Omallur Rekthakanda swamy temple is situated at Omalloor, 12 km east of Pandalam in Pathanamthitta district and is about 4 km from the district headquarters. It is one of the famous temples of Lord Sastha worship although legends are quite a few and they do not reveal the actual origin of the temple as well as the idol. The deity's vehicle as seen atop the Golden flag mast is the horse, the vehicle of Lord Sastha (aka Vaji Vahana in hymns).
In ancient period, the place was known as Nallur and it was after the consecration of Omkaramoorthy (Infinite Almighty) that the name was changed as Om-Nallur which was later transformed as Omallur. The temple traces its history to 8th century AD. The legend behind the establishment of the temple says that once Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu decided to find out the length of Shivalinga. Lord Brahma started journey upwards and Lord Maha Vishnu downwards. Even after several years of journey they could not reach their destinations.
Lord Brahma claimed that he reached the apex and produced a flower (Kaithapoovu) of Screw-pine as evidence. Realising that Lord Brahma was telling lie, Lord Shiva slash one of his heads. Lord Vishnu caught hold of the slashed head without falling into the Earth and consecrated at Kallalil, a near-by village of Omallur. Years later a competition was held at Kallalil village by two rival groups. The defeated group took the idol and threw it into the Achankovil River. The spirit of the idol took the form of a flower and a boy who was taking bath in the river with his mother caught hold of it. Then the Lord revealed himself before them and directed to build a temple there for him. It is also believed that the Lord appeared as Adisastha (the primordial form of Sastha) and a temple was built for him and was consecrated as Lord Rekthakanda swamy.
Lord Rekthakanda also called as Omkaramoorthy (Parabrahma) is the presiding deity of the temple. The stone idol symbolizes no image. But worship is done in the sankalpa that the deity is Lord Sastha. Lord Siva, Goddess Bhagavathy, Lord Ganapathy, Saptha Mathrukkal (Seven holy mothers – Brahmini, Maheswari, Kaumari, Vaishnavi, Varahi, Indrani, and Chamunda), Nagaraja, Naga Yakshi are the sub-deities.
Omallur temple is a pilgrim centre on way the way to Sabarimala. The temple is under the administrative control of the Travancore Devaswom Board. The annual festival of 10 days is celebrated in the month of Medam (April-May). The festival is organized under the management of 10 Karayogams of Omallur. On the festival days, there is a customary Aarattu procession (holy bath) on each day to the Ozhuvathu Aarattukadavu at the river Achankovil and is also a rarity of the temple. 10 to 30 decorated caparisoned elephants will accompany the Aarattu procession. Omallur temple have many interesting stone carvings with Kallunadasvaram (Nadasvaram made up of stone) and Kalchangala (chain made by stone) are two among them which are seen rarely in temples of Kerala which also show the antiquity of this ancient temple.
The splendour and pompous of the procession of the deity over the caparisoned elephants accompanied with chenda and panchavadyam playing, and public reception on the market junction with nadaswaram play by reputed organists; and the return procession during the night in the light of many ceremonial lamps and the fire works at the conclusion of each day, all lead to a nostalgic recollection to every non-resident Keralites who are connected with Omalloor village.
Photo courtesy: Rahul Ashadam Photography
No comments:
Post a Comment