Thiruvilwamala Vilwadrinatha Temple.& PUNARJANI GUHA Thrissur, (Kerala).
Temple is dedicated to Shri Rama and Lakshmana and located on the hilltop 100 ft above the sea level along the side of the river Bharathappuzha Only temple in Kerala where Rama is swayambhu with 5 ft tall.
Legend......
Parasurama could not fully get rid of the sin of killing Kshatriyas even after giving dana, consecrating several temples, as the ghosts of the Kshatriyas killed by him appeared and asked him to give salvation. Thus he began to pray Maha Vishnu and heard a message, which said that Shiva has reached Vilwadri, and he should reach there immediately. Shiva presented him with an idol of Maha Vishnu that he worshipped in Kailasa and asked to place in a suitable place. Thus Parashurama installed the idol here.
Sage Amalaka, the son of Kashyapa, conducted huge penance praising Vishnu on the same spot. When he was doing penance, the demons tried attacking him and the power from Amalaka’s eyes turned them into a huge rock, called ‘Rakshasappara’.Sage Amalaka continued his penance and Maha Vishnu appeared before him with Sri Devi and Bhumi Devi. As per the request of sage Amalaka, for the well-being of the people, the Vishnu turned himself into a swayambhu idol, with his consorts and Ananta. The attack of demons still continued and they wanted to destroy the idols.
At last Maha Vishnu appeared from one of the pillars in the form of Narasimha, and killed the asura. Hearing the thundering sound made by the asura, all people woke up and seeing the ferocious form, many fainted, some prostrated on the ground and chanted the names of the Bhagwan At that time, sage Amalaka came there and with his devotion, Bhagwan came back to his original form, and blessed his devotees.
Punarjani Guha.....
The famous Punarjini Cave starts from “Bhoothanmala”.This cave is situated 2 km away from the temple towards the south-east and is a 150m long natural tunnel. On the eastern side, there is a huge peepal tree near ‘Bhoothanmala’, meaning ‘the hill of the ghosts’. The cave is believed to have been built by Vishwakarma, the divine architect, at the request of Brihaspati. People can enter this cave only on one day in a year – The 11th day (Ekadasi) on the month of Vrishcikam that is Guruvayoor Ekadasi. It is believed that crawling through the tunnel from one end to the other will wash away all of one’s sins and thus attain freedom from rebirth.
The 'noozhal' is a challenging task and not all can perform this ritual. The movement through the cave demands all kinds of bodily postures like standing, sitting, creeping, crawling.
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