"Naham Vasami Vaikunthe /
Yoginam Hridaye Na Ca / Math-Bhakta Yatra Gayanti / Tatra Tishthami
Narada"
(I live neither in Vaikuntha,
nor in the yogis' hearts. O Narada, I stay where My devotees chant My glories.)
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| Annamanada Mahadeva Temple |
Words of Lord can never go
wrong.
Kanaka
Dasaru being not allowed to enter the Gopura at Udupi
stood outside and prayed to Lord Krishna. Listening to the plea of his true
devotee Lord turned towards him and gave darshan through a window. Pakkanar,
a staunch devotee of Lord Siva and second among the twelve sons of Vararuchi, once
reached a Mahadeva temple and being not allowed inside (due to the crude caste
system), prayed to the Lord if he could have a darshan of him from outside - and there you go - the whole
of the Sacrificial Stone (Bali Peetham) which was blocking the view of
Lord submerged into earth and Pakkanar was able to have the darshan of
Lord from outside itself.
The place where Pakkanar did
that prayer is believed to be the Mahadeva Temple at Annamanada, a quaint
village just around 20 km from Kodungallur and very close to Mala and Chalakudy
in Thrissur District of Kerala. There we could still see that Bali Peetham with
only the top part at a ground level.
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| The submerged Bali Peetham |
Though hardly
known to the outside world, this village, which had families serving food (“Annam”)
was one among the 32 villages (Atavur gramam) constituted by Lord Parasurama. This Siva temple is referred in 108 Sivalaya
Stotra as Koratty (Sree Mandhamkunnu Chowalloor Panancheri Korattiyum).
With five daily poojas and three Sribalis the temple is in the category of
Mahakshetras.
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| Annamanada Mahadeva Temple - Another View |
However, now the temple
is a mix of partly old, partly new and partly dilapidated structure. The East
and West Gopuras with intricate wooden carvings require proper conservation. The
main sanctum (sreekovil) is majestic in rectangular form and is two storied. Siva
Linga though almost 4 feet tall, is not felt so from outside due to the presence
of spacious mukha mandapa having two dwarapalas just outside the inner sanctum.
The sikhara of the sanctum has unique carvings of divine figures all in old
charm rarely found now. Similar to
Sringapuram Siva Temple, there is no namaskara mandapa here as well.
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| A view of Gosala Krishnan shrine |
Lord Siva is in
the form of pleasing Kirathamoorthy and is facing East. Parvathi and Ganapathi
are also consecrated inside. To the north of main sanctum there is an enclosure
for Lord Vishnu in a vatta-sreekovil. However we could not collect the history behind
this unique way of prathista. Sastha and Gosala Krishnan (in an enclosure
resembling Goshala) are consecrated outside the naalambalam. Outside the East
Gopuram there are shrines of Kaali, Durga, Nagaraja, Krishna and Narasimha. A
further walk down we hit the Chalakudy river where the Aaraattu of the Lord is
conducted during festival.
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| The carvings on the Gopura |
Annamanada with
a legacy for the promotion of Koothu and Koodiyattam now has icons in percussion
art form, Panchavadyam, such as Annamanada Parameswara Marar. However, to uphold the true legacy of this
Mahakshetra, along with the much needed conservation of temple structure, we
felt, keeping the waste and plastic out of the temple complex is also a must do.
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| The Explorers |
My Thiruannamnadappan is great.
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