Guruvayur – The most revered temple of Kerala.
The temple of Guruvayur is the most profoundly venerated shrine in the state of Kerala. Legend says that the idol worshipped here is more than 5000 years old. The idol of the Guruvayur temple is unique as it is carved out of Pathalanjana Sila,* and is considered extremely sacred.
Legend says that this idol was worshiped by Lord Vishnu, Brahma (who handed it over to King Suthapas & his wife, Prsni), Kasyapa, Vasudeva, Sree Krishna and finally at the time of Krishna's ascension to Vaikunta,* he instructed Udhava to entrust Brahaspathi (the Guru of Devas*). A deluge had closed in on Dwaraka*, but Guru salvaged the idol with the help of his prime disciple, Vayu. Guru and Vayu went around the world in search of an ideal place. They met Parasurama who lead them to a lush green spot with a beautiful lotus tank.
Vishwakarma, the divine architect was requested to build the temple, which he designed in such a way that on the day of Vishu (Summer equinox…its on 15th april), the sun’s first rays shall fall straight on the Lord's feet.
The rituals & practices followed in this holy temple is based on Sree Adi Sankaracharya’s instance. The Chennas Namboodiris are the hereditary Tantri* of Guruvayur temple.
For the believer, the ten day Utsavam* that generally is celebrated between February – March every year is something to look forward to. All ten days, the place wears a festive look, streets dressed up with arches & festoons. Every house is freshly thatched and painted. The shrines are tastefully decorated with lights, plantain trunks, bunches of coconut and arecanut trees. The lamps & deepasthambams* are all lightened at this time of the year.
Main entrance of the temple
The mid-section of the deepam supported by the sarpa clan
Multi-storeyed deepam at the entrance of the temple
So here I was dressed in an Indian garb to visit the famous temple that was disposed to preserve the existing norms eyeing any change with prudish constraints. The hindu male devotee has to wear a dhoti* with the upper body being bare & the women should be in either a saree or the dhavani / pawadai*
Now this women was wearing a chudidar kurta* & therefore she needed to go rent the necessary clothes. Discomfited about rental clothes & yet determined to have the Lords darshan,* I rent a long flowing silken dhawani that I tie round my waist (on top of the original clothes) & the dupatta* doubles up to make a not so perfect half-saree.
I leave the mobile & camera behind since these are strictly not allowed inside the temple. Looking n feeling quite ridiculous, I enter the temple from a side entrance specifically for the ladies. I queue up in the ladies line & wait for my chance to enter the sacred temple along with many other ardent devotees.
The place is thick with devotee’s everywhere & in all the chaos, people suddenly start giving way to something at ground level. There is this young man who’s rolling on the ground doing a pradakshina* to realize his pledge to Sree Krishna. There are many who keep such pledges to appease the reverent deity.
The dhoopam’s * smoke emanating from the various temple exhausts blows right over our heads & a toddler who’s brought by his family to receive the blessing from the lord himself starts bawling so hard that I can see invisible vocal cords hanging precariously from both his ears. An unknown women offers a soothing drink that the child obligingly gulps only to start a fresh round of ragas, hard rock style.
Everyone’s chanting Hare Rama…Hare Krishna… Krishna Krishna…Hare Hare! We move ahead nudging & pushing one another with the inertia from behind that’s propelling us forward towards the good Lord! One moment I’m in front of god’s idol & as I try mentally talking to him, am shoved aside to allow the next devotee to take the darshan.
It’s unfair but then there are so many awaiting in the serpentine lines that move rather sluggishly coz everyone wants to have a personal tête-à-tête with their bhagwan*. After taking the darshan of the other gods (Ganesh, Vishnu & Lakshmi, Sree Krishna, Anjanai swami aka Hanuman) outside the main temple, I sit down to mentally say a prayer in peace.
The main temple looks rather plain with its outer walls a pale yellow with small delicate hand paintings depicting bal gopal’s* childhood days & his various leela’s*. Other tales of bhakt* Prahlad & Lord Naramsimha, a few stories from the Ramanayana & Mahabharata* are also represented on the temple walls. Fierce looking yakshasis* support the temple roof.
The temples outer courtyard has great characters from the ancient hindu mythology as well as a few saints. Few of the ones standing attendance are Subramanian, Kurooramma, Vyas, Narada (first idol I have seen sporting a moustache. Narada is always depicted in most tales clean shaven), Poonthanam, Vilwamangalam, Balaram, Shiva, Vishnu & Sree Krishna (in kathakali* clothes).
After purchasing some prasad* from the temple counter’s (got completely lost there coz all directions are in Malayalam*), I headed to drive down to visit the temple’s elephants. The camp is situated about 3 kms away from the main temple. This camp-site houses sixty-three elephants (current count) who are used during the temple festivals n processions.
Ganapati the lord of the elephants sits strategically to overlook all n sundry
Leave me alone! I wanna play!!!!
The pachyderms looked healthy n well tended & for the first time I also saw some healthy looking mahouts* with rounded paunches protruding over their dhotis. Until now, the mahouts I had encountered were all emaciated little chaps. So by the looks of things, the Guruvayur devasthanam does take good care of its wards.
I dont like to sleep alone...even a twig shall do!
Scram before I turn you into a bread spread
The majestic elephants looked intently as I clicked away. One huge tusker was not too impressed & sounded a loud warning to keep me from straying.
Beautiful eyes!
All in all…it was a wonderful darshan & experience with Lord Krishna on his home turf.
* Pathalanjana Sila – sacred stone
* Vaikunta - heavenly abode
* Devas – Heavenly gods
* Dwarka – Krishna’s kingdom
* Tantri - priests
* Utsavam - festival
* deepasthambams – a tall multi-storeyed lamp
* Dhoti – Ankle length cloth wrapped around the waist & is generally white or a light shade of yellow.
* pradakshina - circling the holy temple
* dhoopam – incense
* dhavani / pawadai - half saree
* Chudidar Kurta – Indian outfit
* Dupatta – an almost 2 mt long cloth used to compliment the chudidar kurta
* Darshan – look reverentially
* bhagwan - god
* Bal Gopal – sree Krishna as a child
* leela – extraordinary powers
*Bhakt - devotee
* Ramanayana & Mahabharata – great epics of the hindus
* Yakshasis – female devils
* kathakali – dance form belonging to Kerala
* Prasad – a blessed eatable in the form of bananas, payasam (sweet concoction made of wheat n milk), curd-rice etc depending on the time of the day
* Malayalam - the local language of the state
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