Mavelikkara Kandiyur Madeva temple

Mavelikkara  Kandiyur Madeva temple

Compiled by

P.R.Ramachander

One of the very famous temples  of Lord Shiva is the Kandiyur Mahadeva  temple which is near Mavelikkara.It is considered as one of the great 108 temples of  Shiva in the world   and is called Dakshina kasi (the Benares of the south.) .There are two old  stories about the temple.One of them is about Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu  trying to find the head and feet of Lord Shjiva respectively.lOrd Vishnu  agreed that he had failed but Lord Brahma told a lie that  he had found out the head of Lord Shiva and the Thazham poo(pandanus flower) stood false witness this. The enraged Lord Shiva cut off one of the five heads ofd Lord Brahma  .It seems this head  struck to his hand.It seems as per the advice of Lord  Vishnu, Lord Shiva  created  a sacred water and take bath in it . It seems the head  of Brahma got detached from hands of Lord Shiva. Because of this Lord Shiva got the name  Sri Kanta  and this temple was named after him. Kandiyur has the pond  where Lord Shiva made and got  rid of his problem..There is yet  another  story. It seems  that once when sage Mrukandu the father  of Markandeya    was taking bath oin Ganges, he got an idol of  Lord Shiva.It seems he was worshipping it for a long timr and that  Idol consecrated in Kandiyur    .It is believed that two years before the start of Kollamandu(AD 823)  , a new year system called Kandiyur Abdham was started in Kandiyur  as it was a capital of a dynasty  in Travancore.and later  it fell in to disuse because  Kollamandu became more popular. It is believed that the temple was built in 823 AD by  Cheraman Perumal Nayanar also called as  Rajaseskara Varman  who was ruling from Tiruvanchikulam as capital. The worship of the  temple  was being done by Tarananallor  Namboodiri at  that  time.They are still  continuing as priests   of the temple. It seems that area after  a long time was ruled by  the Kayamkulam kings .It seems once the Kayamkulamn king was defeated by Venattu kings and at that time the  Ruling Kayamkulam king escaped through the western   door cloing it after him and till to date that  western gate of the temple has never been opened..There are several carvings in Tamil vattezhuthu in the temple..iN that there is a reference that  the temple was renovated  in 1217-1218 Ad.

   The temple is in a six acre compound which is surrounded by a huge compound wall..People believe that  the entire compound was  built within  a night by  Bhootha Ganas of Lord Shiva. Apart from the main temple   the compound has  eleven other  sub temples as well as a Naga(serpent) prathishta,.These temples are  the temple of Lord Vishnu, Pradosha Shiva, Sastha, Gosala Krishna, Annapurneswari , SAnikaranSubrahmanyan, Brahma Rakshas   Vadakum nadha and so on . The following Poojas are daily  performed at the temple, Usha pooja 05:45 to 07:00 Am Sree Bali 07:30 Am Panthiradi Pooja 08:30 Am Mrithyunjaya Homam 09:30 Am Navakam Kalasha Pooja 10:00 Am Ucha Pooja 10:30 Am Nada Adakunna Samayam 11:00 Am Vaaikittu Nada Thurakunna Samayam 05:00 Pm Deeparadhana 06:30 to 07:00 Pm Athazha Pooja 07:30 Pm Sree Bali(Nada Adaykkunu) 07:45 Pm. The temple has a ten day festival in the Dhanu month   and Aarattu during Thiruvadira.