Papanasam /varkala beach

Varkala is a picturesque place with roads winding up and down with Ayurvedic resorts and houses playing hide and seek from under the thick canopy of trees.

This is not a divyadesam but has an ancient temple more than 2000years of age and is on the way to Chenganacheri.

The temple is exquisite .Each sculpture has been treated in such a way that they glow like as if they are oiled!

In times gone by a Pandian king retrieved the idol of Sri Jaganatha from the nearby Papanasam sea and on consecrating the deity in this place he was cured of his long troubling ailments.The ancient belief is that this was the place where several rishi's performed severe tapas as prayachistam for laughing at Brahma.

The small and neat temple with Janardhana /Krishna as the main deity can be viewed only by bending into double,.
Most people left after the morning Neivedyam and Arti and i had a part of the temple all to myself to meditate and introspect .The only sound was that of koels cooing from tree tops.

In the papanasam beach which is but few steps away from the temple many boys in white dhothi were performing rituals to their ancestors under the guidance of priests [who are alloted numbers due to court order]and then proceeded to the sea to take a dip in it.The ashes of the cremated kith and kin are immersed and dissolved in this sea.

I sprinkled the water on my head hoping that it would wash away my karmas as is the belief associated with this beach .This belief has seeped into these waters since time imemorial and it also seeped into me and my eyes pricked,it was not because of the salty waters.