Temples In India-1.pdf - Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan

VIVEKANANDA KENDRA PATRIKAmass of tantric literature.Some of the ancient masters of tantricpractices in Kerala were said to have beenso powerful that there was nothing beyondtheir achievement. Among them wereMezhathol Agnihotri, Puliyampilli Namboodiriand many others. There were many greatpractitioners of the science as also greatauthors. The family names of some of theeminent hereditary practitioners of Tantraare; Manalikkara Petti, Kurkara Potti,Kulakkada Pandarathil, Thazhamon Potti,Puliyannur Namboodiri, Edappalli Namboodiri,Chennassu Namboodiripad AngaladiNamboodiripad, PampummekkattuNamboodiri and others.Among the eminent writers of Tantricliterature is the great Siddha calledNaranath Bhrandhan. He reached suchultimate perfection that people called himthe ‘Mad Man (Bhrandan) of Naranath’. Heis said to have been a great writer andpropagandist of Tantra literature. He isbelieved to have lived some 1500 yearsago. Other great writers of TantricLiterature were Sri Sankaracharya,Bhavatratan, Ravi, Vilvamangalam,Trivikraman, Vasudevan and others. Amongthe later writers was the great ChennassuNarayanan Namboodiripad, the author ofthe book Tantrasamuchhayam which is themost popular text. dealing with. theconstruction of temples, rituals andinstallation of power. He is believed to havelived around 1427 AD.The techniques of rituals and mantraswhen applied following these great tantrictexts, imparted power and personality tothe deity in a temple. Modem science tellsus that energy is everywhere in one formor another and that through certainTEMPLE INDIAtechnology science can create certainspecial active centres of energy. Similarly,these tantric rites create special centresof active spiritual power. The power wasmaintained through prescribed rituals andthe devotion of the people to such anextent that in many temples the deity issaid to immediately answer the earnest callof a devotee.There are thousands of temples in Kerala,big and small. Among them the moreimportant are (beginning from south):Kanyakumari, Sucheendram, Nagercoil,Kumarakoil, Mandaikkad Padmanabhapuram,Tiruvattar (These temples were formerlyin Kerala and now in Tamilnadu after thereorganisation of the States),Neyyattinkara, Malayinkil, Tiruvallam, SriPadmanabhaswami temple. in Trivandrum,Attukal Bhagavati temple, Ullloor,Trippappur, Attingal, Varkala, Navayikulam,Anandavalleeswaram, Aryankavu,Achankoil, Sabarimala, Chengannoor,Puliyoor, Haripad, Mavelikkara,Trikkunnapuzha, Kandiyoor, Aranmula,Kaviyoor, Tiruvalla,· Tirukkodithanam,Perunna, Ambalapuzha, Takazhi, Mullakkal,Tiruvizha, Sherthala, Turavoor, Paroor,Tiruvarpu, Tirunakkara, Vasudevapuram,Arpukkara, Kumaranalloor, Kidangoor,Ettumanoor, Ayamkudi, Pazhur,Ramamangalam, Muvattupuzha, Kallil,Adityapuram, Udayamperur, Tiruvaloor,Tirumoozhikulam, Trikkakkara, TrikkariyoorKainikkara, Alwaye, Edappalli, Trippunithura,Chottanikkara, Ernakulam. Pazhayannur,Chittoor, Cheranalloor, Elamkunnapuzha,Thiruvanchikkulam, Kodungalloor,Annamanada, Thiruvairanikulam,Irinjalakkuda, Peruvanam, Uram,Mulankurkthukavu, Nelluvaya, Trichur,43