The Temples of Mookuthala, Kerala
The village of Mookuthala, in Kerala's Malappuram district, is home to three powerful temples of the Divine Mother:
The Mookkuthala Bhagavathy Temple (also known as Melekkavu), the Durga Temple (also known as Keezhkavu), and the Kannenkavu Bhagavathy Temple, the abode of Goddess Bhadrakali.
Most of the content below is from a brochure published by the temple in the 1980s:
The legendary and famous Devi kshethra known as Sri Mookkuthala Bhagavathy Kshethra is situated in the panoramic village of Mookkuthala in Ponnani Taluk of Malappuram District in Kerala It is 28 km away from the famous Guruvayur Lord Krishna Temple and is 3 km to the west of Changaramkulam on the Guruvayur-Kozhikode highway.
Kerala is known for its Sakthipooja and there used to be 108 illustrious Durga Temples in this land. The Mookkuthala Bhagavathy Temple is one of those ancient Durga temples. The Temple is 1200 years old (as it was consecrated by Jagadguru Sankaracharya) and the many legends connected with its origin and the manifestations of the Deity are well known throughout Kerala and even beyond.
According to legends, Sri Sankaracharya happened to pass through this area and found an effulgence of supernatural light emanating from among the woods. Attracted by it, the Acharya proceeded in that direction and was overwhelmed by a divine presence. Sri Sankaracharya, curious to find out the cause for such a phenomenon, sat on near by rock and went on meditation. He invoked Shiva who appeared from the glow and gave . However, the intensity of the glow did not abate. Assuming. therefore, that the root cause of the glow was some other deity, he meditated successively on Narasimha, Durga and Bhadrakali. Even after each Deity appeared before the Jagadguru, the effulgence remained undiminished. He, therefore, concluded that the never ending glow was Adi Parasakthi Herself and ended his meditation.
Adisankara then performed prathishtas of each of the deities who gave Darsan to him at different places in the Mookkuthala village. Thereafter, the people began worshipping Lord Siva at Raktheswaram Temple, Narasimha Moorthy at Kolanchery Temple, and Bhadrakali at Kannenkavu Temple.
Adi Parasakthi, the Swayambu, the root cause of the revelation, was consecrated at the place where the effulgence was seen. This subsequently became the Melekavu Mookuthala Bhagavathi Temple. Durga was consecrated to the north of Melekavu and came to be known as Keezhekavu.
Compared to other temples of Kerala, there are many unusual features in the ancient Mookuthala Bhagavathi temple and its rituals. There are no Upadevas (Sub-Deities) in this temple. - even Vighneswara, a common and essential Upadeva in all temples, is not installed in this temple. As the manifestation of the Goddess is in Her primordial form, no ostentatious festivals with elephants and temple drums are allowed in the temple. In fact, even tolling of bells at poojas is disallowed. Unlike in other temples, Sree Bhootha Bali is not part of the rituals and hence there are no 'Balikkallu' in this ancient temple. The main festival is "Karthika" in the month of Vrischika of Malayalam Era (November-December).
Mookola Kallu (Mookkuthala Stone), small crystal - like stones, infrequently falling out of the Swayambu Rock of the Deity and gathered by the poojari at the time of Abishekas are held in reverence by devotees and are worn enclosed in pendants to ward off ill-luck.
The compound inside the prakaras of this temple is about 8 acres in extent and is a miniature forest as it is considered inauspicious to cut any tree from this area. A rare tree "Vazha" grown abundantly only in this compound, is considered sacred and its fallen leaves are treated as Deviprasada and collected by devotees and kept by them to bring good luck.
The hallowed spot on the rock out-crop adjoining the Melekkavu sanctum sanctorum where Adisankara sat and meditated is venerated by all who come to worship the Goddess.
The Mookkuthala Bhagavathy Temple has attracted many great men through the generations and it is known that they stayed back and worshipped the Goddess who is sarvabeeshta pradayini and also the goddess of learning. Great composers and scholars like Melpathur Bhattathiri, Uddhanda Sasthrigal, Kakkaseri Bhattathiri, Kodungalloor Kunhukuttan Thampuran, Koodallur Kunhikavu Namboodiripadu, a great Vedic authority and bhaktha and others have come here to offer prayers.
Melpathur Bhattathiri who extolled Lord Guruvayurappa with his Sanskrit poetic creation "Narayaneeyam" (one of the most famous devotional compositions on the Lord Sri krishna) and was cured of his illness, came to Mookkuthala Temple towards the end of his life as directed by the Lord Guruvayurappa. to attain Moksha. He meditated and worshipped at this temple for a number of years and composed the Sanskrit devotional composition known as "Sreepada Sapthathi" which describes the feet of the Goddess in seventy verses.
The Sreepada Sapthathi commences with this verse:
Who possesses a shining sword in Her lower right hand, resembling a tender creeper;
The trident in the upper right hand; a brilliant shield in the upper left hand;
The other left hand, which is (like) lotus, poised on the waist;
Directing the end of the trident on the broken head of Mahishasura;
Worshipped by Devas; the giver of desired boons.
He attained Moksha from the temple itself and the spot between Melekkavu and Keezhekkavu temples from where Melpathur attained Mukthi from the worldly bonds is still worshipped by the devotees. A statue of the great devotee and poet now marks the spot.
The temples of Kerala used to be maintained generally out of the income from the landed properties (agricultural land producing paddy) owned by the temple and cultivated by tenants. With the land legislation introduced by the Government in the 1950s, the tenants became the owners of the land. The temples suddenly found that they had no means for existence except for a nominal annuity amount from the Government. This has been the case with almost all temples except in a very few leading temples where the income from devotees was adequate to keep up their religious activities.
The Mookkuthala Bhagavathy Temple was one of the temple which fell into bad times and even conducting age-old rituals suffered. Naturally, one can imagine the state of disrepairs to which the temple structures inevitably fell. But for the interest taken by the devotees in the last few years, and the activities of the Sree Mookkuthala Bhagavathy Kshethra Paripalana Samithy. organised from among the Bhakthas to renovate the temple, this great temple would have been living only in memory. The Paripalana Samithy, out of donation from the devotees and other interested public, have effected a number of improvements and prevented further damage to the two temples. Also the daily rituals in the temple have been organized better though not in the scale at which it used to be at the time when the temple was in its full glory.
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