Sree Raajaraajeswara temple Thaliparamba

About 300 meters south of the temple is the large chira believed to have been a poyka used by the great sage AGASTHYA FOR BATH. 

Route:- one and half kilometers north-east of Thalipparamba( chiravakku bus stop) 

Gopuras that exist east and west have adhisthaanam and walls with niches but no roof. On the eastern side there are 2 gopuras ,one inner and the other outer.The gignaticGpuram at the entrance was destroyed by Tippu's forces.

Brief history and the Legends

 origin of the idol

One day Devas approached Lord Siva and his consort Goddess Paarvathi and told them about the 3 Sivalingas made by Viswakarma made out of the power obtained by churning Aadithya, the Sun God Since the idols had their origin from Sun,due to their radiance and intolerable heat,they caused great hardships to the Devas.At their request Lord Siva took possession of all the three idols and gave them to the Goddess for daily worship.Centuries later when Sage Maandhaathaav pleased Lord Siva with his great penace,the Goddess presented one of the Sivalingas to him with the injunction that it should be only installed at a place where there is no grave yard.The sage went to many places in search of a suitable site and at last found Thalipparamba the most appropriate place that satisfied all the stipulations.The sage installed the idol he got at a sacred spot and worshipped it.After his death ,the idol disappeared at the same place deep into the earth. Muchukunda ,his son propitiated Lord Siva and got the second idol ,which he installed  over the earlier one in the same spot.In course of time ,this too disappeared deep into the earth at the same spot.Centuries later Sathasoman ,a king of Mooshaka dynasty and a great devotee of Siva propitiated lord Siva as advised by sage Agathya and got the third idol from Lord Siva.This was given to the king with out the permission of the Goddess.The great sage Agasthya himself consecrated the idol.The ghee-lamp which the sage Agasthya is said to have lit at the time of consecrations is still kept burning in the temple.For preserving the idol in tact later it was covered with a metal Golaka .It is said that Sathaasoman built the temple and made a gift of it to Perinchelloor Graamam. Lord Parashuraaman is believed to have guided Sathaasoman in building the temple,besides himself worshipping the Lord here .Lord Brahma  also is said to have done poojas to this idol.  

A myth

 After Sathi's immolation  Lord Siva with the charred body Sathi wandered here and there.To relieve him from his grief and also to remove the body from the hands of Siva, Mahaavishnu cut the body in to pieces with his Sudarshana chakram. The head fell at Thalipparamba and the yoni mandala fell at Chengannoor.The Sanctity of the temple is attributed to this.

The name Lakshmipuram 

One day Mahaavishnu directed his consort Mahaalakshmi to visit Sree Nilkhanta and pay Her respects to Him.When She entered the sanctum sanctorum, she saw the Lord Nilkhanta in disguise as Lord Mahaavishnu with 4 arms and the usual weapons in hand.She was perplexed.But Lord Nilakhanta soon took His original form and seated the Goddess in a piidham and honoured Her. When She tried to leave the temple ,Mahaakaalanthe guard of Lord Siva closed the western door of the Sreekovil .The Goddess could not leave the place.

At this time Mahaavishnu reached the place in disguise as Baalasubramanya and danced in front of Neelakhanta.Much delighted by the dance ,the Lord Nilkanta embraced the boy and kept Him in his lap.Baalasubramnya tried to help the Goddess by invoking her into his silver muruta. Realiszing the truth Lord Parameswara requested both to be always present there and shower their blessings.Thereafter the place is known as Lakshmipuram.  It is reported that to   commemorate this incident on every Sivaraathri day ,the thitambu of Sree Baalakrishnapperumaal of Trichambaram is taken on procession to the Sree Raajaraajeswara temple 

Vɑʟɪʏɑ BɑʟɪKKɑʟʟʊ

Namaskaaramandapam 

 It is believed that Sree Raama on his return from Lanka after slaying Raavana came to this temple and offered prayers at the place where the Namaskaaramandapam is now located.Since SreeRaama sat here and worshipped the deity no one including the thantri is allowed to prostrate at the Namaskaaramandapam.The mandapam has 16 pillars 4 round inner pillars,12 square outer ones.On the ceiling there are EXQUISITE CARVINGS

THE SHRINE OF RSHABHA

In the neighbouring paddy fields of the temple,people noticed the crops were destroyed at night. The local people took great  efforts to find out who destroyed their crops.One day they noticed a white bull visiting their fields and eating their crops.They chased the bull up to the temple.To their surprise,it disappeared into the temple suddenly. They prayed to the god and a prasnam was conducted Rshabha was installed in a separate shrine facing the deity. Rshbha also get the nivedyam when it is offered to Lord SIVA.

The water in this tank is believed to be that of Ganges and hence taken exclusively for temple purposes.

Kokkarni

There are exquisite wood carvings in the temple particularly in the dwithala part,at the ceilings of namaskaaramandapam and valiyambalam and also stone carvings on the eakathala part.These carvings depict motifs of deities and themes taken from puraanas

Two inscriptions are seen in this temple ,one reffering the completion of the tank in 700 K.E(1524 A.D) and the other to the construction of a platform in 954 K.E(1778 A.D)
Idols  The topmost idol is about is about 60 cms above peetham it looks like much taller.It has a glittering appearance when decorated with the luminous gold crescent(with 3 large eyes and prominent nose).On the southern side of the outer saandhaara facing south is the mural painting of Lord Dakshinaamoorththi.On the rear side of the sreekovil is the wodden idol of Sree Paarvathi facing west and and in standing pose. The Daaru silpa of Yakshi in standing posture having 2 hands,left hand holding a mirror and the right one in the form of putting a thilaka on the fore -head lookking into the mirror.The pancha-loha idol of Rshabhais in lying posture.
At the time of Aththaazha-pooja  nivedyam is kept in front of the deity. The door is closed and opened after some time.  It is believed that the Lord visits Cherukunnu Annapoorneswari and takes Aththaazham there.
Sree-Bhoothabali is conducted thrice in ayear at 7.30 pm on sivaraathri,vishu and puththari day.

Offerings The most popular offerings are neyyamrthu,ponnin-kutam,velli-kkutam,niramaala and pushpaanjali 

Time of worship 

It is believed that bhajanam in the temple and sayanapradikshanam on sivaraathri day will help a devotee to get cure from diseases like apasmaaram and also to have santhaana-vardhana

THANTRI OF THE TEMPLE

One  time both Sree Raajaraajeswara temple and Payyannoor Subramanya swami temple had one common thantri.In cource of time one of the then thantris found it difficult to attend to the rites of both the temples. So one day he invoked the Chaithanya of Sree Raajaraajeswara  into a conch and covered it with a putava(cloth) and tried to take it to Payyannoor. One pious Namboothiri noticed some un usual chaithanya in the face of the priest and became suspicious of his behaviour. Realising that his mischief had been noticed the thantri took back the conch to the shrine. By this act, the priest of the Tharananelloor lost the thantram of the templeand the namboothiri who found out the act was entrusted with the thantram of the temple.Since the mode of action was unveiling the cloth(putava oori) the illam of the namboothiri became pootayoori and in cource of time Putayoor.
A story:-The story tells that when the seizure of the temple was in progress,the priest was inside the sreekovilceaselessly praying day and night for the safety of the temple .The Lord heard his prayers.Tippu's forces had to retreat as the commander of the army was bitten by a Karinaagam and a serpent appeared in front of every soldier.Thus the temple was saved from destruction.

A peculiar feature of the temple is that women devotees are permitted to come only up to the front part of the vilakkumaatam and are not allowed to enter inside the temple till 8 pm 

Procedure of Pradakslnam 

Take bath in the chira which Sage Agasthya had used many a time followed by worshipping Lord Krishna by looking at south,and then Lord Saastha.Reaching at the main entrance at east look at east to worship Sree Kaanjirangaattu Vadyanaathan and then enter the Gopuram and move about a meter towards north and worship Jeshta bhagavathi. Then move towards south  and worship Sree Bhagavathi and worship Yakshi  and then worship Rishabha(Nandi) before commencing the outer circumambulation.On reaching south worship Lord Ganapathi,Lord Subramnya,Mahaakaalan,Nandikeshan and Lord Dakshinaamoorththiby lookking at north;in south-west corner and west worship Goddess Annapoorneswariand Goddess Maataayi bhagavathi;proceeding to north-west,sit for a while to get the blessings of Caashivishwanaathan.At the north- east is Kokkarniwhose waters are believed to be that of Ganges.So at this place worship Ganga. Then one has to enter 

through the main entrance and worship Sree Raajaraajeswara;worship Sree Dakshinaamoorththi,Goddess Paarvathi,and Lord Parashuraama(sankalpam only)and proceed by a  pradakshina as is done for devotional round in Siva temple.

Festivals