Today we drove early in the morning through Vaikom and back water country nearing Kottayam to a temple called Thiruvaarpu Sri Krishna temple .
Its 1500 years old and has a lot of legends behind it .
Its deity Sri Krishna is an idol with four hands ,
he is said to have given this idol to the Pandavars for doing puja ,when the pandavars complete their forest penance the locals of the area plead for the idol ,this place is said to be somewhere near Chertallai .
After a few years due to some local mishap the idol is not given due pujas and it gets lost .
After many years when a great spiritual being some say its Vilvamangala swamy ,some say its Padmapadha disciple of Adhi sankaracharya going in a boat in the area feels peculiar vibrations in an area and their boat refuses to move further ,the water parts by itself and an idol is located
The great saint takes out and looks for a place to install it ,one version says he finds a Dharma Sastha temple without an idol and consecrates it there ,
Another version says due to inclement weather the saint could not go forwards and quickly places the idol in an uruli ( a brass vessel )and leaves ,when he returns he finds the idol is stuck to the uruli and the owner of the uruli a local landlord Kunnan kari menon builds a temple and with help of a saint called madapuratthu swami consecrates it in the temple ,even today special pujas are done for the swamis ashram .
Its 1500 years old and has a lot of legends behind it .
Its deity Sri Krishna is an idol with four hands ,
he is said to have given this idol to the Pandavars for doing puja ,when the pandavars complete their forest penance the locals of the area plead for the idol ,this place is said to be somewhere near Chertallai .
After a few years due to some local mishap the idol is not given due pujas and it gets lost .
After many years when a great spiritual being some say its Vilvamangala swamy ,some say its Padmapadha disciple of Adhi sankaracharya going in a boat in the area feels peculiar vibrations in an area and their boat refuses to move further ,the water parts by itself and an idol is located
The great saint takes out and looks for a place to install it ,one version says he finds a Dharma Sastha temple without an idol and consecrates it there ,
Another version says due to inclement weather the saint could not go forwards and quickly places the idol in an uruli ( a brass vessel )and leaves ,when he returns he finds the idol is stuck to the uruli and the owner of the uruli a local landlord Kunnan kari menon builds a temple and with help of a saint called madapuratthu swami consecrates it in the temple ,even today special pujas are done for the swamis ashram .
Another version says that the Pandavars after their penance leaves the idol along with their Akshaya patra in the area as they go for their agnatha vasa or hidden penance of an year .
the idol is recovered by some fishermen and they keep it in a temple in a place called charamangalam but without the uruli ,after several unpleasant happenings the fishermen put the idol back into the back waters and the spiritual person finds it ,as his boat gets stuck in weeds the local shore people bring the idol and uruli to shore and they feed the lord with tender coconut water and mango pickles ,even today the deity is taken during Arraattu to this place and fed tender coconut water and tender mango pickles
The idol here is supposed to be always hungry as Krishna after killing kamsa is tired and hungry
so this temple opens at 2 am the earliest of all temples in Kerala ,even guruvayoor temple opens only at 3 am .
The lord is fed even during his bath after drying hair and later his body is dried .
Even during eclipses the temple is open and lord is fed as once upon a time when it was closed and later opened the lords waist band fell down they say because he lost weight !
the idol is recovered by some fishermen and they keep it in a temple in a place called charamangalam but without the uruli ,after several unpleasant happenings the fishermen put the idol back into the back waters and the spiritual person finds it ,as his boat gets stuck in weeds the local shore people bring the idol and uruli to shore and they feed the lord with tender coconut water and mango pickles ,even today the deity is taken during Arraattu to this place and fed tender coconut water and tender mango pickles
The idol here is supposed to be always hungry as Krishna after killing kamsa is tired and hungry
so this temple opens at 2 am the earliest of all temples in Kerala ,even guruvayoor temple opens only at 3 am .
The lord is fed even during his bath after drying hair and later his body is dried .
Even during eclipses the temple is open and lord is fed as once upon a time when it was closed and later opened the lords waist band fell down they say because he lost weight !
The best offering is the usha payasam which is made early in the morning ,made of rice jaggery ghee kadali banana and dried coconut ,jaggery is poured into rice till it stops by itself
incidentally the assistant priest is given an axe in this temple to use to break open the sanctum sanctorum if the chief priest loses the key as the lord cannot be kept hungry of course that has never happened .
There are five pujas here and the Deeparadhana is after athazha puja at 7pm ,before the temple closes they ask if there is anyone from chertalai who is hungry as it was from here that the idol was recovered and its believed no one from chertala should go hungry .
another story is about a landlord from pullattu house who had no family he donated all his properties to the temple and on the day he gave all his documents and properties he prostrated before the lord never to wake up puja done in his honor is called pullattu puja
a multi tiered lamp adorns the temple front gifted by a christian devotee of the area
all these can be discarded as myths but Hinduism has myriad idols zillions of legends all leading to the one omnipresent Eswara which is beyond all isms ,the ramification are for the souls who believe according to their level of understanding .
There are five pujas here and the Deeparadhana is after athazha puja at 7pm ,before the temple closes they ask if there is anyone from chertalai who is hungry as it was from here that the idol was recovered and its believed no one from chertala should go hungry .
another story is about a landlord from pullattu house who had no family he donated all his properties to the temple and on the day he gave all his documents and properties he prostrated before the lord never to wake up puja done in his honor is called pullattu puja
a multi tiered lamp adorns the temple front gifted by a christian devotee of the area
all these can be discarded as myths but Hinduism has myriad idols zillions of legends all leading to the one omnipresent Eswara which is beyond all isms ,the ramification are for the souls who believe according to their level of understanding .
The temple is small serene and belies so many stories lying behind it
The Meenachil river floats serenely on its side with a green pond . .
The Meenachil river floats serenely on its side with a green pond . .
