Manikandeswaram Uma Maheswara temple is a Hindu temple and is dedicated to Shiva and Parvati. It is located in Vadakkekkad, Thrissur district, Kerala, India.Considered to be more than two thousand years old, this is one of the oldest temples in India. It is also one of the rare temples where Shiva and Parvati reside in the same sanctum sanctorum(sreekovil) with Ganapati right outside. The concept is that of Shiva holding Parvati with his left palm while Ganapati is sitting on Parvati’s lap.
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History
Vadakkekkad, where the temple is located, was supposed to be a thickly forested area with a river flowing to the east. The flora and fauna has disappeared since but there exists a canal which flows to the east. It came under the kingdom of Malabar.
Manikandeswaram temple was attacked by Tipu Sultan in 1790. He destroyed the ‘Ana mathil’ ( heavily built wall modeled on an elephant) and ransacked the temple . All the money and valuables kept in the temple were taken away. He also cut off the face of ‘ Nandi’ and ‘Dwarakapalakan’ statues in the temple. These statues are still kept in the temple in a damaged state.
Zamorin was king of Malabar, also called Calicut and hence the temple came under his rule . He in turn entrusted the management of the temple to three kingdoms (Eliyangad, Cheralayam and Manakkulam)- including tax collection from the associated land.
It had ownership of around 800 acres of land in Kerala once upon a time and a lot of this land was lost due to land reforms act in Kerala in mid-1960s and some due to encroachment. A lot of temples in Kerala could not afford to conduct day to day poojas after land reforms since they lost most of their assets but Uma Maheswara temple continued daily poojas even then albeit on a lower scale.
Legend
There is a banyan tree within the temple premises – famous poet Vallathol Narayana Menon apparently composed part of Magdalana Mariyam in the shades of this tree. It was the favourite haunt of Kuttikrishna Marar famous for his magnum opus Bharathaparyadanam.
The temple structure
Temple is spread over an acre of land and consist of medium-sized temple pond along with temples of Palakkal Bhagavathy (form of Durga), Ayyappa outside the main temple building. Palakkal Bhagavathy is considered to be in asura gana and Uma Maheswara temple in deva gana. The main building has a Shiva temple (called Vadakke Shiva, named as such due to the position of idol) apart from 'Shiva kudumbam (family)'.
There are numerous sculptures around the sreekovil which are considerably older than the construction around it but the exact age of them have not been ascertained.
Oottupura (The dining hall) in the temple was once famous for lavish feasts that fed more than 3000-3500 thousand people every day according to Malabar Manual by William Logan. This was the only Oottupura in a long stretch of distance when the only means of transport was walking, and it fed all the travellers passing-by from Ponnani to Guruvayur. Parts of its roof were manufactured centuries ago. Upper floor has a small window which was used by rulers to supervise the arrangements and ensure that all the guests were well taken care off.
Temple has a ‘Janma nakshatrakkavu’ which has trees associated with all the ‘stars’ of a Malayalam month (twenty seven in all, from Aswathy to Revathi). This is again is a rare occurrence.
Importance of the temple
Uma Maheswara temple is family deity of more than thousand Tharavadus (each of which is further subdivided into many families) and still follow a number of rituals practiced since olden days.
Temple administration and Pooja details
Temple comes under Malabar devaswom board and is run by a four-member trustee board.
Puliyanur is the ‘thanthri’ of the temple.
It opens at 5.30AM in the morning and closes at 9.30AM
List of morning poojas
Nirmalyam
Ganapati homam
Usha pooja
Sree rudra dhara
Ucha pooja
It reopens at 5.30PM in the evening and closes for the day approximately at 7.30PM
Main poojas in the evening session are
Lalitha sahasranamarchana
Deeparadhana
Athazha pooja
Important offerings
Uma Maheswara pooja (for improving marriage prospects of unmarried and long-lasting marriage for couples)
Sankhabhishekam – done on the morning of first Monday in Malayalam era ( for cure from illness and achievement of desired objectives)
Vaaram - done in the evening of first Monday in Malayalam era (for prosperity and achievement of desired objectives)
Sree rudhra dhara ( for cure from illness)
Santhana Labdhi pooja (for offsprings)
Kaarya sidhi pooja to Ayyappa (for achievement of desired objectives)
Thulabharam
Mangalya pooja
Single appam for vettekkaran
Kalasam for Palakkal Bhagavathy
108 appams for Ganapati ( for achievement of desired objectives)