SRIVALLABHATEMPLE -THIRUVALLA-PATHANAMTHITTA DISTRICT-KERALA -COMPILED(Part1)
Dear friends, Today my posting is about the famous Vaishnava temple by name Sri Vallabha temple at Tiruvalla, in the Pathanamthitta Districtof Kerala. The entry to women was barred in toNalambalam earlier, but it has been removed about 5 decades back. The temple is also famous for the dailyperformance of Kathakaliin the night. It is a major offering in this temple. I was born while my father was working at Tiruvalla. Within ayear my father got transferred to Pandalam, my native. Hope a divine reading about this temple. Gopalakrishnan 27-7-2025 Introduction It is a 3000-year-oldtemple in Thiruvalla, known for its majestic Sree Vallabha idol, granite Garuda Sthambha, andvibrant annual festival featuring Kathakali performances. Sree Vallabha meaning consort of Sree or Lakshmi. The temple is one ofthe oldest and largest temples in Kerala and one of the 108 Divya Desams, it has been valued by theAlvars and reportedly mentioned in the Garuda and Matsya Puranas. The Sree Vallabha Temple, is a marvel is set in the tranquillandscape of Thiruvalla, in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district. Perched on thebanks of the Manimala River,the temple and surrounding areas are filled with a rich heritage and spiritualambience. Home to an idol of Sree Vallabha which is a majestic eight feet, the temple isworld famous for not just its spiritual allure but also for the magnificence ofits architectural splendour. Thelegendary architect, Perunthachan has crafted the Garuda Sthambha, abrilliant 54-foot flag mast, from a single massive block of granite. This architectural feat is infact a testimony to the finesse and ingenuity of the artisans of yore in Kerala. The 10 days annualfestival at the temple is one of the best times during which to visit thetemple. It is usually held between the months of February and March. On thevery first day of the festival there is a spectacular ritual in which 12,000 bunches of padatti pazham aspecial variety of bananas is offered to the presiding deity here.This ritual offers visitors and devotees alike a display of profound devotionand vibrant festivities. The nightly Kathakali (traditional dance-drama) performancesthat are held here at the temple as part of the rituals are yet anotherhighlight of the annual festivities at the Sree Vallabha Temple. Legends According to one of the legends, Vishnu appeared here asSreevallabha for the sage Durvasaand Khandakarnan. Pleased by the prayers of an old Brahmin woman, Sreevallabhaincarnated as a Brahmachari and killed the demon Tholasuran. This place is nownamed as Tholassery. Despite being the son of Shiva, Khandakarnan was a demon whosacrificed animals to please his father and never missed a chance to humiliateVishnu. He had a pair of bells as earrings, so he could only hear the name ofShiva (which he chanted continuously). When Khandakarnan did not obtainsalvation, he asked Shiva why. Since the power of Shiva and Vishnu are thesame, Shiva advised him to worship Vishnu. Directed by Durvasa, Khandakarnan reached the jasmineforest. He bathed in the Jalavanthy pond, and the holy watercleansed him of his wrong doings. Khandakarnan threw away his Shaiva earrings, and got a pair of Vaishnavaearrings so he could only hear the name of Vishnu. During theDvapara Yuga, Vishnu appeared to him and he was liberated. Another legend is- Soon after the construction of Dvaraka,Sagara gave many precious things (including the Sreevallabhan idol) to Krishna.Krishna gave it to his friend, Satyaki, saying: "There is nothing betterin the world for the worship of Vishnu than Sreevallabhan's idol. Worshipping Vishnu directly andworshipping this idol is considered the same. It has the power to washaway the sins of all the lifetimes.". Satyaki askedKrishna's permission to build a temple, and the celestial architect Vishvakarmabuilt it in Dvaraka. The sage Vedavyasa installed the idol, and Durvasa taughtthe priests the worship protocol. During the end of Dvapara Yuga, Satyaki gave the idol to Garuda and askedhim to keep it safe for the humans in the Kali Yuga. Garuda went to theisland of Ramanaka and worshipped it there; worshipping the idol freed him fromhis curses. When it was time for Garuda to return to Vaikuntha, he hid the idolin the bed of the Netravati River (in present-day Dakshina Kannada district,Karnataka). The area around the jasmine forest became a human settlementthousands of years ago as a spiritual and educational centre with great wealthand power. There were at least 3,000Kerala Brahmin families, and those from Sankaramangalath House had thehighest status. The house was at risk of extinction because only an old womanand her younger son, Narayana Bhattathiri, lived there. Narayana marriedSreedevi Antharjanam against the wishes of those who wanted his wealth bymarrying their daughters to him. Sreedevi Antherjanam was illiterate; literacywas mandatory for Brahmins and women were well-versed in Sanskrit, andAntharjanam ignored their ridicule. The couple began fasting on Ekadashi (the11th day of the month), which is auspicious for Vishnu. Antharjanam abstainedfrom food and sleep, and made her servant and her son, Mukundan, do likewise. Bhattathiri died, and Antherjanam was widowed. A devotee ofVishnu, she was troubled because she could not read a panchangam (astrologicalcalendar) to recognize Ekadshi and her illiteracy would be further ridiculed.Antherjanam learned the Ekadashi day, and she placed a pebble in a pot each dayto know when 15 days had passed. The actual Ekadashi was often a day earlier orlater, though, due to the change in the appearance of the moon. This brought onmore ridicule, but two astrologers confirmed the day as Ekadashi at theSankaramangalath House and Dashami (the 10th day) everywhere else. Mallikavanam was attacked by Thukalasuran, a demon called whorobbed and was fond of eating young human flesh. A yakshini reached the westernroad to the village, attacking everyone who came in her way. Many people leftMallikavanam, which was restricted to visitors. The aged Antharjanam could notleave, and it became difficult to find a Brahmin boy to continue her religiousduties. She wept in front of her Vishnu idol, asking to maintain the custom thatshe had been following for many years. A young Brahmin boy with a gold pole in his hand asked for food.Antharjanam was glad to see him, and asked him to come after his bath since sheneeded to complete the Ekadashi rituals. Disregarding her warnings, the youngman approached the river where Thukalasuran lived. He and Thukalasuran fought;the golden pole turned into the Sudarshana Chakra, and he killed Thukalasuranand destroyed his army. The young man washed the blood off in the river, tiedthe hands of the yakshini, and threw her into a well where she died. The boyinstalled a Durga idol and asked the goddess to protect the town; she appearedin three area temples. The boy and five others later reached the SankaramangalathHouse. Antharjanam completedthe rituals and served food to them in areca nut leaves, since the rakshasa haddestroyed all the banana plantations. She did not have pickles, andpickles were a customary food for Brahmins; Lakshmi, disguised as a housewife,served thrippuli (a kind of pickle) to the boy. Knowing that Thukalasuran hadbeen killed by the boy, people came to visit and asked him to show them hisgolden pole to venerate. The boy installed the pole, facing west, on raisedland east of them. Antharjanam decided to build a temple there, and askedPathillathil Pottimar to be the administrators. The boy removed his shawl,exposing his chest with theSrivatsa mark and Lakshmi; Vishnu showed his universal form (Vishwarupa)to her family. Antharjanam, her servant and her servant's son obtainedsalvation by merging with him. This happened in 2998 BC; the five boys who accompanied Vishnuwere the sage Durvasa and his disciples. The Sankaramangalath House ispreserved outside the temple, near its western gate, and is considered theoriginal temple.[17][18] About 3,000 years afterthis, King Cheraman Perumal visited the temple. His wife, Queen Cherumdevi,wanted to build a shrine for Vishnu attached to the Sudarshana shrine. They ordered a Vishnu idol fromTamil Nadu after the temple was rebuilt. The queen dreamed that Garuda,disguised as a Brahmin, told her about Sreevallabhan's idol and asked toinstall it there. With thehelp of Garuda and the Tulu Brahmins, Cheraman Perumal brought the idol fromthe Netravathi River to Chakrapuram for installation. During theinstallation ceremony, the idol did not fit on the pedestal and the priestswent outside. They heard celestial instruments being played and the chanting ofVedic hymns from inside. Theysaw the idol installed in the right place, with blazing light andbananas in an Arecanut palm leaf in front of it. Durvasa and Vyasa came out ofthe sanctum-sanctorum and disappeared on the eastern bank of the Jalavanthy. Sreevallabha Temple had been builtby Uliyannoor Perumthachan, and the temple wall and flagstaff werecompleted in one day in 57 BC. History The deity of Sreevallabha, worshipped by Lakshmi and Krishna,was installed in the temple in 59 BC by sage Durvasa. Durvasa and Saptarishies are said to come to the temple every midnight. Present-day Thiruvalla was one of 64 Namboothiri villages inKerala, and is one of India's oldest settlements. Located at the mouth of the Manimala River, it was knownas Vallavai. The temple for Sudarshana Chakra wasbuilt by Sreedevi Antherjanam of Sankramangalathu Illam, and was rebuilt byQueen Cherumthevi in 59 BC. It was a spiritual and educationalcentre by 1100 CE, and had a Vedic school with about 1,500 students and 150teachers. The Vedas, Vedanta, Tarka Shastra, Mimamsa, Jyotisha, ayurveda, and Kalarippayattuwere taught. The temple had an ayurvedic hospital with facilities to treat 100patients at a time. Nammalvarand Thirumangai Alvar praised the temple, and the Sanskrit poet Daṇḍinmentioned it in his works. Malayalam's earliest prose is the Thiruvallainscriptions, dating to the first half of the 12th century CE which wasobtained from the temple in 1915. The 13th-century Unnuneeli Sandesam highlighted the temple. It had 15 major priestsand 180 subordinate priests. The temple acquired wealth,[6] and served food ingolden banana leaves. In1752-1753, KingMarthanda Varma of Travancore captured the temple from Pathillathil Pottimar. Architecture Built on the banks of ManimalaRiver, the temple covers 8.5 acres – the largest area of any Travancore temple. It is surrounded by a 12-foot-tall,566-foot-long, 4.5-foot-thick red-granite walls with a two-story gopuram(entrance tower) on each side. The wall was built in 57 BC. Outside the eastwall, a 1.5-acre pond has a copper flagstaff on its south bank. A platform forperforming Kathakali is in front of the east entrance. Inside the wall is awalking path. A dining hall is on the south-east; this is unique among othertemples, whose dining halls are on the north side. The temple auditorium andadministrative offices are next to it. Smaller shrines for Ganapathy and Ayyappan and anotherauditorium are on the south-west side. My note- On copper plates writings in this temple, itis mentioned Sasthaas Ayyappa and king of Pandalam brought up the child as Manikanta The temple guard, on the north sideof other temples, is on the south side. The sacred fig and mango trees beneathwhich Durvasa meditated are near the Ayyappan shrine. TheSankaramangalth Illam, where Lalithambika Antharjanam lived, is outside thewest tower. The north gopuram is only opened forUthra Sreebali festival. Aspring-fed pond, used by priests, is on the north-east. Vedavyasa and Durvasadisappeared from its east bank, and a building for priests is on the southside. North of the temple is an open-air shrine. The temple stage was destroyedby fire in 1915. The Garuda flagstaff made of black granite, stands 53.5 feethigh and was built in 57 BC; its lower end reaches the water table. Theflagstaff, topped by a three-foot statue of Garuda which faces the temple, hasbegun leaning and is surrounded by a three-tier edifice for support. A golden flagstaff is west ofit. West of the third flagstaff is a two-story, copper-roofedbuilding supported by 16 stone pillars which contains a ten-foot-high altar(main sacrificial stone). The pillars and roof are known for their carvings,and the building's western part has murals and a small shrine. Its centralcorridor leads to a 150-foot-long, 11-foot-wide building made of black stonesand supported by 54 stone pillars with a salabhanjika carved on each. Sanctum and deity The round, copper-roofed, golden-domed sreekovil is decoratedwith etched murals of Matsya, Kurma, Dakshinamurthy, Varaha, Ganapathy,Narasimha, Vamana, sudarshana, Parashurama, Rama, Purusha sukta, Balarama,Krishna, Lakshmi, Kalki and Garuda. The sreekovil has an outer circumference of160 feet and three concentric walls. Sreevallabha has a lotus in his right hand and the SudarshanaChakra is in his right upper hand; his left hand is on his waist. Theseven-foot-tall statue is at a height of 10 feet. Ban of women After a woman received salvation in the shrine, women weremore attracted to the temple. A woman who was enchanted by the handsome idolentered the sanctum sanctorum to marry Vishnu, and the administrators decidedto ban women from entering the temple after astrological counselling. On request, they agreed to allowwomen twice a year on the Arudra Darshanam day of the month of Dhanu and theVishu-festival day in the month of Medam. The ban was lifted in 1968. Vilwamangalam andNammalvar One early morning, Vilwamangalam Swamiyar visited the templewhile a dance troupe was performing kathakali. Swamiyar was astonished at notfeeling the presence of the deity. As he reached the outer enclosure, he saw ayoung Brahmin man watching the dance and recognised him as Vishnu. Vishnu disappeared into thetemple, saying that Swamiyar disturbed his enjoyment of his favourite dance.Thereafter, Kathakali is performedregularly in the temple. TheVaishnavite saint Nammalvar had visited the temple in the evening and fellasleep. He dreamed that Vishnu appeared as Padmanabha, sleeping in the ocean ofmilk; the infant Krishna with the universe in his mouth; and Vamana,who asked for three long strides of land from the asura king Mahabali. Will be continued in nextpart -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1835848527.2345267.1753619148900%40mail.yahoo.com.
