A Traveller's Diary - Coimbatore

In December 2015, we had a chance of staying in Coimbatore for one day. So, we wanted to see a few temples in and around Coimbatore during that visit.

Perur

We started at 7:30 AM and went to Perur, which is 11 kms away from Coimbatore, by bus. There is a famous temple for Lord Shiva in Perur. It was a 30 minute journey and we got down exactly in front of the temple at 8:00 AM. 

The temple was built by Karikala Chola in the 9th century. The Lord is said to be Swayambhu and is worshiped as Patteeswaran. There were around 500 devotees in the temple at that time. 

There is a Vinayagar shrine on the left side at the entrance of the main gopuram. We went inside and noticed that the walls and the pillars of the temple were beautifully carved. We had to walk a long way to see the main Lingam as the temple is very big in size. 

The special attraction of the temple is the foot print of Kamadhenu (the holy cow from the heaven) on the top of the Shiva Lingam. However, we were not permitted to go close enough to see the mark. There is a Golden Nataraja statue in this temple. This temple is considered to be as important as Chidambaram and is called Melai Chidambaram which means Chidambaram of the West. 

The Goddess is worshiped as Pachainayaki. There is a shrine for Lord Varadaraja Perumal outside the shrine of the Goddess. There is also a shrine for Murugan which is in between Shiva and Parvathi. There is also a shrine for Bhairav, however, he is seen without his dog here. He is worshiped as Gnana Bhairav and not Kala Bhairav.

It took almost one hour for us to come out as we saw each and everything in detail. The river Noyyal is close to the temple and the bones of the dead are cremated there. 

There is one restaurant on the other side of the road which looked in Tamil style. We went in and had our breakfast. Our plan was to see both Dhyanalinga and Murudamalai on that day. 

Dhyanalinga is located in the ashram (known as Isha Yoga Centre) of Jaggi Vasudevan, 30 kms away from Coimbatore (around 20 kms from Perur). However, the local people told us that, by the time we reach there, the temples in the ashram would be closed. On the other hand, temple in Murudamalai is open throughout the day. So, we wanted to go to Murudamalai first. We boarded a mini bus that started from that temple and reached a junction called Vadavalli which is around 10 kms from there. From there, Murudamalai is around 6 kms away. We hired an auto and reached the place in 15 minutes.

Murudumalai

Murudamalai (which is also known as Murudachalam) is one of the famous temples in Tamil Nadu dedicated to Murugan. There are six famous Murugan temples in Tamil Nadu which are called Arupadaiveedu (Palani, Tiruttani, Tiruchendur, Tirupparakunram, Pazhamudircholai and Swamy Malai). The temple at Murudamalai is considered as the seventh one in Arupadaiveedu (though there are just six temples in the list).

The temple is located up on a hillock (like most of the Murugan temples) and has to be reached only in temple buses. There were hundreds of devotees waiting in the queue to buy bus tickets. We also stood in the queue and bought the tickets. There are buses for every 10 minutes and the temple staff were helping devotees boarding the bus. We boarded the bus and reached the temple in 15 minutes. There were around 100 steps to reach the temple. It took around 10 minutes for us to reach the hilltop 

There are many small temples on the way to the main temple. We saw all these temples and reached the main temple. There was a queue in the main temple and there were hundreds of devotees waiting for darshan. We stood in the queue and it took more than half an hour for us to have our darshan. The idol was very beautifully carved and looked bigger than some of the idols in the Arupadaiveedu temples.

We had our lunch in a restaurant out there and boarded the temple bus to come down. We came back to the junction Vadavalli by auto and boarded another bus to to go Dhyanalinga. It took almost 45 minutes for us to reach that place. 

Dhyanalinga

Dhyanalinga is located in the ashram of Jaggi Vasudevan and the ashram is known as Isha Yogi Centre. This place is located at the Velliangiri foothills and is away from the city traffic. This place is surrounded by thousands of trees. 

We surrendered our shoes and handbags to the staff of the ashram and moved ahead after collecting the tokens. There is a big statue of Lord Shiva and almost all the visitors were taking photos in front of that statue.

We crossed that statue and went in. There was a small pond which was created by an artificial waterfall on the right side and some visitors were taking their bath in the pond. We didn`t do that as we left our luggage in Coimbatore and didn`t have another dress to wear. We moved further ahead and there was a big statue of Nandi (the vehicle of Shiva). Upon crossing the statue, we reached the entrance of the temple. 

We had to walk in clockwise direction and we first reached the temple of Goddess Parvathi who is worshiped as Linga Bhairavi there. The temple was closed as it was just 4:10 PM then and it would be opened at 4:30 PM. A queue had already been formed as around 150 people were standing at the main door. We also waited there in the queue along with them. 

The temple was opened exactly on time by a group people who looked like saints. To our utmost surprise, there was also a foreign lady, who was wearing Red saree, in that group of saints. We started to move in when we were allowed to and the queue moved so smoothly. 

The shrine of the Goddess is different from the normal Parvathi shres we see in other temples. It is a big Shiva Linga, which has 10 hands. It was decorated like Goddess Parvathi. Probably, it is to convey the message that Shiva and Parvathi are not different. The same foreign lady was standing in front of the Goddess and chanting slokas. There was complete silence inside the temple as none of the visitors was talking (not even whispering). 

We came out after being in front of the Goddess for about 10 minutes. There was a milk vending machine out there and we bought two cups of milk for ourselves which had badam powder and dry fruits mixed in it. 

From there, we started walking in the clockwise direction again to reach the main entrance of Dhyanalinga. However, when we were half way through, the staff of Isha Yoga Center advised to enter the hall, where Dhyanalinga was located, from the left side which is the entrance for senior citizens. I was also allowed to go in along with my mother. 

It's a very big hall constructed in round shape and, in the middle of the hall, existed the Dhyanalinga. There were devotees sitting all around the Dhyanalinga and were meditating. It was too dark out there and it took some time for our eyes to get used to that darkness. The staff guided us to a corner and signed us to sit there and meditate. There was a small stool over there and my mother sat on that. I sat on the floor and started to meditate.

In Sanskrit, Dhyana means meditation and Linga is the form of Shiva. The Dhynalinga is very big in size with more than 20 feet in height. Unlike in other Shiva temples, where puja and abhishekam are performed, here devotees were sitting around and meditating. The devotees were sent inside in batches with a gap of around 30 minutes. Some devotees were sitting in corners and continuing their meditation irrespective of batches. We also meditated for around half an hour and then a bell rang in low volume. The staff requested the devotees to leave so that next batch could come in. We walked around the Dyanalinga silently and left the hall. 

While we were going out of the premises, we noticed some devotees doing yoga throughout the path and most of them were foreigners. We continued to walk and came to the same Nandi statue we saw when we were going in. There were a few people taking photographs in front of that statue. We were not sure if we could take photographs as we were still inside the temple. But, the ashram staff permitted us to take the photograph on the condition that the other visitors shouldn`t be captured in the background. 

We came out and collected our belongings from the counters. We boarded our bus after a 15 minutes wait and reached Coimbatore at 7:00 PM. We also knew that there was a temple in Coimbatore, dedicated to Vinayagar which is considered as the biggest Vinayagar idol in Asia. When we inquired, a lady told that the temple was just 5 kms away from the railway station and asked us to hire an auto from there. We hired an auto and reached the temple in 10 minutes.

Periya Pillayar Temple

This temple is located in a place called Puliakulam. The temple is called Periya Pillayar Koil in the local language. The temple is in the middle of two roads and it is not so attractive. It is closed at 8:00 PM and were there at around 7:30 PM. 

At the entrance was a big idol of Mushika (rat) which is the vehicle of Ganesha. Once we crossed it and entered the main hall, we could see the big Ganesha. 

The idol is very big in size and looked so attractive. I doubted whether it was really the biggest Vinayagar in Asia as I saw other Vinayagar idols which were equally as big as this. However, the priest told me it's the biggest Vinayagar shrine in Asia among the idols worshiped as Moolvirat in a temple. But, I saw another big Vinayagar in Kurudumalai, near Kolar in Karnataka. That idol is also worshiped as Moolvirat in that temple and was made of Salagram stone. I was unable to decide which was bigger among these two.    

We were in the temple for half an hour and came out when it was about to be closed. We again hired an auto and reached the railway station. We had our dinner in a decent restaurant and went to our hotel room. We took rest for some time as it was not even 9:00 PM then and our train to Chennai (Cheran Express) was scheduled to depart at 10:40 PM. We vacated our room exactly at 10:00 PM and boarded our train at around 10:20 PM. 

A Traeller's Diary - Pullikkara, Bekal, Trikkanad, Palakkunnu, Kasaragod, Anantapura, Mujungavu & Madhur

We woke up at 6:30 AM and vacated our room in the tourist guest house in Kanhangad at 7:30 AM. We would have to catch our train to Coimbatore (West Coast Express) at 11:00 PM on that night from Kasaragod. In the meantime, we had a list of temples to cover between Kanhangad and Kasaragod. 

The first temple we wanted to visit was the Bhadrakali temple at Pullikara. As it is just 8 kms away from Kanhangad, We didn`t want to wait for buses. We hired an auto and reached the temple in 15 minutes. 

Pullikkara

The temple is not as big as we expected. Though the main gate was open, the main temple was closed. We were not sure why the temple was not open even at 7:45 AM. There was no priest and in fact, there was nobody around who could give us information. However, as the doors of the temple were made of grills, we could see the Goddess. 

There are small temples in the same complex for Ganesha, Shiva, Murugan and other deities. These temples were also closed and we had a similar darshan of these deities as well. We came out in 15 minutes with utter disappointment and reached Kanhangad in the same auto. 

We boarded a bus and reached Bekal in 20 minutes. The fort is just 500 meters away from the highway (where the bus stopped), however, as we were not aware how far the fort was, we hired an auto and reached the fort in less than 2 minutes. 

Bekal

The fort in Bekal is situated on a small rock on the shores of the Arabian Sea. We entered the fort after taking the entrance tickets. There is a temple named as Mukhya Prana Temple immediately after the entrance. We went in and understood that it was dedicated to Lord Hanuman (till then, we were not aware that Mukhya Prana was one of the 1008 names of Hanuman).

The fort is spread in acres of land and is huge in size. However, some parts of the fort were damaged and only the compound wall and some other constructions remained now. It is a visual feast to see the fort and the sea together. I suggest you to watch the song Tuhi re.... Tuhi re.... in Mani Ratnam's film Bombay (shot on Aravind Swamy and Manisha Koirala) to understand and enjoy the beauty of this fort.

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It took more than one hour for us to walk around the entire fort. We came out unwillingly as we had to cover other temples as well. We drank coconut water in a small shop opposite to the fort. When we told the shopkeeper that we wanted to visit the temples at Trikkanad and Pallikannu, she suggested us to hire an auto (instead of waiting for bus) as these places were not far away. We hired an auto and reached Trikkanad in less than 10 minutes (it is just 3 kms from there). 

Trikkanad 

The temple in Trikkanad is located exactly opposite to the Arabian Sea (temple facing the sea). The highway from Kochi to Mumbai separates the temple from the sea. It is one of the rarest temples that have the West facing. There are a few places in South India that are called Dakshin Kashi and Trikkanad is one among them. 

The shrine of the temple was believed to be consecrated by Kanva Maharshi. The temple is also famous for the rituals performed for the well-being of the souls of the dead. The devotees will have a holy dip in the Arabian Sea after performing the rituals here. 

The temple was crowded as around two thousand devotees were there. We stood in the queue for 15 minutes for darshan. We came out at around 10:00 AM after being in the temple for more than half an hour. The same auto driver then dropped us in front of the Bhagavathi temple at Palakkunnu (it is just 2 kms from there). 

Palakkunnu

This temple is located on the highway that connects Kasaragod with Kanhangad. It is just 100 meters away from the  Kottikulam railway station. Though there are so many Bhagavathi temples in Kerala, this temple is special as Bhagavathi is worshiped in two forms here., Mootha Bhagavathi (Durga) and Elaya Bhagavathi (Saraswathi). There are small temples for other deities also. We had a nice darshan of all the deities and we were in the temple for about twenty minutes. 

The priest of the temple told us about a Durga temple which is just 200 meters away from there. We had to cross the railway track near the railway station and go to the other side. This temple is not so big. 

Though this temple is dedicated to Durga, there is a Shiva temple also in the same premises. Here, Shiva is more important than Durga. We returned in less than 15 minutes after having the darshan of both the deities.

We came back and boarded our bus to Kasaragod exactly in front of the Bhagavathi temple (Palakkunnu). We reached Kasaragod in 20 minutes. The bus stopped in the old bus stand which is located just 50 meters away from the famous Mallikarjuna temple.

Kasaragod

The temple is on the banks of the river Kumbala. Lord Shiva was adorned by Arjuna (one of the Pandavas), hence, is worshipped as Mallikarjuna. This temple was renovated by the Ikkeri Kings in the 17th century. 

The temple was still open as it was a special day and there were thousands of people gathered there. The songs on Shiva were being played with huge mike sets. Though there were so many people around, we were able to have our darshan in 5 minutes. It looks the crowed gathered there from the morning and they had already had their darshan. 

We then visited the other temples for Ganapathi, Ayyappa and Durga existing in the same premises. After the darshan, we started to go out. As everybody was waiting there and we were the only ones going out, one of the temple staff asked for the reason. We said we had our darshan and, hence, were going out. He said that lunch would shortly be served to all the devotees and asked us to taste it as it's considered as Mahaprasadam. We decided to stay back and waited there for some time. To our utmost surprise, the songs from the famous Telugu movie Shankarabharanam were also played along with other Malayalam songs. Though we waited for more than half an hour, we didn`t feel bored as we were enjoying Telugu songs on Kerala soil.

The lunch was served in buffet system as it would not be possible to make thousands of people sit and serve them in that limited area. The volunteers helped us collect our food and it had rice, sweet, curry, sambar and curd. 

After having our lunch, we went back to the same bus stand. Our plan was to visit Ananthapura and Mathur in the evening before coming back to Kasaragod to board our train. When I inquired how to go to Ananthapura from there, someone told me to go to Kumbla which is 12 kms away and from there Ananthapura is just 5 kms. 

We boarded a bus and reached Kumbla in 25 minutes. There we boarded another bus and got down on the highway at a place called Naikap in 10 minutes. From here, Ananthapura temple is just one kilometer away. Our plan was to see the temple in Ananthapura and then to go to Madhur. However, after getting down there, I came to know about another temple in a small village (Mujungavu), exactly in the opposite direction to Ananthapura. So we wanted to go to that village also after our visit to Ananthapura.

Ananthapura 

Ananthapura is a small village in the Northern part of Kerala and is famous because of the lake temple. It is the only lake temple in Kerala. It is also the second Ananthapadmanabha temple in Kerala (first being the temple in Thiruvananthapuram which is on the Southern part). We hired an auto from Naikap and reached the temple at 2:30 PM, but, the temple was closed then. The auto driver gave his mobile number and asked me to call him if we wouldn`t find a vehicle after our darshan.

As the temple is located in the middle of a lake, the weather was so pleasant though it was very hot and humid out there. The priest opened the temple at 4:30 PM and we waited for around 2 hours by then. The main shrine in the temple is in standing pose, unlike the one in Thiruvananthapuram. 

After our darshan, the priest took me to a corner of the lake and there is a cave there. It is a belief that that cave leads to the other Ananthapadmanabha swamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram. At the beginning of the cave, was a crocodile. The priest said that the name of the crocodile is Babita. 

This crocodile is considered to be the custodian of the temple and it eats only vegetarian food. There was rice and fruits around Babita (May be, it is the only vegetarian crocodile in the entire world). The priest took me very close to the crocodile and we both stood just two feet away from Babita. He said Babita is so soft in nature and doesn't harm anybody though people take holy bath in the tank everyday. It is also a belief that there has always been a crocodile in the tank since ancient times. The moment one dies, another one appears. 

He told me to visit the temple dedicated to Lord Vinayaka which is located on the other side of the lake. We took one parikrama of the lake and visited that temple as well. We came out and noticed that there was no vehicle around. I called the auto driver and he came in 10 minutes. We crossed Naikap bus stop and went to Mujungavu.  

Mujungavu

Mujungavu village is just 1.5 kms away from Naikap bus stop and is even smaller than Ananthapura. The temple is dedicated to Lord Krishna who is worshipped as Partha Sarathi here. After reaching the temple we noticed that there was no mode of transport available. So, we asked the driver to stay there for 10 minutes and went in.

The temple looked as it was recently renovated. It was not in the normal traditional Kerala style from outside. It looked it was opened just then. The priest was chanting slokas and we stood in front of the Lord for 5 minutes.

We came out well within ten minutes as we had a quick darshan. 
Our last visit for the day was Madhur. We requested the auto driver to take us to the temple at Madhur as it's hardly 10 kms from there, but he refused as he had other commitments. He dropped us at the same bus stop in Naikap in 5 minutes. As there was no direct bus to Madhur, we boarded a bus and reached a junction called Sithangoli, which is just 3 kms from there. 

We crossed the road in Sithangoli and boarded another bus which was ready to leave for Kasaragod (from a different direction). It wouldn`t go to Madhur, but would go to a place called Uliyathadka (which is also a junction) from where Madhur was just one kilometer away. We got down at Uliyathadka which is 6 kms from Sithangoli. We again hired an auto and reached the temple in Madhur in less than 5 minutes. We had our evening tea in a small hotel in the temple street. 

Madhur

The temple in Madhur is very big in size and is spread in acres. It is dedicated to Lord Shiva who is worshipped as Sri Madanteswara here. However, there is a Ganesha shrine inside the temple who is said to be growing day by day. The temple became famous due to this Ganesha who is worshipped as Sidhi Vinayaka. 

The priest told us that Tipu Sultan invaded some parts of Kerala and demolished a few temples. He wanted to destroy Madhur temple also, however, after drinking the water from the well of this temple, he changed his mind and left the temple without doing any harm to it. But to satisfy his soldiers, he made a cut with his sword on the wall symbolizing his attack. The scar on the wall is visible even now.

It took some time for us to go around and visit the main temple and all the other temples in the same complex. We came out at around 7:30 PM. There are plenty of buses from Madhur to Kasaragod, which is just 8 kms away, and they stop exactly in front of the temple. We boarded a bus and reached Kasaragod in less than 20 minutes. This time, the bus stopped in the new bus stand. From there, we reached the railway station at around 8:00 PM by auto. We had our dinner in the railway canteen which is on the first platform as I couldn`t see any decent restaurant around the railway station. We had a long wait of about three hours before we boarded the train (West Coast Express) at 11:00 PM to leave for Coimbattore.