Kadampuzha temple. Kerala and its link with Arjuna of Mahabharata!!

Kadampuzha Devi temple, kerala Trip advisor.com 

The Kadampuzha Devi temple at Kadampuzha in Malappuram district, Kerala, India  that is dedicated to Goddess Parvati/Durga  and where there is no God's idol or a specified Srikovil/sanctum, has close link with India's great epic Mahabharata written by sage Vyasa.   It was in this sanctified area, the great hero of Mahabharata Arjuna, learned the use of various astharas - something like missiles for which the user must chant certain mantras that would energize the weapons. 

Kadampuzha Devi temple, kerala vatemples.com

It is a known fact that  the origin of this temple is associated with the epic Mahabharata. It  was during the  5th year of exile (out of 14 year long exile away from their kingdom  imposed by their cousins   Kauravas who wanted to access the throne), the Pandava brothers were moving around from place to place. One of the five brothers Arjuna, the great archer and warrior  was quite interested in gaining better knowledge about the Astharas. Driven by passion and keen desire, Arjuna realized that could be achieved only through Lord Shiva. To learn about  Divya Astras, Arjuna  moved over to the present place in Kerala  and did penance on lord Shiva with dedication, trust  and devotion.  He was very particular about one powerful weapon called   Pashupathastra, the divine  astra of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva  was quite pleased with Arjuna's devotion and, he along with his consort  Goddess Parvati, wanted to test Arjuna's commitment and patience.  Disguised as Kirata King and wife, respectively, they approached Arjuna. At that point of time an Asura  named Mukasura took the form of a wild boar and  caused destruction and desolation of the forest thus, causing  disturbance to  Arjuna’s meditation.
Quite infuriated,   Arjuna shot an arrow and killed Mukasura. Lord Shiva  also shot at the Assura at the same time. An argument ensued as to whose arrow killed the demon. Shiva, in the guise of  the Kirata king finally agreed with  Arjuna to have an archery contest. In the fierce contest, Arjuna was defeated and became quite dismayed.  Then he placed a big stone in front of him and prayed to Goddess Adi Parashakthi. The flowers he showered on the stone fell at the feet of Kirata and Kirati. He then realized that those were none other than Lord Shiva and Devi Parvathi who wanted to test his devotion and bhakti. Pleased with this, Lord Shiva granted him the arrow - ''Pashupathastra'', as desired by Arjuna. 

The 'Kadampuzha Devi Shetram' is an holy one and highly sanctified. Further, the consecration here was done by the great saint Sri Shangaracharaya of Kaladi. He was born close to Thrissur and became an authority on Advaidtha philosophy, he established five Mutts to propagate his philosophy. In the South Tha Kanchi Mutt at Kanchipuram. Tamil Nadu  and the Sringeri Mutt at Sringeri in Karnataka are quite popular. 


Strict dress code needs to be followed to enter the temple premises. Men needs to wear dhoti and has to remove shirt before entering the main temple. Women with pants, etc are not allowed inside the temple premises. Almost  daily Annadaanam (free meals) is provided to devotees during noon time. Devotees are advised

not to throw the left-over in the trash. 
Tit-bits:
The Mahabharata:

The Mahabharata, the great epic of India firsttimemommy.net

The Mahābhārata (Sanskrit): is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Rāmāyaṇa. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kurukshetra War and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pāṇḍava princes and their successors.    It also contains philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" or puruṣārtha. Among the principal works and stories in the Mahābhārata are the ''Bhagavad Gita'', the story of Damayanti, an abbreviated version of the Rāmāyaṇa, and the story of Ṛṣyasringa, often considered as works in their own right.

Traditionally, the authorship of the Mahābhārata is attributed to Vyāsa. There have been many attempts to unravel its historical growth and compositional layers. The bulk of the Mahābhārata was probably compiled between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE, with the oldest preserved parts not much older than around 400 BCE.  The original events related by the epic probably fall between the 9th and 8th centuries BCE.  The text probably reached its final form by the early Gupta period (c. 4th century CE). 
The Mahābhārata is the longest epic poem known and has been described as "the longest poem ever written".  Its longest version consists of over 100,000 śloka or over 200,000 individual verse lines (each shloka is a couplet), and long prose passages. At about 1.8 million words in total, the Mahābhārata is roughly ten times 
the length of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined, or about four times the length of the Rāmāyaṇa.  W. J. Johnson has compared 
the importance of the Mahābhārata in the context of world civilization to that of the Bible, the works of William Shakespeare, the works of Homer, Greek drama, or the Quran. Within the 
Indian tradition it is sometimes called the fifth Veda.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabharata)
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