Vilwadri mahatmyam

E. M. Forster in his celebrated A Passage to India wrote: "India is the country-fields, fields, then hills, jungle, hills and more fields". I was reminded of this while travelling from Palghat to Tiruvilwamala by an early morning bus. Unlike the coastal belt of Kerala which abounds in lagoons and coconut palms, 'the landscape this side of the State is dominated by hills, paddy fields and palmyra trees.

Tiruvilwamala is an important temple, consisting of two shrines side by side-one dedicated to Rama and the other to his brother Lakshmana. It is a mountain shrine easily accessible by road on the west side. The eastern side consists of a series of mountains which one has to trek to reach the temple. The place is in Thalapalli Taluk in Trichur District. It is 29 km. from Trichur and 20 km. from Palghat and is well served by frequent bus services.

To the north of Tiruvilwamala, about one km away, is the famous Bharata river (Bharatapuzha), the Ganges of Kerala, which adds to the scenic beauty of the place. On the other side of the river is Lakkidi Railway station on the Olavakot-Shornur section of the Southern railway. Killikurissimangalam, the birthplace of the famous Malayalam poet, Kunchan Nambiar, is near here.

It is a typical country place, calm, quiet and serene. Standing atop the hill and surveying the picturesque landscape of the place caressed by a soft breeze, one finds oneself perfectly at peace with him and the world.

The temple was among the richest in Kerala with one Iakh paras of paddy as income from its lands, but to day, thanks to the land reforms of the Kerala Government, like several other temples in the State, Tiruvilwamala also struggles for survival. The temple is at present administered by the Cochin Devaswom Board.

One prominent feature of Kerala temples, that is the flagstaff, which beckons you from afar, is absent here. SO also the temple towers of which only the, bases remain on the west and eastern gateways. Its beautiful carvings indicate how ornate the gopurams were. They had seven storeys and were so tall that the lamps fit there could be seen from the platform of the peepal tree at Tirunavayi Navamukundan temple, which is some 40 km. away.

The popular belief is that darshan of both Tirunavayi and Tiruvilwamala on one and the same day is very auspicious. Since seeing the light of temple even from a distance is equal to seeing the deity, lights in the towers were prohibited. The Lord ordained it that the real Bhakta should come physically to Tiruvilwamala and pray rather than adopt the short cut of viewing the lights from Tirunavayi.

The story goes that once the temple priests sleeping on the top storey of the gopuram lighted a lamp and some of them went to Tirunavayi to see if the lights could be really seen from there. They did see the lamp and they showed it to others as well. The very next day the gopuram was struck by lightning and thunder and was razed to the ground. They have not been rebuilt since.

Huge Peepal Tree
Another striking feature is the huge peepal tree in front of the shrine on the east. It is a rocky place, the rocks extending right upto the srikoil inside. No soil is visible around, yet the peepal has grown majestically with its roots spreading all over the place. The tree stands as though welcoming the visitors.

A little to the south of the eastern gateway is the Hanuman shrine. It is a magnificent 5-foot stone image covered with silver raiment. Devotees first worship this guardian deity before entering the temple chanting:

Yatra yatra Raghunathakeertanam
Tatra tatra Kritamastakaanjalim
Bhashpavari Paripoornalochanam
Maarutim namata raakshasaantakam

(Whenever the glories of Sri Rama, the Chief of the Raghu race, are sung, there is present Sri Hanuman, the son of Vayu, and destroyer of demons, with his joined palms held over his head in salutation to Sri Rama and his eyes filled with tears of devotion. Bow before that Hanuman.)

Yet another feature peculiar to this temple is the presence of two equally big and square-shaped srikoils-one facing east, with the deity imagined and worshipped as Lakshmana, and the other facing west, dedicated to Sri Rama, though both the idols are that of Mahavishnu, with four arms carrying the conch, the disc, the mace and the lotus.

A striking example of distinct architectural charm, both sanctums are set a little apart from each other though they are to be circumambulated together, not separately. They are similar in' style, quadrangular in shape with rubble basement.

The roof is in two storeys, the lower one of truncated pyramidal shape and the upper one pyramidal with a golden stupi and four gabled roofs projecting externally form the top roof. In both the shrines the roof is covered with copper sheet.*

According to legend, the eastern idol is the earlier one and was installed by Parasurama himself. It is a stone image about three feet in height. When decorated with gold ornaments, flower garlands and diamonds the little image shines and is beautiful to behold. Sri Vilwadri Mahatmya, a Sanskrit text with 18 chapters, describes the origin of this ancient temple. It is in the form of a conversation between Uma (Parvati) and Maheswara (Siva).

*The Arts and Crafts of Kerala

According to this, Bhargava Rama, as Parasurama is called, prayed to Siva for the liberation of his pitrus. Pleased with the prayers of Parasurama, Parameswara granted him the imago of Vishnu, which he himself was worshipping. Parasurama, in his search for a suitable place for the installation of the deity, came across the beautiful Vilwadri, full of Amala trees. He constructed a temple here, consecrated the deity and laid down the pooja routine. He brought the pirtus and got them liberated as a result of the darshan of the divine deity. The place he settled down finally is still known as Bhutan mala.

Self-born Image

The image in the sanctum facing west is Swayambhu or self-born. It is four to five feet tall and is permanently fitted with a gold plated cover for the protection of the image and hence never renewed

Once a priest while trying to remove the coverings damaged the idol slightly. Thereafter it was decided to fit it permanently. The cover is in two portions-one up to the waist and the other above both so dexterously joined together as not to be visible as separate ones. It is said that there used to be a hole on the pedestal in front of the deity. The water filled here was served as tirtha. Once a piece of kadali plantain fell into this. The priest tried to remove this by piercing the hole with a sharp instrument. He heard a cracking sound of the stone and the tool fell from his hand. The tirtha also dried up subsequently. It is believed that below the sanctum there is a cave and also a golden Vilwa tree. Some say, it is because of this that the place came to be called Vilwamala.

According to another legend when the power of the Vishnu deity increased enormously the asuras feared their end would come soon. To prevent this one asura assumed the guise of a Brahmin and came to the temple. He mixed freely with other Brahmins and participated in the temple feast with them. At night he would haunt the temple, would kill the cows and other animals and oat their flesh. He throws the bones and horns at one place, which became a heap. This is still called muri kunnu (muri means ox and kunnu means hill.) This aroused the suspicion, of other people - who were frightened beyond their wits. They prayed to God. One dark night in the month of Kumbha when everyone was fast asleep the asura broke open the sanctum and tried to destroy the idol. Then Mahavishnu assumed the form of Narasimha-half-man and half-lion-and tore him to death. Hearing the asura's wailing's people came but were also frightened by the fierce form of the God. At this juncture Vilwarnangalathu Swamiyar appeared and he praised the Lord with stotras, addressing him as Vilwadrinatha. The Bhagawan calmed and assumed his benign form. People were overjoyed and started addressing him as Vilwadrinatha after the sage.

Rigorous Tapas

The story of the origin of the Swayambhu deity in the west nada is also related in the Vilwadri Mahatmya referred too earlier. According to this, Aamalakan, the son of Kashyapa Prajapati, started a rigorous to propitiate Mahavishnu. Indra thought his objective was to conquer Swarga. He, therefore, deputed the celestial beauties Urvasi, Rambha and Tilottama-to interrupt-his tapas. But they failed in this.

Therefore he did not approach Kashyapa himself who explained to Indra that Aamalakan had no ambition nor washe interested in things transient. He was only interested in attaining unstinted devotion to God. Indra felt happy and left.

But the Asuras became panicky. They thought this severe penance would bring about their ruin. The decided to endit by adopting various means, by creating terror in Aamalakan. But the latter opened his eyes, which emitted sparks of fire, which ultimately turned into a huge fire. The asuras became breathless -and died on the spot. The heap of the dead was transformed into rock, which is even now known as rakshasapaara (paara meaning. rock) to the south east of the present temple. Sage Aamalakan continued his prayer. Pleased by his perseverance, the four-armed Mahavishnu adorned with conch, etc., accompanied by Lakshmi and Bhudevi with Adisesha as his canopy, appeared before him. The sage shad tears of joy and bowed before Bhagawan.

Mahavishnu asked his devotee to name any boon. Aamalakan said that he desired nothing in this world, not even heaven. What he wanted was achanchala bhakti, unstinted devotion. He also requested the Lord to remain there for the protection of those who suffer in this Samsara. Mahavishnu agreed and transferred his image to the deity.

Thus both Vigrahams facing east and west are of Mahavishnu. Aamalaka Maharshi used to chant Rama's names while doing tapas on the west side, Hence people praying here also uttered Rama nama and worshipped the deity as Sri Rama. Consequently the idol on the east side came to be regarded as Lakshmana, Rama's brother and life-breath. Foremost among Rama temples

Among the three famous temples dedicated to Sri Rama in Kerala, Tiruvilwamala is the foremost, the image here being self-born. The other two temples are Triprayar near Trichur and Tiruvangad in North Kerala. Similarly there are only a few temples for Lakshmana in India lot alone in Kerala. There is one temple at Vennimala some 8 km. away from Kottayam. But it is not as well known as Tiruvilwamala. To the south of the sanctums is the little Ganapati shrine, which faces east. Outside the temple and down below on the southern side a flight of stone steps lead to the shrine of Hariharaputra or Ayyappa installed on the same pedestal as Siva and Parvati.

The entire courtyard of the temple is paved with stone slabs. On the north side is the temple tank. There is no well inside the temple, which is another peculiarity. The water required for daily worship is drawn from a tank situated in the n6rth-east side. Therefore no one is allowed to use this tank. If any pollution is suspected water is brought from the nearby Bharatapuzha.

Punarlanani

About 3 km. from the temple on the East Side there is a cave about one furlong long in the southwest direction. This is called Punarjanani and is believed to have been built by Viswakarma, the celestial builder at the behest of Parasurama. Unless human beings complete the proscribed number of births there is no salvation for them. It is as a result of evil deeds that man takes birth again, and again. Passing through this cave is believed to relieve devotee of one such birth. It is on Guruvayur Ekadasi day (November- December) that devotees undertake the ritual. On other days it is supposed to be haunted by spirits. It is full of ups and downs, stones, boulders and pits. At some places one has to kneel down and crawl. There are spots where it is pitch dark with no air and therefore suffocating. Yet hundreds of devotees cheerfully go through this ordeal, chanting the Lord's names. After coming out of the cave they take bath in several holy tirthas-Papanasini, Patala tirtha, Ambu tirtha and Kombu tirtha.

The story goes that it was Parasurama who brought the Ganges to Kerala, which is known as Bharatapuzha. Just as the Ganga has several bathing ghats, with each having a Siva temple, on the banks of Bharatapuzha there are five holy places-Tiruvilwamala, Tiruchikuzhi, Tirthala, Tirunavayi, and Tirumittakoclu. Besides there are several Vishnu-Siva temples also on either side. What is Manikarnika ghat in Varanasi isTiruvilwamala to Bharatapuzha.

After the Kurukshetra battle the Pandavas, on the advice of Sage Vyasa, came down here and performed oblations for those who were killed in the battle so that their souls might attain sadgati. Thereafter the Pandavas prayed at the temple and went through Punarjanani. They also installed a few temples on the banks of the river Someswaram, Ivarmatom and Kothakurussi.

Ekadashi Festival

The important annual festival here is Ekadasi in the Malayalam month of Kumbha (February- March). On Ashtami, Navami and Ekadasi days there is vilakku (festival of lights), niramalas (decoration with flower garlands) and elephant processions. Elaborate feasts used to be hold in the past, which like other temples have been discontinued with the change of times. On Ekadasi day, of course, hundreds of devotees observe fast and forgo their sloop. They spend their time in temples in prayers and in witnessing a variety of entertainments given freely by famed artistes. Time was when local chiefs bore the expenses of several items in the temple. For example, the Cochin ruler conducted athazha (night) pooja, the Cochin Vaiyamma Thampuran, ushapayasam (pudding for early morning pooja) the Zamorin of Calicut, cooked rice and the Trivandrum Maharaja, palpayasam (the milk pudding). Now all these offerings have stopped. But those of common devotees have increased enormously and in this respect this temple ranks high among Kerala temples.

This temple, along with several other Kerala temples, was a prey to attack by Tipu Sultan, and also to repeat fires. In 964 Malayalam era, (1789 A.D.) Tipu's army attacked the temple and almost destroyed it. But when they heard that the temple belonged to Cochin ruler with whom Tipu had good relation's further attack was abandoned and the sanctum was thus saved. The Government of Cochin renovated the entire temple. The work was completed in 1036 M.E. (1861 A.D.) and a date for purificatory rites was fixed. But alas! The same night a fire broke out and devastated the temple. The idol on the east nada was removed to the temple tank and was thus saved. The image on the west nada could not be removed being Swayambhu. It took 25 days for the embers to die and when the idol was examined thereafter it was quite intact. The poojas were resumed. The present temple we see is the one renovated by the, erstwhile Cochin Government in 1058 M.E. (1885 A.D.).

Parashurama had entrusted the property of the temple and its administration to six illams. They were called Parasudayavar. They belonged to the Moosad caste. The eldest of the six administered the temple in consultation with others. Parasurama also appointed separate Tantris for east and west nada, and Nambudiris of five illams as temple priests. He also laid down proper pooja routine to be followed.

In course of time the administration of the temple passed on to Perumbadappu (Cochin) and Neduvirippu (Zamorin). But there were frequent quarrels between the two. They both approached the British for mediation. In those days the powerful Sakthan Thampuran ruled Cochin. The British decided in his favor although, by virtue of several landed properties lying in the region of Malabar, the administration should have properly gone to the Zamorin. Today the temple is under the administrative control of the Cochin Devaswom Board.