The legends associated with religion and temples have had a tremendous integrating influence on people from different regions of India.
Kerala is one region, which has many such legendary and venerated temples.
‘God’s Own Land’ has Lord Sri Krishna Temple in Guruvayur, Sri Padmanabhaswami Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Sri Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala and quite a few other temples, famous in their own right, all over the state. Many of them are centuries old and unique. Except for a few popular and famous ones, very few devotees from within and outside Kerala frequent these lesser-known temples. The main reason is unawareness of the existence of such unique temples, many of which are located in remote places with rather poor accessibility.
Several of these old places of worship were damaged due to the vagaries of war. Tippu Sultan’s armies overran the region in the late 18th century and destroyed quite a few them. During his regime he tried to conquer as many kingdoms that existed in South India at that time. In the process he attacked quite a few temples and other religious monuments and many were completely or partially destroyed. Legend has it that at many of these places of worship, his men encountered opposition and defeat for which he couldn’t find an explanation.
Many of these, however, have been renovated during the last few years and reflect some of their old grandeur. Roads have been constructed to connect them to better-known places and highways, enabling a larger number of devotees to go to these temples. Conducting “Ulsavam” and other festivals on religiously important days has created some sort of awareness as well. A larger number of the younger generation becoming more religiously inclined and visiting temples more often is also an encouraging trend.
Kerala is the one state in India where there are separate temples for the four sons of King Dasaratha. There is a temple for Sri Rama at Thriprayar, Lakshmana at Moozhikulam, Bharatha in Irinjalakuda and Shatrughna in Payammal, forming the “Nalu Ambalam” or “Nalambalam” (Four Temples), a sanctified group of temples not known to many devotees, even in Kerala. A devotee worshipping in all four temples on the same day is believed to attain liberation or freedom from the cycle of births and deaths and also an increased life span for dedicated service to others.
There are many other unique places of worship in Kerala, one of them being the Iswaramangalam Ganapathi Temple. Though Shiva and his consort Parvathi are the main deities in the main sanctum sanctorum, their son Ganapathi, depicted in his childhood form in the small sanctum sanctorum, has gained more importance and this temple is known as “Iswaramangalam Ganapathi Temple”.
The feudal regime and the constant wars caused considerable hardships to the public in this area. During one such war, the invaders had reached the banks of the river Karimpuzha with the intention to capture Iswaramangalam village. Hundreds of Namboodiris along with their women and children evacuated their “Illams“ – house of a Namboodiri Brahmin – and took shelter within the walls of the local Ganapathi temple. Fearing that the invading army would destroy the temple the Namboodiris removed the small idol, put it in the pan normally used to cook appams, and immersed it in the temple tank. The invaders were all ready to cross the river. The legend is that Ganapathi appeared in his “Rudra” – ferocious – form in front of the invading army. The soldiers were frightened and retreated without crossing the river, failing in their attempt to capture the village.
After the army went away the Namboodiris retrieved the vessel from the temple tank and in on opening found Ganapathi in a reclining position, as though He was eating his favorite appam. The idol was reinstalled in the temple, but it so happened that it (the idol) faced the kitchen where the offerings, including the appam, were prepared. Appam is made of rice flour, jaggery and mashed bananas mixed in water, spoonfuls of which is deep fried in ghee. It is said to be Ganapathi’s favorite food. It is believed that one’s prayers will be fullfilled by making a vow to offer appam to Ganapathi in this temple.
It is said that one devotee had taken a vow to cover Ganapathi’s idol with appam as soon as his prayers were answered. When he saw how small the idol was he thought that he would need only a few appams to cover the idol. However, he was surprised that even a large number of appams could not cover the idol completely. Some part of it always remained exposed. Having realized the powers of Ganapathi, the devotee apologized. He was later able to completely cover the idol with just a few appams.
Members of this family even now continue this offering to Ganapathi once every year. It is believed that this Ganapathi is happy even with one single appam given as an offering.
There was a time when the demand for appam was so large that it was felt the small temple kitchen in front of Antipathy would not be able to meet the requirements. The temple authorities therefore decided to prepare the appam in a separate kitchen outside the temple. This was a complete failure as they were not able to make it according to its normal taste, shape or size. Realizing that Antipathy has to see for himself when the appam is prepared, they moved back to the original kitchen. Ever since then this offering is made in the original kitchen watched over by Ganapathi.
Another unique feature of this temple is that Ganapathi Homam is not conducted any where in this village. It is believed that this Ganapathi is happy with the appam that is offered to Him.
The idol installation day is in the Malayalam month of Meenam, which is mid March to mid April every year. This day is celebrated with special poojas. This temple is located near the Engineering College in Srikrishnapuram, about 20 kilometers from Palakkad on Palkkad / Calicut highway. There is a black topped road from the highway right up to the temple.
This temple, steeped in fascinating legends, is just one of several equally captivating, but relatively unknown places of worship around the state.
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