district,Kerala. 7Legends( Addition) There are many legends about the consecration of the Goddesshere. According to Devipuanam,it is connected with the Yaga performed by Daksha, the father of Sathy Devi.Though Daksha invited everybody else he left out his daughter and her husbandLord Siva. Devi wanted to attend the Yaga. Siva warned her that she would behumiliated there. Still, she went there. The father not only ignored her butalso spoke ill about Lord Siva. Enraged by this Sathy Devi immolated herself inthe sacrificial fire. Hearing about it Siva sent Veerabhadra to destroy theclan of Daksha. Then Siva rushed to the Yaga and started dancing vigorouslywith the body of Sathy in his hands. Seeing the sorrow of Siva, Vishnu sent hisSudarsana Chakra and cut the body of the Devi into several parts. The Arakettu (loins) is believedto have fallen where the Chenganoor temple stands today. According to Aithihyamala, a famous book of legends, Vishnu,Brahma, all the Devas, Gandharvas, Sages and Gods went to the Himalayas toattend the wedding of Siva and Parvathy. Then Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswararequested Sage Agasthya to sit on Shronadri on the southern bank of the PambaRiver in order to prevent the earth from sinking to the northern side due theweight of all those assembled on the Himalayas. Though Agasthya agreed to do it, he was disappointed at notbeing able to witness the wedding. So, Siva and Parvathy appeared before himimmediately after the wedding. The Devi started having her menstrual period atthat time and stayed there till the period was over. The place where Agasthyastayed, Shronadri inSanskrit became Chenkunnu in Malayalam and later it came to be Chenganoor. According to theSilapathikaram, Kannaki who is believed to be an incarnation of Sathi Devi,killed Pandya Raja, the King of Madurai who had killed her husband. Then shecame to Chenganoor and meditated on top of the hill. Her husband Kovalanappeared before her and the two of them ascended to heaven. The people who hadseen the Devi meditating there built a temple at the spot with the help oftheir king, Cheran Senkuttuvan. This monarch is believed to have brought apiece of stone from the Himalayas, carved the image of the Goddess andconsecrated her there. 8 Sanctum (addition) Chengannur Mahadevar Temple is one of the oldest and famoustemple, situated in Allappuzha dist. (Kerala). It is a sprawling temple complexwith a circular Sanctum. Lord Shiva and Parvathi Devi are the main investituresof this temple. Differing from other temples, there are two deities are with inthe same sanctum in this temple. LordShiva facing East and Devi facing west. The main shrine is a conical copperplated one. Devi’s main Idol is made with an alloy of five metals(PANCHALOHAM). The Shivalingam, is covered with a gold plate bearing an imageof Ardhanareeswara - or the Shiva-Shakti manifestation of Shiva. The other sub-investitures of the temple are Ganapathi,Shasta (Lord Ayyappan), Chandikeswaran, Neelagrivan, Ganga, and Naagar. Thereis also a shrine of SreeKrishna nearby. 9 Temple fire andreconstruction The temple was constructed centuries back in accordance withan architectural design evolved by the famous Perunthachan. In the 18th Century the temple complex was damaged by fireand renovated later by VanghipuzhaThampuran except the KUTHAMBALAM (PerformanceHall). This could not be restored to its original position as it hadbeen designed and constructed by Perunthachan. The structure of the Kuthambalamoriginally constructed by Perunthachan was in such a manner that the shadow ofthe performer would not fall on the stage if all the lamps were lit on each ofthe post of the Kuthambalam. The mukhamandapam in front of the temple and other mandapamsin this temple are full of exquisite woodwork. 10 TRIPUTHARATTU Compared to other temples, this temple has a peculiarity ofits own, quiet distinct from other temples. The interesting belief and festivalof this Temple is TRIPUTHARATTU which is considered as a symbol of fertility. Thisfestival is connected with a menstruation ceremony, which is observedperiodically in the temple. That is why this temple is also considered asShakthi Peedam 11 Legends of theTemple(Western nata sathyam) During very old days, a person telling truth or not wastested at Western gate. On the wall there is a hole. One has to insert hishand and tell the truth. If the person was telling truth, nothinghappened. If he was telling lie, a cobra inside will bite his hand. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. 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