A TRIBUTE TO THE KING ANIZHAM THIRUNAL MARTHANDA VARMA .. THE GREAT KING OF TRAVANCORE Kingdom of Travancore In the first half of the 18th century, in line with matrilineal customs, Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma, succeeded his uncle Rama Varma as king at the age of 23. He successfully suppressed the 700-year old stranglehold of the Ettuveetil Pillamar (Lords of the Eight Houses) and his cousins following the discovery of conspiracies which the lords were involved in against the royal house of Travancore. The last major renovation of the Padmanabhaswamy temple commenced immediately after Anizham Thirunals accession to the musnud and the idol was reconsecrated in 906 ME (1731 CE). On 17 January 1750, Anizham Thirunal surrendered the kingdom of Travancore to Padmanabha Swamy, the deity at the temple, and pledged that he and his descendants would be vassals or agents of the deity who would serve the kingdom as Padmanabha Dasa.[4] Since then, the name of every Travancore king was preceded by the title Sree Padmanabha Dasa; the female members of the royal family were called Sree Padmanabha Sevinis. The donation of the kingdom to Padmanabhaswamy was known as Thrippadi-danam. The final wishes of Anizham Thirunal on his passing at the age of 53 clearly delineated the historical relationship between the Maharaja and the temple: That no deviation whatsoever should be made in regard to the dedication of the kingdom to Padmanabhaswamy and that all future territorial acquisitions should be made over to the Devaswom. Origin legend Vilvamangalathu Swamiyar, residing near Ananthapuram Temple in Kasargod, prayed to Lord Vishnu for his darshan. The Lord came in disguise as a small, mischievous boy. The boy defiled the Saligrama which was kept for Puja. The Sage became enraged at this and chased away the boy. The boy disappeared. After a long search, when he was walking on the banks of Arabian Sea, he heard a pulaya lady threatening her child that she would throw him in Ananthankadu. The moment the Swami heard the word Ananthankadu, he was delighted. He proceeded to Ananthankadu based on the directions of the lady from whom he enquired. The Sage reached Ananthankadu searching for the boy. There he saw the boy merging into an Iluppa tree (Indian Butter Tree). The tree fell down and became Anantha Sayana Moorti (Vishnu reclining on Anantha). But the Lord was of an extraordinarily large size with head at Thiruvallom, navel at Thiruvanananthapuram and lotus-feet at Thrippadapuram (Thrippappur). The Sage requested the Lord to shrink to a smaller proportion – thrice the length of his staff. Immediately, the Lord shrank. But even then many Iluppa trees obstructed a complete vision of the Lord. The Sage saw the Lord in three parts – thirumukham, thiruvudal and thrippadam. Swami prayed to Padmanabha to be forgiven . The Swami offered Rice Kanji and Uppumanga (salted mango pieces) in a coconut shell to the Perumal which he obtained from the pulaya woman. The spot where the Sage had darsan of the Lord belonged to Koopakkara Potti and Karuva Potti. With the assistance of the reigning King and some Brahmin households a Temple was constructed. Koopakkara Potti was made the Tantri of the Temple.[11] The Ananthankadu Nagaraja Temple still exists to the north west of the Padmanabhaswamy Temple. The Samadhi (final resting place) of the Swamiyar exists to the west of the Padmanabha Temple. A Krishna Temple was built over the Samadhi. This Temple, known as Vilvamangalam Sri Krishna Swami Temple, belongs to Thrissur Naduvil Madhom.[3]
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 06:46:38 +0000
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