Monday, April 5, 2010

SUCHINDRAM

Suchindram is a panchayat town in Kanniyakumari district about 11 km from Kanyakumari and about 7 km from Nagarkoil lying between these two towns. The nearest railway station is Nagarkoil. Suchindrum was renowned as an important citadel of Travancore.
Thanumalaya Temple
Stone inscriptions speak of this temple as 'Thiruchivindrum', 'Sundara SathurVedhi Mangalam' etc. This is also called Gyanaranyam (Gyana-Divine Wisdom (equivalent to Gnosis)-Aranyam: Forest). This temple attracts both Vaishnavites and Saivites in large numbers.
History - The temple belonged to, and was maintained and administered by the Travancore kings till Kanyakumari became part of Tamil Nadu In 1956. Though the time of construction of the temple is not officially known, it is believed to have been built in the 17th-18th centuries. Most of the mandapams were built by the Nayak kings., particularly Tirumalai Nayakkar.
Legend 1 - Once, the Asuras were ruling over the Devas. Their king Banasuran, was very wicked and used to trouble everyone. He had been given a boon by God Brahma that only a Kanni (small girl) will be able to kill him. This made him to think of himself as invincible. The Devas lived in hiding fearing him and prayed to Goddess Parashakti for relief. Pleased the Goddess took the form of a Kanni and started staying in Kumari doing penance. Lord Thanumalaya swamy in suchindram desired to marry the Goddess and their marriage was fixed to be held one night. The thanumalaya swamy from suchindram went to marry shri Kanyakumari amman in Kumari. Sage Narada realized that if the marriage is held, Banasuran would never be killed. So, when the Lord going, the Sage took the form of a cock and crowed. Thinking the auspicious time fixed for marriage had expired, the Lord came back to Suchindram. The Godess at Kumari remained a Kanni, continued her penance and killed Banasuran to rescue the Devatas.
Legend 2 - Anasuya, the wife of Atri Maharishi was famous for her chastity and her devotion to her husband - an embodiment of a Hindu wife. She could perform miracles by sprinkling the 'paatha theertham' (water with which she washed her husband's feet) to bring rain to a parched earth or to transform objects to her desire. When the three Devis, - Goddesses Luxmi, Saraswathy and Parvathy heard through Sage Naradha the powers of this earthly woman they wanted to test her chastity. They approached their husbands Lords Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva to test Anasuya's devotion to her husband. The three Moorthys transformed into three old mendicants and went to the hermitage where Anasuya was living and sought alms from her. When Anasuya was about to serve them food they told her that they had taken a vow whereby they could not accept alms from a person wearing clothes. As it was a sin to refuse alms to mendicants she prayed to her Lord and sprinkled a little 'paatha theertham' on the three old beggars. They were all immediately transformed into babies and throwing off her clothes she offered them food. The Goddesses learning what had happened pleaded with Anasuya to grant them 'maankalya biksha' (gift of married life) and to give them back their husbands. Anasuya showed them the three babies. The Devis ran to the cradle and picked one baby each. Anasuya then prayed to her Lord to restore them back to their original form. Lo and behold! Brahma was in Luxmi's embrace, Siva in Saraswathy's lap and Parvathy cuddling Vishnu. They accepted that Anasuya's fame as the chastest woman on earth was justified. Hearing about this, Atri Rishi came and to the place and together with his wife had darshan of the Trimurtis along with their consorts. When the Gods disappeared, at the base of the konnayadi tree in that place, there appeared three lingas. Thus the Thrimoorthy came to be represented by the Lingam at Suchindram; the bottom represents Brahma, the middle represents Vishnu and the top Shiva.
Legend 3 - Once Indra was infatuated with Ahalya, the wife of Rishi Gautama. One night he came to the hermitage where Gautama was living and crowed like a cock indicating the approach of dawn. Rishi Gautama thinking that dawn was imminent awoke from his sleep and went to the river for his ablutions prior to commencing his prayers. Realising that it was too dark for dawn and too early for morning to break he returned to his hut. In the meantime Lord Indra took the physical appearance of Rishi Gautama, approached Ahalya and satisfied his desire. Rishi Gautama returning from the river was enraged when he saw his wife in another man´s embrace and cursed the man's entire body be covered with 'yoni' (the female organ) and his wife Ahalya to become a statue of stone. Lord Indra in order to get rid of this curse went to Gnanaranya and prayed to the Three Moorthys to rid him of this curse. When he was rid of his curse and transformed into his original form he built a temple and installed the Lingam to represent the three Moorthy - Thanu-Maal-Ayan, and the name of the place came to be known as Suchi-Indran (the place where Indran was purified). The term "Suchi" means purifying and the place where Indra was purified got the name of Suchindram. It is popular belief that the God Indra still pays a visit to the temple and performs the Ardhajama pooja every night.
Temple - The entrance tower to this temple is visible from a distance as it rises majestically for 134 feet. The face of the tower is covered with sculptures and statues from Hindu mythology. There is a covered area in front of the main entrance and the entrance itself is about 24 feet high with a beautifully carved door. Look up the sculptures of 1108 women holding oil lamps on the side of the long hall after the entrance. The temple corridor, running along the outer wall of the temple, is the longest next only to Sri Rameswaram Temple. It is adorned on both sides by pillars with exquisite sculptures. Many shrines (about 30) and mandapams are scattered in the inner area. The temple has a beautiful white gopuram (tower). The temple is rich in sculpture and architecture. In the long-pillared halls and are seen depiction of scenes from the great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata on the walls. In a massive boulder halfway down the hall is inscribed the history of the temple in Tamil and Sanskrit. Seen inside the temple are Kontai Adi Temple, Nandeeswar, Chitra sabai, Vasantha Mandapam, Kailasanathar Temple, Pancha Pandavar temple, Subramania Swamy temple, Alankara Mandapam, Sthanumalaya Swami Sanctum Sanctorum, Chenbagaraman Mandapam, Dwaja Mandapam, Unjal Mandapam and Hanuman Statue. One of the unique aspects of the temple is the presence of the gods across the length and breadth of the Hindu pantheon.
Kontai Adi temple - When you enter the temple, on the eastern prakaram you see a laurel (konnayadi) tree that is about 2000 years old. In the hollow of the tree there are three lingas representing the Trimurtis-Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. This is the Kondraiyadi Nathar Sannidhi.
Sthanumalayan temple - Suchindram temple is unique in the whole of India in that it is dedicated to three different deities represented by one large Lingam in the sanctum called Sthanumalayan (Sthanu-Shiva; Maal-Vishnu and Ayan-Brahma) kovil. According to tradition, the top, middle and bottom portions of the image in the temple represent Siva (Sthanu), Vishnu (Maal) and Brahma (Ayan) respectively. Sthanu (from the rootword stha,"to stand"), "a post" is Rudra's concrete symbol. Its upward direction shows His inflexible stance across the universe...This image is the monument in which the Lord of Yoga became Sthanu or Linga-formed. ...The whole of ascetic Rudra's being is within its pillar shape. If the pyramid of the Sole Vratya was built mentally in a vision, a monument the inner realization of that God, the verticality of Stanu is a presentation of Rudra-Siva, the yogi.Sanctum Sanctorum of the Lord is illuminated by oil lamps. Golden Kavacha. 27 stars, 14 lunar phases and snake adorn the crown of Siva.
Kailasanathar Temple - This temple is situated on a small hillock within the temple. This temple is more than 1500 years old. Presence of Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions belonging to the fifth century CE attest to this fact. The Great Imperial Chozha emperor Raja Raja Chozha the first, paid his obeisance to Siva here and recorded them in the stone inscriptions. Subsequent Chozha as well as their rival Pandya kings and emperors made tributes to the Deity here. This part of the temple is rich in stone inscriptions.During the period 770 CE to 1000 CE the Pandya rulers and vassals including Varaguna Pandyan, Veera Narayana Sadayan, Abimana Meru Maravarman and Veera Pandyan, made land allotments for the purpose of serving the temple (daily Puja). In 900 CE Gomara Sadaya Pandyan gave the Vishnu temple inside the Sthanumalayan temple gold crown and lands. In 960 CE Veera Pandyan created a flower garden (Nandavanam-floral forest) for the sake of daily Puja. The present temple of Kailasanatha was built by Raja Raja Chozha the great.
Alankara mandapam – This is adjacent to the Northern corridor. Here there are four large pillars each formed by a group of smaller pillars all carved from a single stone. Two of these large pillars have 33 smaller pillars and the other two 25 each. These are the famous musical pillars. Each of these smaller pillars produce a different musical note when tapped. Now these pillars are surrounded by iron grills to prevent vandalism. There are 1035 pillars with carvings in the dancing hall.
Veera Hanuman - Step out of the 'Alankara mandapam' and you come face to face with a gigantic figure of Hanuman with folded hands. The figure is 18 feet high and depicts 'visuvaroopam'. It has been made out of a single granite block. Most probably this is the depiction of Hanuman standing before Mother Sita in Ashoka Vanam as told in the Sundara Kandam of the epic Sri Ramayana. More than 260 years ago there was an invasion by Sandha Sahib Khan. People of Suchindrum wanted to protect the statue of Hanuman and so buried it. For 190 years Hanuman laid buried in ground. Sri M.K. Neelakanta Iyer, the then Secretary of the Devaswom Board,an extremely pious and honourable aristocrat under the Maharaja of Travancore tripped and fell while circumambulating the temple. The Namboothiris were summoned and after a detailed study of Prasnam, it was found that the Hanuman statue was buried there. The statue was dug out and in 1930 it was installed through rituals in the present place. But Ashta Bandhana Prathisda was not done. So everyone can touch the Lord and pray. Butter covering, Vadai garland are the special worships that can be done by devotees. There is a grand function with abisheka on Hanumath Jayanthi here.
Nandi - There is a massive figure of Nandi, the holy cow, and the idol is considered to be the biggest in India. It is 13 feet high, 21 feet long and 10 feet wide. It is not a granite idol but made of lime and mortar and is hailed as "Maakkaalai".
Chenbagaraman Mandapam - This Mandapam is furnished with very beautiful sculptures. This Mandapam has 32 pillars with exquisite sculptures adorning them. It was completes 525 years ago. Some of sculptures seen in the Mandapam are - Vigneswari sculpture - a rare sculpture of Ganesa in female form; Siva's 64 sacred adventures (Thiruvilaiyadal); Ravana, the demon king, is depicted as playing Veena to please Lord Siva; Kannapa Nayanar is seen offering his eye to Lord Siva; episodes from the Ramayana; Lord Narasimha killing the demon Hiranya; etc.
Festivals - There are two important festivals, one in Markazhi (December/January) and the other in Chiththirai (April/May). During the Markazhi festival, on the 9th day the deities are taken out in procession around the streets on three festival cars. Puja is conducted to Dwaja Sthumpa and on festival day the divine flag of Siva-Vishnu-Brahma is hoisted. The priest who performs the arthajama pooja won’t do the nirmalya pooja. It is because of the belief that Indra does pooja here every night.
Kaimukkal - This is a variant of the agnipariksha, Suchindram style. Kaimukkal or dipping of the hand, was a practice followed between the 17th and 19th centuries till a Government order prohibited it in the 1860s. Any Namboothiri, or a high caste Brahmin, who was excommunicated following a suspected instance of immorality had to dip his hand in a copper vessel containing boiling ghee and pull out a small silver ox statuette to prove his innocence and, thereby, his character. The temple was, then, a part of Travancore and the trustees and the priests were Malayalee Brahmins; the dipping could only be done once the king gave his consent, and on a designated date. From the status of an upper class landlord, either he was pushed to the fringes of society, or hope for a miracle to happen when he unfolded his hand on the third day following the dipping. If the hand was found to be black and bruised, he was proclaimed guilty; and it was the end of the social road for him; if white and unscathed, he was given a clean chit, gifts from the king and his position back in society.

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