Sreekoodalmanikyam Temple is the second temple in Nalambalam and the main deity here is Bharatha. There is a legend behind the name, Koodalmanikyam. Long ago, a strong ray of light emanated from the forehead of the deity. On examining the ray of light, it resembled the rays emanating from the stone known as manikyam, one among the navratnas. In order to compare the ray of light, they initiated the search for the best stone in the area. The best stone was with the king of Kayamkulam. So, it was brought to the temple. When the stone was placed beside deity, the stone magically fused into the forehead of the deity. Koodal denotes the fusing and the manikyam indicates the name of the stone. Hence the name.
The deity is also said to be very powerful. There is another legend behind this. Long ago, a powerful Brahmin visited all the famous temples in the area with the intention of extracting the power behind the deities. He was successful in doing this wherever he visited. He used his conch to store the extracted power. But when he reached the Sreekoodalmanikyam temple, the deity made the conch slip from his hand. The conch broke on touching the ground and all the extracted power stored in the conch was absorbed by the deity, making him very powerful.
The main offering here is the lotus garland. The lotus are tied together using a twain making it resemble a garland. This garland is offered to the deity. Meenoottu which is famous in Tripayar Sreeramaswamy temple is also a favorite here. There is a big pond that is dug adjacent to the temple. The pond features good variety of fishes. Like in all temples, fishing is strictly prohibited here. The deity is famous for helping the devotee in health related issues like respiratory issues and intestinal problems.
See below for the (amateur) video of the temple pond. You can see the fishes in the water.
I was not aware of this temple. Very nice and informative post. Thanks.
ReplyDelete@Babli - You are welcome
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