Temple Darshan, Pooja and Sevas Information Infoirmation Website Thrikodithanam Mahavishnu Temple History, Darshan, and Booking
monarch, this isThe temple occupies rather a large area. Rising in vesara form, the Sree Kovil, or inner sanctuary, is majestic.
Looking at it seems to show it as a two-story building. Interesting wood carvings and mural paintings abound on its walls. These are supposed to correspond with the 16th through 18th centuries. One quite fascinating mural image shows Vishnu portrayed as a serpent. Furthermore, exceedingly artistic in aspect are the wood carvings on the Balikkalpura and Mukha mandapa. Great historical relevance exists in the lythic records on the age of the second Cheras kept in the temple. Furthermore, thought to be done by a Vijaya Nagara monarch, this is the perfect depiction of Narasimha set in this temple.
Thrikodithanam Mahavishnu Temple History
As said before, the sthalapurana links this site to the Solar dynasty king Rukmangatha. Ruling his people in a very fair way, he was a quite moral monarch. He used to respect famous sages and learned people. Once, Vasishta Maharishi shared with Devendra the outstanding moral attributes of this king. Lord Indra chose to challenge the king. He dispatched Narada to the Rukmangatha court. With customary respect, Rukmangatha greeted Narada. He picked the rare blossoms from his garden, fashioned a garland from them, and hung it around Narada’s neck.
When Narada returned to the court with the garland around his neck, the beauty of these flowers captivated Indra.
He thus dispatched his men to quietly visit Rukmangatha’s garden and gather those flowers for him.
The men of Indra visited the garden daily. Rukmangatha started to wonder about the disappearance of the lovely flowers in his garden. The king chose to investigate this mystery. He maintained a round-the-clock guard in his yard. But it was useless since the men dispatched by Indra would pluck the blossoms without the watchmen’s knowledge and then vanish in the sky and return to Indra’s court. Still, the watchmen kept their night watch. One evening, the watchmen burned some dry brinjol tree twigs as it was quite cold. I accidentally burned some of the brinjol tree’s tubers in the roots. The scent emitted from such burning tubers is supposed to neutralize the divine powers of every spirit as well as devils. Thus, the unintentional action of the watchmen in burning the brinjal roots dispersed their scent across the whole sky over the garden. Indra’s men could not fly back to their court with this persistent odor.
The watchmen caught the red-handed attempt to steal the expensive flowers from the garden. The watchers brought them to the king. It was from them that the king discovered the truth. The monarch affectionately welcomed them as guests and advised them that Indra was welcome to have his flowers daily if he was so fond of them instead of punishing them and sending them to work for theft of these flowers. These envoys of Lord Indra lost their miraculous ability to fly in the heavens, nevertheless, from the smoke of the burned brinjol plants. It was Ekadasi Day. They informed Rukmangatha that only if someone who followed the fast on that Ekadasi day (Ekadasi fast) was ready to offer them the advantage of such a fast could they be able to recover their divine powers to fly. Rukmangatha set out looking for anyone who had seen the Ekadasi vratha across his whole country. He discovered that just one woman had fasted on that day in his whole kingdom. She happened to be married to a dhobi. She had declined to eat the food of that evening due to the couple’s misunderstandings, not as though she watched the Ekadasi vratha with awareness. Still, even the unintentional fast observance on that day is considered to have given her all the advantages of having seen the Ekadasi vratha. Later, Rukmangatha determined that since observation of Ekadasi vratha was so effective, he should encourage that practice among the huge number of his subjects. The king asked her to offer the men of Indra the advantage of having observed the fast. He began watching the vratha personally and gave his students an example to follow his ideal as well. On one Ekadasi day following his fast, Durvasa Rishi reportedly visited his court and begged the monarch to feed him and his disciples. Durvasa visited the tank to have his bath. The monarch knew the timings for Ekadasi would be over and Dwadisi, or the next day, would start before he could get back. The fast observed on Ekadasi has to be broken when Dwadisi starts so that the effect of having observed the fast of Ekadisi is not lost. Rukmangatha is supposed to have drunk some water. Durvasa scolded Rukmangatha for not following the rigorous standards of honoring the guests and allowing them to eat first before partaking in the food when he returned and discovered that he had sipped some water even before his guests had eaten the food. Rukmangatha’s explanations for why he only drank water instead of food did not impress Durvasa.
Durvasa swore at Rukmangatha. Lord Vishnu sent his discus (chakra) to chastise Durvasa at that moment. Similar events link Ambarisha Maharaja with Durvasa Rishi. However, the main points of both tales are the same: Lord Vishnu dispatched His Chakra to punish Durvasa and underline to the people the grandeur of seeing Ekadasi vratha.
Thrikodithanam Mahavishnu Temple History
Still, another myth connected to this temple centers on a stone pillar located in front of the house. On top of that pillar, one finds a man roughly three feet tall. In his right hand, the man carries a conch. Once, the Raja of Chempakasseri arrived to offer prayer at this shrine. But the Sree Kovil had closed following the mid-day puja by the time he arrived at the temple. The main priest had also come back to his house. However, some of the temple servants, under the direction of one Marar, wanted the temple doors opened so the king could pray upon seeing the ruler. Use a conch before the temple opens. The Marar so concluded that the priest was compelled to open the door should he blow the conch. Notwithstanding the priest’s resistance, the Marar blew on the conch. The narrative is that the Marar tried to blow the conch but no sound came out of it. More importantly, he collapsed on the ground, dead. This meant that even God did not want any difference to be made between the ruler and the ruled and that the rites and schedules observed in the temple could not be eased to suit any man, however strong he might be. The three-foot-long figure seen on top of the stone pillar is thought to have been intended to commemorate this incident and as a constant reminder of the devoted Marar act.