EAVOOR SRIKRISHNA SWAMY TEMPLE
Dear friends,
It is pretty long period I wroteon temples. This posting is about EAVOOR
SRIKRISHNASWAMY TEMPLE after readingabout it in Wikipedia.
I was especially attracted to itsrelation with Mahabharatha epic.
Sincerely,
Gopala Krishnan 30-05-2021
1. Eavoor or Eruva Krishna swamy temple
Eruva Sreekrishna Swamy templelocated about 2 kilometres North of Kayamkulam
town in Kerala at Onattukara.
The present temple was built by Kayamkulam Rajas.Lord Krishna was the arradhana
moorthy (worshiping god) of Kayamkulam rajas.
Evoor temple is one of the mostimportant 26Maha-Vishnu shrines in the world.
Before capturing and adjoining tohis kingdom at Padmanabhapuram, by King
Marthandavarma, there were a number ofsmall kingdoms in Kerala. One of such
Principalities (kingdoms) was Kayamkulam.I have added in the end of this
posting a little bit about the prominence ofOnattukara, for those historically
interested.
Makaram Festival is one of the largest festivals in centralTravancore. This
festival is celebrated for 10 days with pomp in this temple.The seventh and
eighth days festivals are very important.
The seventh day ulsavam (festival)is celebrated by the people fromthe western
side of the temple (padinjare kara) and 8thday ulsavam is similarly
celebrated bythe people from the Eastern side of the temple (kizhkkekara).
Eruva Sreekrishna'sArattukulam(Temple pond) is one of biggest ponds in central
Kerala.
2. Legend and epic reference about the temple
This temple had originated in thepresence of Bhagavan Sri Krishna Himself.
It is linked to ‘Khandava-dahanam’(burning of Khandava forest), described in
‘Mahabharata’. The remains of burnt trees beingwidely seen in this area are
confirming this. Further evidences are, nearby‘Mannarassala’ and ‘Pandavarkavu’
temples.
Sage Kanva had been living inthis part of Onattukara. The place now called
‘Kannamangalam’ and shortened ofKanva-mangalam is nearby to Eavoor. His
hermitage later became the temple.
2a Origin of Evoor Temple
Agni-deva (Fire God) had beensuffering from a severe stomach ailment.
As a remedy, Lord Brahma advised him to consume the herb-rich Khandavaforest.
Unfortunately, Takshaka theserpent-king and a close friend of Lord Indra, was
residing there. (The sameThakshaka finally bit King Parikshith appearing as a
worm in a fruit- successorof king Yudhikishtira)
Whenever Agni tried to consumethe forest, Lord Indra’s thundershowers
extinguished the fire. So Agni couldnot consume the forest in spite of repeated
attempts.
At that time, Sri Krishna andArjuna were on a visit to this place. Appearing in
the form of a Brahmana, Agni-deva sought theirhelp to consume the forest to get
rid of his stomach pain and they agreed.
At that time sage Kanva arrivedbefore them to save his ‘Archa Murthy’ (a four
armed image of Maha-Vishnu).Lord Sri Krishna granted a boon that the ‘Murthy’
would not be harmed by Agnideva.
2b. Khandava Dahanam
Soon, Agni started consumingKhandava forest. Lord Indra used thundershowers as
in previous times, but onSri Krishna’s advice, Arjuna constructed a
“Sharakoodam” (shelter of arrows) to help Agnideva to consume the forest-
‘Khandava dahanam’.
Thus Agni’s ailment wasfully cured.
The thankful Agni-deva soughtpermission to install that “Aaradhana Murthy” in a
new temple there tofacilitate worship by sage Kanva.
2c. Eytha voor- Eavoor
As instructed by Lord SriKrishna, Arjuna fired anarrow to determine the
location. A new temple was soon consecratedwhere the arrow hit the earth.
(Evoor is the shortened form of 'Eytha ooru', meaning the placewhere the arrow
hit
2c. Consecration
Lord SriKrishna Himself infusedHis divine power into the ‘Moorthy’. And Arjuna
offered the first pooja to thedeity.
A ‘Moorthy’ of ‘Bhoothanathaswamy’(‘Kiratha Moorthy’ form of Lord Siva)
together with ‘Yakshi Amma’ (DeviParvathy) were consecrated as the Sub
-Deities. The ancient trees roofing themare the survivors of Khandava-forest.
3. Fire in Eavoor temple and Re-construction
About 125 years back, this templewas destroyed in a fire. When the ‘Sree Kovil’
(Sanctum sanctorum) was caughtfire, many people tried to remove the Deity, but
failed.
Finally an old Brahmin devoteeresiding in an adjacent house, after taking a dip
in the temple tank, enteredthe raging flames and brought out the Deity, safely.
3a. Sree Moolam Thirunal pilgrimage to Kasi
Sri Moolam Thirunal, then king ofTravancore, was in ‘’Kasi’’at that time.
Appearing as a Brahmana-boy in his dream, Sri Krishnaasked the king to
re-construct the Evoor temple after returning.
Immediately, the king started his return journey and after reachingpalace
constructed a huge temple complex immediately.
It contained royal facilitiessuch as security trenches atop the roof all around
and underground drainagenetwork to discharge the ‘abhishka water’ from
‘Srikovil’ to adjacent templetank.
My note- I was attracted to thepoint of reading about Kasi pilgrimage by King
Sreemoolam Thirunal.Even on those dayspilgrimage to Kasi was there and
itincluded even Kings.
3b Installing Thanthri
The renowned ‘TharananalloorTantri‘ (whose ancestors had been brought to Kerala
by sage Parashurama) was appointed as the traditional‘Tantri’ after
reconstruction of temple. Immense wealth (including lands andother assets) was
arranged to ensure well maintaining of the temple from itsown assets with
glory. All sorts of facilities were made in the temple by theking.
4.Prayoga Chakra Prathishta
Evoor Bhagavan’s Deity is theunique Prayoga Chakra Prathishta. Live ‘Sudarshana
Chakra’ in rear right hand; PanchjanyaSankha in rear left hand; BUTTERIN FRONT
RIGHT HAND; and the front left hand is held on the hip as amani-bandham.
( Four handed Mahavishnu. Sankhu chakra pane . GADA(mace) IS NOT THERE.
Instead of it butteris in the hand and one hand at Manibandham)
Bhagavan is in a combative moodready to release ‘Sudarshana Chakra’. He is the
72 year old Sri Krishna at His peak glory and power.
5. Guruvayoor of Onattukara
Vedic experts have confirmed theextremely rare divine presence of “Sri Chakra”
on this Deity. Consequently,“Raktha-pushpanjali” is a special offering here
which is unavailable in Vishnutemples elsewhere.
Evoor temple is popularly knownas the “Guruvayoor of Onattukara”.
6.How to reach Evoor
>From Harippad Bus stand Evoor isabout 5 km south. One can get down at Cheppad
>Junction and go by anauto-rickshaw to Evoor temple.
7. About Odanadu kara- Onattukara.
In the beginning of the posting Ihad written, I will write about Onattukara.
Those interested in Kerala historymay find it interesting.
Onattukara was a principality ofancient Kerala. Also known as Odanadu {meaning
the land of bamboo- from this odakkuzhal, kuzhal(musicalinstrument) made of
bamboo}, Onattukara became part of the kingdom of Venad and was composed of the
present day Taluksof Kayamkulam, Mavelikara and Haripad after King Marthanda
varma expanded his kingdom.
Historical evidence shows that centuries ago Onattukara area was aflourishing
centre of a Buddhist culture and civilization.
Names of towns and villages inthe Onattukara region carry the “palli” suffix,
which was common usage in Pali,the language of Theravada Buddhism.
Karunagapalli, Karthikapalli, Pallickal, Pallippuram,Puthupalli are examples of
such historical and present names ofplaces in the Onattukara region.
There is a view that Kandiyoor Mahadevar temple could possibly have
beenBuddhist viharas in their initial days.
The ancient Buddha statue placedtoday in Mavelikara town, at Buddha Junction in
front of the Krishnaswamytemple, was excavated more by accident in the early
1900s from a paddy field near the Kandiyoortemple.
It is possible that a lot more ofthe vanished Buddhist civilization of
Onnattukara still lays buried in history,yet to be unearthed.
The name Onattukara is even todayofficially used for one of the many revenue
villages included in MavelikaraTaluk.
Eruva Sreekrishna swamy templelocated 2 km north kayamkulam town was one of the
important place inOnattukara.
The capital of Onattukara kingdom was at Kandiyoor-Mattom in Mavelikkara.Later
the capital shifted to Krishnapuram near Kayamkulam.
After this shift the commercialcapital of Onattukara became Kayamkulam. The
cultural capital of Onattukara wasMavelikkara.
The goddess Chettikulangara Amma is considered as the mother goddess
ofOnattukara.
This temple was consecrated byPadmapadacharyar (a leading disciple of Adi
Shankara) on the Uthrittathi day ofMakara month in AD 823. I have written
earlier about Chettikulangara temple indetail. Regarding Kandiyur temple, it is
one of the oldest Siva temples in Kerala.
Compiled by R. Gopala Krishnan, 77, retired Asst GeneralManager, Kerala
Telecom, Trivandrum. This is the edited version of one posted on 20-3-2012
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