THIRUNELLI MAHAVISHNU TEMPLE-1 FORWARD Dear friends,
When I got promotedand posted to Calicut telecom as Divisional Engineer in 1996, my co- lecturerMr Sankaranarayanan inTrivandrum Training centre told me- Sir, please visit Tirunelli temple at aconvenient time and offer three handful of water to ancestors in Papanasinsi. After a year whileinstalling new telephone exchange at Mananthavadi, my Assistant Engineer MrGopinathan Nair told me- We will visit Tirunelli temple on completion ofinstallation. I felt it was time to visit the temple. We went by Jeepthrough the narrow road inside forest and reached the temple. The crude graniteworks in the temple made me to think, the temple would have been built longback. After worshipping in the temple and offering three handfuls of waterremembering ancestors we returned back to Kozhikode, my headquarters. I was watchingvideos in You-tube about Tirunelli temple and papanasini and ancestortharpanam/bali. A lot of changes have come in the last 2.5 decades. The road isbroad 2 lanes, regular buses are there and arrangements for parking andresidence are there. Renovation works are in progress, completed in some areas,due to a court stay, temporarily withheld. The informationprovided is compiled from the temple website itself. Hope a devotional reading Gopalakrishan31-5-24 1. Introduction ThirunelliTemple is the only temple in the world where the devotees can perform all therituals related to one’s life, starting from birth to death and life afterdeath. It is one of themost ancient temples in Kerala. It is believed that here the prathishta of LordVishnu was performed by Lord Brahma. It is also known as ''Sahyamala Kshetram''and ''Kashi /Gaya of the South''. Thirunelli Templedraws pilgrims from all over, primarily for ancestral rites. The rituals areperformed on the banks of the stream Papanasini which flows down from MountBrahmagiri. It is believed that this stream has divine power to dissolve sinsof all the mortals. Another major attraction of the temple is the holy rockwhere people pray for their forefathers. On the western sideof the temple is the cave temple Gunnika, dedicated to Lord Shiva. ThusThirunelli becomes blessed by the unique presence of all the three trinities. The beautifulBrahmagiri hills and the surrounding lush green forests have made the templepremises a valley of tranquillity. So everybody feels completely relaxed aftersitting in the sanctum of the temple. The temple is an embodiment of ancienttemple architecture. The aqua-duct that brings water to the temple is also awitness to hundreds of years of history.There is no well in the temple. Temple timings:Morning: 5:30 am to 12:00 pm, Evening: 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm Contact Nos: 8547336201, 8547 244055, 04935 210201 2 Temple History The name Thirunelliderives from the word nelli, the Malayalam/Tamil equivalent for Indiangooseberry (Amla) tree. Once when Lord Brahma while traversing the world, sawan idol of Lord Vishnu resting on an amla tree in the valley and thus the placecame to be named Thirunelli. In Padma Purana (written by Veda Vyasa) there ismention of a beautiful Vishnu temple located in the picturesque Sahya valleydeep in the middle of the forest. Thirunelli temple is also referred to asAmalaka temple and Sidha temple. History depictsChera king Kulasekharan as the founder of this temple. He lived betweenA.D 767 and A.D 834. After a brief reign, he relinquished the throne andstarted missionary work to propagate Vaishnava order. It was he who wrote theSanskrit work Mukundamaala in which he earnestly prays to Lord Vishnu to instilin him devotion. On stylistic groundthis looks as a typical Kerala temple. The inner sanctorum is surrounded by atile roofed structure. And there’s an open courtyard around the sanctorum. Atthe east, in front of the entrance is a granite lamp-post. Curiously enough the flag post is absent, though one can spot a hole onthe floor where it ought to be. Along the outerwall of the temple is a cloister made of granite pillars cut in cubical style.This part of the temple architecture is slightly unusual for a Kerala temple.And it seems the cloister work was never completed. The story goes that oncethe King of Coorg,tried to renovate this temple. When he was half way through, the VellattiriKing who owned the temple objected to the same. Thus renovation wasdiscontinued. Even today we can see proof of the half finished renovation work. It is an undisputedfact that Thirunelliwas once an important town and pilgrim centre in the middle ofinaccessible jungle valley surrounded on four sides by mountains. The copperplates of the 10th century and a few books of the later centuries convincinglyprove that Thirunelli was an urban hub in South India at least from 10thcentury onwards. Also in the denseforest surrounding the temple, the ruins of two ancient villages can be found.Recent excavations at the time of paving roads have yielded coins of 9th and 10th centuries.There are two copper plate inscriptions pertaining to the history of ThirunelliTemple. They date back to the period of Bhaskara Ravivarma, a ruler of theChera kingdom who lived in the 10th century. First inscription is written in999 A.D (37th year of the rule of Bhaskara Ravivarma) and the secondinscription in 1008 A.D (46th year of the rule of Bhaskara Ravivarma). Thefirst one is regarding the allotment of the royal land in Thirunelli to thetemple, to meet its expenses towards daily poojas. The second inscription dealswith the procedures to be observed during the temple visit of the ruler of thePuraikeezhar Kingdom. The donor in the first inscription is Kunhikutta Varman VeeraKurumpuraiwho ruled Kurumbranaad. The donor in the second inscription is SankaranGodavarman of Purakeezhar dynasty. Both the inscriptions shed light to theruling customary practices and social relations of the time. 3 “UnniyachiCharitham” “Unniyachi Charitham”is a poetical work written by Thevan Chirikumaran (Devan Sreekumaran) between12th and 13th centuries. In this poem there is an elaborate description ofThirunelli, Papanasini and the four borders of Thirunelli. Among them 17 linesare in prose. There are two poetic stanzas each having 4 and 6 lines. It isindeed a travelogue in which the poet imagines himself as a Gandharvaninterested in travel and tour. Observing the customs, it is after visitingThrissilery temple that the Gandharva comes to Thirunelli. 4 Kokila Sandesham "KokilaSandesham" is a book written by Udhanda Sashthrikal of Kanchipuram duringthe 15th century. The hero of this poem lived in his house at Chendamangallurnear Kochi. He happens to be airlifted from the house by some airy spirits andgets stranded at Kancheerpuramm in Tamilnadu. Then the hero entrusts a cuckooto intimate his wife about his peril. This cuckoo on the way reaches Thirunellito worship the Perumal in the temple. The 40th stanza of this poem describesthe visit of the Cuckoo in Thirunelli Temple. The author Udhanad Sashthrikallived from 1405 to 1475. It is certain from the descriptions about Thirunellithat the poet had personally visited the temple there. 5 Stone Aqua-duct During early times,water for temple use was brought from Papanasini stream. During a draughtperiod, the wife of Chirackal Raja who was a member of the famous VaarikkaraNayanar tharavad, came with her attendants to temple to worship. She asked thePriest some water to dissolve the sandal, which he was not able to give. My note- There are other versions thatthe royal lady asked water for thirst 2)Priest of the temple expressed difficulty in bringing up water from stream Being enlightenedabout the water scarcity in the temple she asked her attendants to solve theproblem. They found out the water source called Varaham in the thick forest.From there the water was brought, using bamboo halves for immediate use.Subsequent to her return home, she sent men and materials to construct thepresent stone aqueduct to bring uninterrupted water supply to the temple. Thegranite open channels are supported by pillars with interesting murals carvedon. Even till date, cold mountain stream water gush out of this aqueduct. My note- Nowadays water is pumped fromstream also to the aqua- duct. 6. Prathishta(Idol Installed) Legend is that thistemple was dedicated by Lord Brahma to propitiate Lord Vishnu. The idol is inthe form of Chathurbhuja There are numerouslegends about the origin of the temple. The most interesting one is that LordBrahma (the Creator) while traversing the world on his swan got attracted bythe bewitching beauty of the area. Then he landed on a hill which is laterknown as Brahmagiri. Lord Brahma while walking through the hills enjoying thetranquillity and serenity of the surrounding hills, saw an idol of Lord Vishnuresting on an amla tree. Brahma realized that this abode of peace is nothingbut Vishnuloka. This was confirmed by a disembodied voice. Soon he installedthe deity with a request to Lord Vishnu that he should remain in this area togive peace to the human souls hounded by the thought of their sins. Lord Vishnu assured that the rivers around this templewould wash away the sins of human beings during their mortal life and lifeafter death. Brahma entrustedtwo pious Brahmins of the Amalaka village, its keeping. He also instructed themthat every day he himself visit theplace and do service to Vishnu. The puja(worship)in every shrine closes ordinarily at about 9 to 10 P.M. But in this shrine,where the ordinary puja is done five times, from morning till Night the priest prepares for a sixthpuja before leaving the place. On opening the doors next morning hefinds that all the materials for the puja have been utilised during the night. It was Lord Brahma who performed the sixth pujawhen the animate and inanimate objects are in deep slumber. This has been goingon every day and will go on for ever. 7. Swearing The priest beforeentering the temple in the morning swears thrice that he will not divulge whathe sees there on opening the door, and no priest dares to give out the secretat the risk of being bitten by cobras emanating from the shrine. Lord Brahma ordainedthat visits and prayers at the temple would remove the sins and secureparadise. He also ordained that the performance of prayers and ceremonies wouldlead to the perpetualsalvation of the spirits of the departed, to the world of“Pithurloka” (region of blissful spirits). It is to attain this blessing,pronounced by Brahma, pilgrimages are undertaken to the shrine. 8 Gunnika temple The Gunnika templeon the western side is the abode of Lord Shiva. Thus all the members of thetrinity Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva and Lord Brahma are omnipresent here. Gunnika temple isembellished in the Kongu-Chera styles of handiworks. The belief is that,Gunnika was the abode of Lord Shiva and it was from here that he started to Kottiyur to kill Dhakshan, thefather of Sathi Devi. After the ancestral rites at Pinnappara, pilgrimsvisit Gunnika temple also. 8 Location and access to temple The Temple islocated at an altitude of about 900 mts in north Wayanad in a valley surroundedby mountains and beautiful forests. The temple faces east where sun rises overthe Udayagiri range. At the north is the formidable Brahmagiri Range whichappears so close to the temple. You can see the trees and the undulating grassslopes of Brahmagiri from the temple compound. At the west and south areKarimala and Narinirangimala respectively. A short walk fromThirunelli temple leads one to the clear mountain spring known as Papanasini.Pakshipathalam, an interesting trekking centre, is about 10 kms away from here 9 How to reach Thirunelli The journey toThirunelli itself unravels the ravishing beauty of the high ranges of Kerala. If it is fromCalicut (Kozhikode), one has to come through Thamarasserry, climb the hair pinsof the ghat road and pass the towns Kalpetta and Mananthavady. If it is fromBangalore, arrive Mysore and then proceed to Thirunelli through Hunsur andNagarhole. Thirunelli Templeis located at Thirunelli, 137 kms from Calicut, 121kms from Mysore and 250 kmsfrom Bangalore. You can reach the temple only by road. When coming from outsideWayanad, the most convenient railhead is Calicut. From there proceed toMananthavady and then to Thirunelli by taxi or bus.The nearest airport isKaripur near Calicut, 160 kms away. >From Calicut Thejourney to Thirunelli unravels the ravishing beauty of the >high ranges ofKerala. From Calicut, after an hour travel along National >Highway 212, theclimbs with hair- pin curves start, which amaze any traveller. >There are nine hair pin bends.The sight from the ninth hair pin bend is >marvellous. You can see the valleysof Calicut district as in a mirror. From >there, passing Vythiri and Chundaletowns, you reach Kalpetta, which is the >head quarters of Waynad district. Aftertwo kms from Kalpetta town, the road >deviates left to Mananthavady, a mediumtown. >From Kannur Thejourney is through Koothuparamba, Nedumpoyil, Periya, >Thalappuzha andMananthavady. The distance is 121 kms to the temple. There is a >shorter routethrough Kelakam, Kottiyur, Boy's Town and Manathavady. >From Mananthavady ,drive another 10 kms along the Mysore road to reach a small >town calledKattikulam. From Kattikulam, the journey is through thick forest. >Jumbo gangstrampling the bamboo bushes are a common sight on the way to >Thirunelli. Occasionally otherwild animals like elephants, bison, spotted-deer, peacock and so on also emergefrom the wilderness. I will continue other details in part 2 of the posting. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1099014118.186965.1717147137622%40mail.yahoo.com.
