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7 Dec, 12 tweets, 7 min read
Vaikathashtami #Thread

Observed in Malayalam month Vrishchikam(Nov-Dec) on 8th day after full moon day.This year it is on Dec8.
This festival is held at famous Vaikom #Mahadeva Temple - one of the oldest temples in South India - located in Kottayam,Kerala- dedicated to Shiva. ImageImage
Shiva Linga here is believed to be from Treta Yuga.Vaikom's Shiva is called Vaikkathappan.On an Ashtami day of Month Vrischikam, Shiva along with Parvathi gave Darshan to Vyagarapada & blessed him.Shiva told that this place will be called Vyagrapadapuram,now it has become Vaikom ImageImageImageImage
#storytime #Thread - Legend behind this temple is mentioned in ancient texts Bhargava Purana & Sanalkumar Samhita.

An Asura named Khara- an ardent devotee of Bhagwan Shiva & he went to Chidambaram to worship Shiva after attaining Shaiva Vidya Upadesham from Rishi Malyavan.
He did severe penance there & pleased with his devotion & dedication,Shiva appeared in front of him.
Shiva gave all boons asked by Kharasura,also gave 3 Shiva Lingas,asked him to place lingas at suitable places & start worshiping them.Kharasura started his journey with 3 lingas.
Khara carried 1 each in either hands &1 by his neck.He got tired &kept the lingas down,rested a while.When he woke up,he realised that he couldn't lift the lingas.These 3 lingas are ones that are being worshiped at places Vaikom, Kaduthuruthy &Ettumanoor in Kottayam district.
The distance from Vaikom to Kadathuruthy & from there to Ettumanoor is almost equal.Darshan of all these 3 Lingas on the same day is considered a great boon. Image
Rishi Vyaghrapada (Vyaghra means Tiger,pada means legs)
was following Khara throughout the journey&later appeared in front of Kharasura,asked him to leave lingam there itself.Asura attained salvation & Vyaghrapada Maharishi remained there worshipping the Shiva linga at Vaikom. Image
On VaikAshtami day of Malayalam Month Vrischikam,Shiva along with Parvathi gave Darshan & blessed him.Years later Vyaghrapada attained Mukti.Later Parasurama,found this Shiva linga and he worshiped.Pleased with his act,Shiva & Parvathi asked him to construct mandir here.
As consecration was done by Parasurama,Linga has the Chaitanyas of Shiva and Vishnu.He called a brahmin from a nearby village & handed over the temple to him,instructed on how to perform rituals& also taught him many hymns for performing rituals there.

#HarHarMahadev🙏 Image
Another highlight is the arrival of Muruga (Subrahmanya) from nearby Udayanapuram Subramanya Temple.The father (Shiva) and son (Muruga) meet in temple premises and bids farewell after a short meeting.
All photos in this thread credit to resp.owners
Source Text - based on details about this temple in Hindu blog,
Website -vaikomtemple(dot)org - Legends

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9 Dec
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Gunaseela Mahatmyam,a chapter of Bhavishyottara Purana describes greatness of this place.

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#storytimesthread -Story from #Ramayana

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1/n
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3/n
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