Guruvayur , Vithvakode and ThiruNavaa.

Believe it or not.I travelled nearly 1000 kms by road in this trip and i didn't see a single vacant plot .Houses and shops alternated each other endlessly .More so on the main roads.

On the way to Vithvakode the flashy house fell away one by one but houses remained and gap between cities widened a bit.Auto's were plying .
Passed a small rubber plantation and few paddy fields that were all intersped with dwellings.and finally reached Vithavakod.
I let out a sigh of relief .At last i managed to set my foot on an village in Kerala! The driver stated flatly that it was but a matter of time ,at the most 5 years before this would also become a shining city!

The river Bhartpuzha flows by the temple that was consecrated and worshipped by all the Pandavas .As we had reached much before the evening temple timing i whiled away the time watching the river flow and young men bathing and swimming happily whilst women washed clothes on the banks.
The river reminded me of Kulasekhara Aazhwar's hymn describing Vithvakode in 8 th centAD as a place sorrounded by a river in which fish swam playfully.
It turned out that 2 of the men bathing were the priests of the temple who were taking the mandatory bath before commencing the evening rituals.
One priest explained that the main Deity Uyavandan and Thayar Vithvakodvalli would cure any one who comes there of their ailments.

According to the stahla purana Ambreesh rishi had meditated in this place seeking Bhagwan's enshrinement in 4 Vyuha form which was fulfilled.The said muni attained mukthi in this sthalam.Pancha pandavas have all come together to consecrate the 4 forms and worshipped them.
After the oil lamps were lit we paid our obeisance
to both Siva and Vishnu ,this being one of 108 sivaalayams as well,the shrine of siva is in the front is and left to Thirunava 70 kms away and were in time for the 6.30 pm arti.

The river Bharatpuzha also flows by right in front of the temple.This place is known as Dakshina kasi and shraddas are performed in its banks.Dusk had fallen and the water hid under darkness and flowed gently without a murmur or whisper .An ethreal effect.

According to sthala purana 9 yogi's performed yagnas in this place .The belief is that on a petition by Gajendran ,Bhagwan forbade Lakshmi to puck lotus from from nearby ponds so that the elephant devotee could do so and offer them to Vishnu daily and enshrined Lakshmi within himself so that she too would receive Gajedrans adulations.

Moolavar---Navai Mukundan//Narayana and Malarmangai nachiar..

Then came back to Guruvayur to pay obeisance to Krishna ofDakshina Dwaraka.
It is said that just before the deluge at Dwaraka the idol of Krishna was brought here and worshipped ever since.
It is no wonder that i was reminded of my earlier trips to Guruvayur in my recent trip to Dwaraka .This connection i got to know only later, explains it.

It is only in this temple of all those i visited in Kerala so far, that there were very large crowds of devotees .There were several police faces as well.
The queue moved quickly though long and had a darshan of Guruvayurappa /Krishan whose face was hidden under layers of chandan with only the eyes and mouth visible.Guruvayur appa and Narayana rent the air.
Two elephants were busy chewing shoots within the temple with their mahouts at their heels.

The milling crowd was a sharp contrast to Vithvakode that had only the two of us to behold .

Had another darshan in the morning next and witnessed the 'Anna prasana' ceremony whilst waiting in the queue.There are no homams or Vedic chanting but a very simple procedure of parents feeding their infants with cooked rice supplied by the temple .It was all over within few minutes.Several young men were performing anga pradakshina.

The wait in the ladies queue was long and when entry was allowed there was this frantic pushing , elbowing amidst chanting of 'Guruvayurappa'.The darshan was barely for a second however the atmosphere, out of this world.It was soaked with deep faith and absolute surrender.

The prasad'piping hot pal payasm -[-kheer ]available for a small sum at a counter was absolutely ,tasty!

Photo.Vithvakod