Legend

Sree Vishnumaya

Lord Vishnumaya is the divine child of Lord Siva and Parvathy Devi disguised as Kooli vaka. Being so, Sri Vishnumaya Swami is akin to Sastha, Muruka and Vikhneswara. But unlike the other children of Lord Siva, Sri Vishnumaya Swami is worshipped not commonly but by a very different types of devotees who wish to see the results of their prayers and special needs. Because as to the experience of devotees, Sri Vishnumaya Swami is easily pleased and is more humane and empathetic.

The legend is as follows. One day on his way to divine hunt in a forest, Lord Siva came across an uncontainable tribal beauty, Koolivaka. At the very first sight itself, Lord Siva fall for her wild beauty. He informed her his wish and asked to get ready to bear his child in her.

Apparently the Koolivaka was a cursed servant, Manaswiny, of Parvati Devi in her previous birth. She got cursed by Parvati Devi for the reason she tried to suckle Little Ganapathy. The curse was to take birth in an outcaste family. As the anger subdued, Parvathy herself blessed Manaswiny to get the opportunity to breast feed the Son of Siva.

Devi disclosed that it was the pre-ordained fate that made possible her meeting with Lord Shiva and his passion for Koolivaka. She told the girl that she herself would take on the form of Koolivaka and deceive the Lord Shiva. She also informed Koolivaka that the son born from such a union would be the killer of Jalandhara, a powerful Asura. A child with divine power was born through this holy union. Siva and Parvathy appeared in front of Koolivaka and deputed her to foster the child. After living with Koolivaka for some years the child became mature enough to know the detail of his real parents. Then Sivanandana proceeded to the abode of Siva rode on a cute Buffaloe blowing his favorite Eezhara. When he was not allowed entrance into the abode of Siva, Sivanandana assumed the form of Vishnu. Thus Sivanandana was known as 'Vishnumaya.'

Koolivaaka Devi

Once, Lord Shiva was on his way to hunt, and then he heard a melodious song of Yakshas and Gandharvas while he was in a dense forest. Lord Shiva found out that the owner of this melodious voice was a tribal girl named 'Koolivaaka'. She was beautiful, and Lord Shiva was mesmerised by her beauty. He expressed his interest in her and told Koolivaaka to wait for him to return after his hunt. Koolivaaka prayed to goddess Parvathy and Parvathy Devi appeared in front of her. Koolivaaka explained about the incident and Lord Shiva getting attracted to her and requested Parvathy Devi for a way out of this trouble. Parvathy Devi revealed that Koolivaaka was a maid in Kailasa in her previous life. She was a Yakshini named Manaswini. Parvathy had cursed her for breastfeeding Lord Ganapathi, who was the son of Parvathy Devi. This curse had caused her to live as a tribal in this life. To obtain salvation from this curse, Koolivaaka should breastfeed the son of Lord Shiva before she loses her virginity. Parvathy Devi comes to her rescue and says that she will disguise as Koolivaaka and will meet Lord Shiva instead of her. Later, Lord Shiva had a son in Parvathy Devi, who disguised as Koolivaaka. Parvathy Devi gave birth to that child and assigned a baby buffalo for his protection. Lord Shiva returns to Kailasa and instructs Parvathy Devi to bless this infant and give him to Koolivaaka. This infant is Lord Vishnumaya.

Lord Muthappan

Lord Muthappan is a similar idol of Theyyamkaliyattam of northern region in Kerala. The energy is believed to be the personification of two divine figures — Thiruvappana and Vellatom. Although Muthappan is being worshipped as a single entity, the lord is a unified form of Lord Vishnu (with a fish-shaped crown) and Lord Siva (with a crescent-shaped crown).

The Naduvazhi (landlord) Ayyankara Illath Vazhunnavar (a Nambudiri Brahmin) was unhappy, as he had no child. His wife Padikutty Antharjanam was a devotee of Lord Shiva.

The legend says that there was this Naduvazhi (landlord) Ayyankara Illath Vazhunnavar (a Nambudiri Brahmin) who lived in sorrow of not having a child. His wife Padikutty Antharjanam made a sacrifice to Shiva for children and one day in her dream she had the vision of the Lord. The very next day, while she was returning after a bath from a nearby river, she saw a pretty child lying on a flower bed. She took the child home and she and her husband brought Him up as their own son. The boy used to love going hunting and providing food for the unprivileged. Ayyankara Vazhunavar was very disappointed because of these acts which were against the Namboothiri way of life. The parents pleaded for him to stop this and he turned a deaf ear.

Ayyankara Vazhunavar finally had to admonish him. That’s when the boy revealed His divine form (Visvaroopam or Viswaroopa or Cosmic All-Pervading Form) to his parents. They realized that the boy was not an ordinary child but the manifestation of God and surrendered themselves to him. He then started a journey from Ayyankara. The natural beauty of Kunnathoor detained Him. He was also attracted by the toddy of palm trees. Chandan (an illiterate toddy tapper) knew that his toddy was being stolen from his palm trees, so he decided to guard them. While he was keeping guard at night, he caught an old man stealing toddy from his palms. He got very angry and tried to shoot the man using his bow and arrows but fell unconscious before he could let loose even one arrow. Chandan's wife came searching for him. She cried brokenheartedly when she found him unconscious at the base of the tree. She saw an old man at the top of the palm tree and called out to Him as "Muthappan" ("muthappan" means grandfather in the local Malayalam language). She earnestly prayed to the God to save her husband. Before long, Chandan regained consciousness. Since then Muthappan is a favourite deity of the land.

Lord Karinkutti

One day on his way to divine hunt in a forest called Koolivanam, Lord Siva came across an uncontainable tribal beauty, Koolivaka. At the very first sight itself, Lord Siva fall for her wild beauty. He informed her his wish and asked to get ready to bear his child in her. She got scared of his passion for her as it was against the rules.

After 7 days the Shiva came back and approached her. He made her have a ripen banana filled with his divine semen and she got pregnant. Her pregnancy period got the tribes talking negatively about her morals. As she delivered a baby boy, her father send her out from the house. Koolivaka was fed up and decided to kill the child. She lied the child in a colocasia leaf and left in a river. But suddenly the similar kind of 399 Kuttichathans were born. The koolivaka took all 400 children’s into basket and went back to home. The father got ferocious out of this act. She suddenly set a vessel on fire and put all the chaathans in it. And one child came out fast who is the ‘Vishnumaya’ and all the others are kuttychathans. The one who sat at the very end of the vessel is known as Karinkutty.

Lord Nagas

The semi divine serpents are known for their strength, supernatural wisdom, and good looks. At Vadakkumpuram temple we worship Nagaraja, Nagayakshi, Karinaga and Maninaga. It is believed that when Nagis take human form, they can marry mortal men, and some Indian dynasties claim descent from them.

Legend says, Nagas are children of Kadru, the granddaughter of the god Brahma*, and her husband, Kasyapa. They lived on earth but as they increased in numbers they had to be send to the sea. They reside in magnificent jewelled palaces and rule as kings at the bottom of rivers and lakes and in the underground realm called Patala.

Some of them are demons; others seem friendly and are worshiped as gods. Nagas serve as protectors and guardians of treasure—both material riches and spiritual wealth. They are also famous for playing a vital role in the fertility of women.

Brahmarakshas

Brahmarakshas is the spirit of a Brahmin, who was destined to suffer as a Brahmarakshass after his death for misusing his knowledge. He was of high birth but evil. The earth-bound duties of such a scholar would be to disperse or impart knowledge to good students. If he did not do so, he would turn into a Brahmarakshas after death which is a very fierce demonic spirit. The word Brahm means Brahmin and Rakshas, a demon. As per ancient Hindu texts they are powerful demon spirit, who have lot of powers and only few in this world can fight and over-come them or give them salvation from this form of life. It would still retain its high level of learning. But it would eat human beings. They have the knowledge of their past lives and vedas and puranas. In other words, they have qualities of both Brahmin and Rakshas.

Goddess Bhuvaneswari

Bhuvaneshwari is the fourth major power described in the Tantras. Bhuvaneshwari stands for the concept of space. Space has many levels of manifestation: The space of the physical Universe and the space of the mind. There are many layers of space in the Universe and many layers in the higher levels of the mind. In our body, the heart is where the infinite space of the Universe resides, and this is the place of the Divine Godess Bhuvaneshwari as she represents the Space. We release ourselves from stress and tension by creating space.

The goddess revealing a representation of Kali in certain temples, the intense aspect of our Divine Mother. It is because both are intimately connected as representing time and space, it is believed that goddess made creation possible. Goddess Kali manages the timing of the dance and Bhuvaneshwari stands for the original space before creation in which Kali’s cosmic dance takes place. Her Bheeja is ‘Hreem’ which is as powerful as ‘Aum’. Hreem’ connects the space within the heart with the infinite, vast space of Consciousness. Sakthi pranavam is also known as mantra ‘Hreem’. Hreemkara is present in variour upanishads like sowbhagya lakhsni , bhavanopanishad, Sri Sooktham and others. In Lalitha trisathi, word Hreem is used for glorifying godess bhuvaneswari at 29 places.Godess is worshipped by shiva, Brahma and Vishnu.

Bhuvaneswari always appears with a smiling face. She has 4 hands; two of which bless the devotees. She carries weapons such as Paasam and Angusam . Her smiling face is meant to cheer-up devotees for happiness. She is always well dressed, bedecked with Jewelry and gems of various kinds. Scriptures describe Her as brighter than thousand Suns, and wearing a crescent moon on Her crown. She is variously described as the brightness of thousand suns, beauty of peacock and parrot, nectar in a flower, ruby among gems and Ganga among rivers. She resides at Manidweepam, which was created out of her own thought. Manidvipam consists of several forts, made of several materials that is consisting of common metals on the outside, gold, sapphire corals, topaz, pearl and emerald at inner side. It is believed that eight gods such as Agni, Indira, kubera, vayu etc guard the Manidweepam.