Ettumanoor Mahadeva temple is an ancient Shiva temple in Kottayam, Kerala, India. It has brought glory and fame to the place. Myths have it that the Pandavas and the sage Vyasa had worshipped at this temple. The name of the place has its origin from the word `manoor`, which means the land of deer. The present temple building, with its gopuram and the fortress around it, was reconstructed in 717 ME (1542 AD). There are Dravidian mural paintings on the walls inside and outside of the main entrance. The fresco of Pradosha Nritham (Dance of Shiva) is one of the finest Wall painting in India. There is a golden flag staff inside the temple. On the top of it is the idol of a bull surrounded by small bells and metal leaves of the banyan tree and in terms of architecture this temples stands out to be an ultimate testimant for the vishwakarma Sthapathis, for their engineering skills. The temple roofs are covered with copper sheets and it has 14 ornamental tops. Bhagavati, Sastha, Ganapathy and Yakshi are installed here as subordinate deities. It is believed that the great philosopher, Adi Sankaracharya wrote `Soundarya Lahari` while staying in the temple. The history of origin of ETTUMANOORAPPAN is from Kattampakk, a small village in Kottayam district. Ettumanoor Mahadeva Temple hosts the arattu festival celebrated on a grand scale on the Thiruvathira day in February–March every year. Lot of people come to this temple on the 8th and 10th day of the festival when seven and half elephants (in Malayalam: ezharaponnaana) made of gold (nearly 13 Kgms) will be held in public view. This statue was donated to the temple by a travancore maharaja. The temple, one of the wealthiest Devaswoms in Kerala, has many valuable possessions. The Thulabharam is one of the important rituals of this temple. People make offerings to God for favours received. On balance, the child or man for whom offerings were promised to God, is weighed against offerings ranging from gold to fruits.
HISTORY
In ancient times, Sree Parameshwara created a deer (‘Harina’) and also made an island in the sea (‘Harinadweep’) for it to roam about. When Parasurama created Kerala from the sea, the aforementioned island also became part of the newly created land. The original island now came to be called Harinapura.
Much later, Kharaprakasha Maharshi (Kharasura) received divine knowledge (Shaiva Vidya Upadesh) from Malyavan. He had a pupil named Pingala. After the student’s education was completed, when the customary time arrived to seek Gurudakshina, seeing that Pingala was penniless, Kharasura graciously stated that he did not seek anything from his disciple. Pingala was ashamed to hear this and with wounded pride kept on insisting that his Guru should ask him for something. Pingala’s persistence became unbearable to the point that, in a fit of anger, Kharasura asked for 180 billion pieces of gold sovereigns. Of course, the disciple was speechless, stunned and heart-broken. Seeing Pingala’s quandary, Guru’s heart was filled with pity and compassion. He promised to help his distressed pupil. They traveled to Harinadweep and performed intense austerities to Hari (Vishnu) and Hara (Shiva). Vishnu appeared first and asked what boon they were seeking. Pingala asked for and received 180 billion gold pieces. He promptly offered them to his Guru. Shiva appeared next and Kharasura performed abhishekam on Shiva using all the gold he received. Shiva, pleased with the maharshi’s devotion offered the same amount of gold to him. Then, Kharasura used the gold to perform abhishekam on Vishnu. Shiva also presented him with three divine and precious Lingas. At this time, Pingala left, having fulfilled his duty. Kharasura consecrated the Shiva Linga in his left hand at Harinapura (The other two are at Vaikom and Kaduthuruthy temples).
Thousands of years passed. The original Shiva Linga lay buried in dirt. One day, a Harijan lady (Mannathi) while digging for edible roots with her sickle struck the buried Linga. Seeing blood ooze from the stone, she panicked and threw away her sickle and basket. The sickle fell at a place currently called Kovilppaadam. Her basket fell at present-day Pattithanam near Ettumanoor. Shiva arose from the linga in anger and cursed her into a rock (Mannathikkallu), which can still be seen near Kattampak Kottaram Devi temple. Next, a conch arose from the earth next to where Shiva appeared. These two areas can still be seen as depressions (Devan piranna kuzhi, Shankhu piranna kuzhi). Later, the Shiva Linga was brought to its current location. The linga still shows the ancient groove mark made by the sickle. Every morning, after abhishekam, this crack is sealed with sandalwood paste.
After a long time, the great sage and disciple of Veda Vyasa, Lomaharshana came to the temple to offer his prayers to Mahadeva. While going to take a dip at the temple tank, he slipped and fell. Some of the locals saw him fall and laughed mockingly.
The enraged sage cursed that Harinapura would turn into an uninhabitable jungle for a thousand years. So it lay without any human activity, unnoticed and abandoned, until the famous Vilwamangalathu Swamiyar happened to pass near this place. Thanks to his divine vision, he sensed the whole area being covered with Shiva’s matted hair (Jadaabharam). Not daring to step on Shiva’s body, he crawled on his knees searching until he found the old Shiva Linga. Thereafter, he oversaw the renovation of the temple and established the poojas and other rituals in their current form. The administration of the temple eventually passed into the hands of eight Brahmin houses (Manaas). This was followed by years of prolonged power struggles among landlords, feudal chieftains and Brahmins for control of temple affairs. Eventually, in the year 929 of Malayalam Era, its administration was handed to the Maharajah of Travancore. Still later, under the growing influence of the British, Colonel Munro as Dewan of Travancore took control. After India’s independence and establishment of the state of Kerala, the temple is controlled by the state government through the Devaswom Board.
EZHARAPPONNANA
No description of Ettumanoor temple would be complete without mentioning Ezharapponnana. They consist of eight elephants (made from Jack tree wood covered with gold plate) which are brought outside for public view only once a year during the festival. The story behind these adorable elephants is also equally interesting. When Travancore king Marthanda Varma attacked Vadakkumkoor Kingdom, Ettumanoor temple properties sustained some collateral damage. As a result, the King and his family had to face a lot of unforeseen hardships. Therefore, Marthanda Varma in order to please Shiva, promised, as reparation, to give the temple eight elephants, an elephant hook (‘thotti’) and an areca nut bunch (‘pazhukkakkula’), all made of gold. Before he could fulfill his promise, the King passed away. His nephew and successor, Karthika Thirunal (‘Dharma Rajah’) presented the offerings to the temple on Edavam 12, 934 Malayalam Era. The eight elephants represent the eight cardinal directions (‘Ashtadiggajams’). Since the temple administration was under eight families (‘Ooranmas’), the King wanted to ensure that the golden elephants would not be divided up amongst them as a part of a future plot. Therefore, in a brilliant move, he had one of the elephants made at half the originally planned size, thus ensuring that they would “stay” in the temple’s procession. Needless to say, it is practically impossible to divide seven and a half into eight equal parts!
| POOJA TIMINGS |
| 04.00 – Opening of Sreekovil 04.00 – 04.30 – Nirmalyam 04.30 – 05.00 – Abhishekam 05.30 – 06.00 – Madhavippalli Pooja (Usha Pooja) 06.00 – 06.30 – Ethruthu Pooja 08.00 – 08.30 – Pantheeradi Pooja 10.00 – 10.30 – Dhaara, Navakom etc 11.00 – 11.30 – Ucha Pooja 11.30 – 12.00 – Ucha Sree Bali 17.00 – Reopening of Sreekovil 18.30 – 19.00 – Deeparadhana 19.30 – 20.00 – Athaazha Pooja 20.00 – 20.30 – Athaazha Sree Bali |