Sucheendram Sthanumalaya Perumal Swamy Temple is dedicated to Lord Sthanumalayan aka Lord Shiva(Sthanu) - Lord Vishnu (Maal) - Lord Brahma (Aayan), situated in the Kanyakumari district, 77 kms away from Thiruvananthapuram by the side of the National highway, on the Kanyakumari (Kanyakumari is just 13 kms away from Sucheendram) route.
The place is revered as the one where Lord Shiva gave 'Jhanopadesa'(Divine Knowledge) to Adi Sankaracharya.
Ages ago, Suchindram was a dense forest known as 'Jhanaranya'. Many ascetics are said to have housed there and obtained salvation through rigorous meditation. Here Jhana means Knowledge and Aranya means forest. Once upon a time, Sage Atri with his wife Anasuya lived in this forest to perform penance. Anasuya was the embodiment of chastity and treated her husband as her God himself. After taking an early morning bath in the holy streams, Anasuya will make earthen vessels with the power of her chastity and will bring Ganga to it. With that she conducts her daily worship at the feet of her husband. It happened that for a number of years there was no rain in 'Jhanaranya'. Sage Atri decided to arrange a yajna to invoke Indra to bless the land with showers.
Meanwhile, due to the ardent devotion of the Sage, Brahma appeared before him. Atri begged to know the reason for the failure of the rains. But Brahma, the Creator of the Universe, pretended ignorance and disappeared. Then, the Rishi prayed to Lord Vishnu who too could not give a proper answer. Highly disappointed, Atri decided to ask to Lord Shiva. This time, Trimurtis appeared before him and suggested that it might be due the curse of Sage Gautama upon Indra, the God of rains, and advised him to go to the Himalayas, and continue his prayers.
Sage Atri was in a fix as he couldn't leave Anasooya behind. The solution came from Anasuya herself as she could read the mind of her husband. She suggested that she won't stand in sage's way of bringing rains to that parched land but should grant her his Padatheertha (i.e. water with which sage's feet have been washed) and with it she could be able to live alone and safe during his absence. Atri agreed to this and Anasuya collected the Padatheertha which she kept in a conch-shell. After blessing his wife, Atri started for the Himalayas with a peaceful mind. Meanwhile, the three Goddesses, Lakshmi, Saraswathi and Parvathi, were on a fanciful musing that they themselves are the supreme seats of Chastity in the feminine realm. The Trinity wished to put Atri to a severe test and they summoned the services of Narada, the holy wanderer of the three worlds. Narada laid out his scheme to prevent Atri from continuing his yajna and at the same time show to the world the power of chastity.
One day, Narada went to see the three devis with some iron beans.On reaching them, he requested the Goddesses to get the iron beans fried for him. They were at their wits’ end to know how to fry those iron beans. They thought that Narada had gone crazy to make such a ridiculous request. But Narada insisted that he knew a lady on earth, who could do it easily. This aroused jealousy in the minds of the Goddesses. Narada asked them whether they would admit defeat before that lady, if she could fry the beans.
The Goddesses replied that they would even worship that lady if she could perform such an implausible thing. With that promise from the Goddesses, Narada appeared before Anasuya and requested her to fry the iron beans. When Anasuya was slightly upset at the absurdity of the demand, she remembered of the Padatheertha of her husband and at once became confident that she could do it. Thereupon she brought the sacred water and strew it on the iron beans by uttering the name of her husband. Instantly the iron was fried. Narada took leave of Anasuya, placed the fried iron beans before the Goddesses. Goddesses soon understood that it was unwise to consider themselves supreme though they were the proud consorts of the Trinity. The Goddesses were offended at this and asked Narada about the lady who had accomplished such an impossible task. Narada revealed to them the name of Anasuya and told them that she is the wife of Sage Atri. He also told that as long as Anasuya live on earth, nobody could consider herself the chastest. These poignant words of Narada made them jealous of Anasuya. They sought the help of Narada himself to break Anasuya’s chastity. Narada said that though their request is unlikely to fulfill, yet, if their husbands would help, something might be done. So, he advised them to seek the help of their respective husbands, who are the Lords of the Universe.
Goddesses waited for the arrival of their Lords and on their return, narrated the cause of their unhappiness and prayed to their help. Unable to refuse the requests of their better-halves, the Trinity promised to help them and started on their mission.They transformed themselves into old mendicants and went to the hermitage of Anasuya. The devout lady welcomed them in the traditional way. The three beggars pretended to be tired and hungry. Anasuya promised to provide them food, but requested them to have their holy bath and prayers first. The holy beggars returned after their bath and prayers. By that time, a sumptuous dinner was ready for them. Leaves were spread and various dishes were served. But the guests refused to partake of them. Anasuya feared whether she had failed in any duty and begged to be told what she could do for them. They said in reply that they were under an oath and if fail to fulfill, they could not sit for food. Anasuya with folded hands promised to effectuate their pledge at any cost.
They revealed that they won't touch the food unless served it without a stitch. Without violating her chastity, Anasuya couldn't do that. To send away the hungry guests without feeding them is one of the greatest of the sins. For a few moments, Anasuya was in a state of dilemma. She remembered of the Padatheertha of her lord. She went in, brought the holy water and sprinkled it on the guests. Instantly the three deities were transformed into three babies. Anasuya at once threw off her garments and suckled the babies. Thus, chastity of the woman triumphed even against the Gods. Anasuya had never experienced the bliss of motherhood. After fondling the three babies, she longed to have cradles for them. With the power of her lord’s Padateertha she obtained cradles, put the holy babies into them and lullabied them to sleep. Narada went to the Himalayas to convey this news to Sage Atri.
Narada told Atri that his wife, the chaste Anasuya, had given birth to three babies in his absence. With these words, Narada abruptly left. Atri, halted the Yanja and retired to his cottage in Jhanaranya. On reaching his hermitage, he summoned his wife Anasuya and questioned her about the babies. Anasuya narrated the entire incident to her lord. Sage Atri repented for his hasty anger and was proud of possessing such a wife.Now it was a long time since the Trinity had left their holy abodes. So the Goddesses became anxious about them. Narada again appeared before them and told about the rueful situation of their lords. The Goddesses, in tears, begged off Narada to help them to regain their husbands. Narada suggested them to pay a visit to Jhanaranya and beg to Anasuya. He added that only she can give back the true form of their lords.
Goddesses soon came to see Anasuya who did not know that they were the consorts of the Trimurtis. However, she humbly welcomed them, and asked about the purpose of their visit. The Goddesses told her that they missed their husbands and wanted to have them back. Anasuya now understood that the three babies in the cradles were none other than the three Gods - Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. She showed them the cradles where the babies were lying.Goddesses ran to the cradles with great joy and took the babies in their arms without knowing who was who. In order to help them recognise their husbands, Anasuya prayed to Agni(God of fire, Agni acted as the guardian of the hermitage in the absence of Atri) to resume the Trinity their true form. Alas! Brahma was in Lakshmi’s embrace, Siva was on the lap of Saraswati and Vishnu cuddling by Parvati! The Devis were humiliated in the presence of the chaste Anasuya and they hung their heads down in shame.
The name Suchindram connotes the place where Indra was purified of his sins by thrusting his hand into the boiling ghee, for his lust towards Ahalya, the wife of Sage Gautama. Ahalya also got purified here. There fore, this place is called Sodhana Tirtha. Legend has it that Indra was infatuated by Ahalya who was the second woman created by Brahma(first was Saraswathi), the wife of Rishi Gautama. One night he came to the hermitage where Gautama was living at dawn and made the sound a cock. Rishi Gautama thinking that dawn was imminent awoke from his sleep and went to the river for his ablutions prior to commencing his prayers. Realising that it was too dark for dawn he returned to his hut.
In the meantime Lord Indra took the physical appearance of Rishi Gautama, approached Ahalya and had intercourse with her. Rishi Gautama returning from the river was enraged when he saw his wife having sex with another man. He cursed Indra to have one thousand male organ of copulation allover his body and his wife Ahalya to become a statue of stone. Both of them pleaded to the sage for absolution. Having pleased by this, Gautama converted the copulation organs over the body of Indra to eyes and told Ahalya that she will be redeemed by the holy touch of Lord Rama's feet.
Lord Indra in order to get rid of his one thousand eyes, went to Ghanaranya and started praying the Trinity to free him of this curse after dipping his hand in molten ghee, an act of inflicting pain to oneself in penitence. He built a temple here and worshipped the swayambhoo linga that represents the trinity, Thanu-Maal-Ayan.
Thrusting the hands of the accused in the boiling ghee, for confirming whether they are guilty or not, had been done in the temple till AD 1811 when Her Highness Rani Laxmi Bhai, Queen of Travancore, attached the temple to the government and abolished the custom(Some say that His Highness Swathi Thirunal abolished the custom).
Inside the temple precincts, one could see a gigantic idol of Hanuman, almost 20 ft high and is said to be in the stature as he had shown to Sita(Viswaroopa), when she was in Lanka. The enormous size of the idol itself is just startling and ladders are used to adorn as well as to remove the large garlands embellishing the lord. According to some, the idol is having a certain amount of growth each year.
Directly opposite to the idol of Hanuman, at the other end of the corridor, the beautiful icons of Sri Rama and Sita can be seen in a small shrine. There are about thirty shrines in the temple.
Suchindram temple may well be considered as one of the storehouses of richest specimens of sculpture in stone. The Gopuram itself is a massive structure depicting mythological stories from Indian scriptures and is moulded with six golden bowls. It took seven years to complete the structure and was completed during the reign of His Highness Sree Moolam Thirunal. Jwarahara Moorthi here is famous for eradicating diseases of the devotees. The moment one enters into the temple through the Gopuram, which is 134 feet high, he comes across the hollow trunk of a tree estimated to be over 2500 years old. The trunk has been plated to preserve it from decay. In that hollow there are 3 lingams resembling the trinity with an image of Anasuya, who turned them into babies, at its centre.
By its side, the white bull Nandi, known to be 800 years old, can be seen looking towards the sanctum(Vadakkedam) where the Trinity are installed in the form of a Linga, having 16 moons mounted one over the other, under the canopy of a serpent. It is believed that Indra comes here for daily worship at night(Ardhayama pooja) and hence the usual temple rites will be over by dusk.
A shrine of Vishnu can also be seen adjacent to this on the south side and is called as 'Thekkedam'. The priests should take a pledge before entering for daily rites that they would not tell what they have seen inside the sanctums(It is also heard that such an oath is also taken in Mookambika devi temple at Kollur).
In front of the sanctum sanctorum there is Champakaraman Mandapam with 32 pillars depicting exquisite carvings below the ceiling. The entire stories of Anasuya and of the Ramayana had been carved on the northern and southern sides respectively.
Adjacent to the northern corridor, in the Alankara mandapam, there are the famous four musical pillars, cut out of a single block of granite stone, as slender cylindrical rods, producing different musical sounds when tapped. Two pillars have 33 cylinders while the other two have 25 cylinders each. One pillar having 33 cylindrical rods gives the sound of 'Jaltarang' and the other one of a 'Tanpura'. One of the pillars having 25 cylindrical rods gives the sound of 'Mridangam' and the other of the 'Sitar'. Selection of different kind of stones which can produce different musical notes and the skill shown in making the cylinders from a single block of granite with a mere chisel, is more than a phenomenal marvel. Together, the pillars could start a symphony of their own in praise of the lord and are seen as if impatiently waiting for a gentle dab.
On the two other pillars seen by the side of the above mentioned musical pillars, one could find the depiction of His Highness Rama Varma, the King of Travancore as well as his brother His Highness Marthanda Varma.We can also see a pillar with depictions, of Bhikshadana Shiva and on the left side of the same pillar, a lady dropping alms to the bowl with a spoon, which are carved with perfection. Krishna with flute in his hand can be seen on the corresponding pillar at the entrance of the 'Chitra Sabha'(name given to a 'mandapam').
On the left of the pillar is the meticulous carving of an erotic episode happened one day near the Kadamba tree, on the banks of Yamuna, where Gopis of Vrindavan had had their daily bath. They kept their clothes on the banks and went naked as jaybirds into the river for a dip. One day, Krishna, as a naughty voyeur, took away their garments and hung them on a branch and started playing his mesmerizing tunes on flute after turning the canopy of leaves into a comfortable vantage point. A figure of a Gopi on her birthday suit, dropping her head, incompetent to face the alarming situation, is shown vividly of the physical feminine features and another, in a vain attempt to recover her clothings, by going to the tree pleading with one hand and covering her crotch with other are exquisite exemplars of fine craftsmanship.
There are numerous idols of Vinayaka, the God of success. Maya Ganapati is an image where Ganapati is seen with his consort Maya, the illusion. Beyond the Navagraha Mandapam is the temple of Maya Ganapati. Besides embracing Maya with one hand, he holds a pot by his trunk. Vinayaka is also having ten hands. There is yet another Ganapati known as Sakshi Vinayaka(aka Indra Vinayaka), that is, Ganapati who witnessed the redemption of the curse on Indra. The southern corridor is a very long one where mass feeding was done in olden days. There are rectangular shaped vessels, made of stone, for keeping different meals for serving the large number of people who used to assemble at the temple.
In the northern corner of the western prakaram there is a small temple made of wood exquisitely carved out, containing Rama and his consort, Sita. The skillful carvings on wood here are worth seeing. There are three important festivals in this temple, in Dhanu (December/January), Medam (April/May) and also in Kanni(september/october). During the Margazhi festival in Dhanu, riding of charriots(Therottam) form a major part of the festivities. On the 9th day of the festival, the deities are taken out in procession around the streets on three festival cars.
The tantric rites of the temple are bestowed upon Taranelloor Mana so that customs are very much related to the ones prevail in temples of Kerala.
