1. Home
  2. Spirituality
  3. Temples to visit during Ramayana Masam
Spirituality

Temples to visit during Ramayana Masam

July 19, 2021 at 9:50 am by Editorial
162 41

Anupama Nair

This year the Ramayana Masa started on 17th July 2021 and is the start of a holy month in Kerala when people read the Malayalam version of Ramayana called “Adyatma Ramayana” written by  Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan. Ramayana Masam is celebrated in the Malayalam month of Karkidakam (July—August) and you have to read the entire book in a month. You can rightly say, it is the start of Hindu festivities in Kerala. During this holy month, there are many temples of Lord Rama that you can visit, which will increase the blessings of the Lord.

Lord Rama Chandra is the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Lord Rama is one of the most popular deities in India. He is considered as the perfect man in the world and hence called ‘Maryadha Purushotham’. Ramayana is the story of Rama from his birth. Devi Sita, is the wife of Lord Rama and is represented as a concrete example of perfect woman. King of Ayodhya, Dasarath had three wives Kaushalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra and four sons – Lord Rama, Bharat, Shatrugnan and Lakshman. To fulfill his father’s vow to Kaikeyi, he went on a “vanvasa” or live in a forest for 14 years.

His wife Sita and brother Lakshman accompanied him to the forest. Sita was kidnapped by Ravana, the king of Lanka. Then Rama made an army with the help of Hanuman and the monkey king Sugriva and waged a war with the Lankans. They killed Ravana and demolished his kingdom. Vibhishana, the brother of Ravana was crowned the king of Lanka. After 14 years, Rama came back to Ayodhya and became the king. Even though he is the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, he lived as a human, with all qualities of an ideal man. He thus showed others, how to live like an ideal man.

In the previous article, I has spoken about pilgrims visiting “Nalambalam” dedicated to the Lord and his brothers. ‘Nalu’ means four and ‘Ambalam’ means temple in Malayalam. There are around five sets of Nalambalams in Kerala, the most famous among them being the four temples located in Trichur and Ernakulam districts – Thriprayar Sree Rama Temple, Koodamanikyam Bharat Temple, Moozhikkulam Lakshman Temple and Payyammal Shatrugnan Temple. ‘Nalambalam Yatra’ begins from the Rama temple in Thriprayar and ends in Shatrugnan Temple in Payyammal.  According to the tradition, we need to visit the four temples in order Lord Rama, Bharat, Shatrugnan and Lakshman,  respectively. If you have time to visit these temples on a single day, during the holy month of Karkkidakam the Lord will shower blessings and ensure prosperity.

Ramapuram in Kottayam district, Kerala is another place where temples of all four brothers are situated. The four temples of central Kerala, thronged by Hindu devotees during the holy month of Karkitakam are centered around Ramapuram, within a distance of three kilometers. They are Ramapuram Sree Ramaswamy Temple, Koodappulam Sree Lakshmanaswamy Temple, Amanakara Sree Bharathaswamy Temple and Methiri Sree Sathrughnaswamy Temple. These temples together are called the Nalambalam.

A truly exclusive and one of the oldest sacred temples of Kerala – Vilwadrinath is located in Thiruvilamala on the banks of river Bharathappuzha or ‘River of Bharata’. Vilwadrinath is one of the four rare temples, in Kerala, dedicated to Lord Rama and also the rarest in India for having a shrine for his brother Lakshman. This one ranks above all others as the murti here is believed to be ‘swayambhu’ or ‘Self-manifested’.

Once Corona is over or less, make it a part of your next trip.

 

 

Related Post

Weekly Bazaar

- May 7, 2024 0
India’s weekly bazaar is a vibrant spectacle where organisation meets diversity. Every week, vendors travel from different corners of the…

There are 41 comments

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *