Vaikom Mahadeva Temple / Ettumanoor Mahadeva Temple / Kaduthuruthy Mahadeva Temple

The three Shiva temples in different regions, almost equidistant to each other, carry the same legend. A sage named Kharasura, upon receiving the Shaiva Vidya Upadesh from Malyavan, went to Mount Kailash and did severe penance to attain paradise. Pleased with his penance, lord Shiva granted all the boons he asked and presented him with three great Shiva lingams drawn out of him. Assuring that he will ever be present in them, lord Shiva disappeared, asking Kharasura to worship the lingams to attain Moksha. When Kharasura was returning south from the Himalayas with the three lingams, one in his right hand, one in his left hand and other by the neck, he felt tired and rested while keeping the lingams on the floor.

After rest, when he tried to pick up the lingams, they did not budge. He realized that it was Shiva’s play and when called unto, the heavens spoke thus, ‘I shall remain here giving freedom from birth to whomever takes refuge in me’. Kharasura, having attained Moksha instantly, entrusted the holy lingams to the custody of Maharshi Vyaghrapada, who had followed him. Belief is that the Shiva lingam placed by Kharasura by his right hand is being worshipped at Vaikom, the one in left hand at Ettumanoor and the one by neck at Kaduthuruthy. The fact that the distance from Vaikom to Kaduthuruthy and from there to Ettumanoor is more or less the same, gives credence to this legend.

So the visit of all these three lingas on the same day is considered as good as the Shiva darshan at Mount Kailash. Among the three, Vaikom temple is highly known and visited by the pilgrims. It was in the ownership of 108 families in olden days. The owners were divided into two groups and one group joined the ruler’s side. Their disputes and quarrels increased day by day. The chief of a group Njallal Namboothiri was prepared to stop the pooja at noon, which had been done by the other group. At that time the Naivedya was used to be placed in the western side of the Namaskara Mandapam. The Njallal Namboothiri kept his apron above the western door of the temple and went near the pooja, spat the remains of his betel chewing on it.

The pooja was disrupted. On return, while he was taking his apron from the door top, a highly poisonous snake bit him to death. The western door of the temple courtyard automatically closed itself and the door remains closed to this day to show the wrath of the lord against the disruption of his poojas. One of the bigger temples in Kerala, this has a courtyard of 8 acres of land. The premises levelled with river sand are protected by compound walls with four towers on all the four sides. Near the eastern tower, there is a protected platform where a pipal tree, a mango tree and a jackfruit tree grow. The golden flagstaff is the pride of the temple.