A temple which considers everyone equal : Parshinikadavu Kannur

I visited a very peculiar temple, one of its kind, situated in Kannur. A temple which considers dogs very sacred and the offerings made to the deity is toddy and roasted fish. Never ever seen something like this.

Parshinikadavu

Parassinikadavu Muthappan temple is situated in the banks of Valapattanam river, 10kms from Thaliparamba in Kannur.The presiding deity of this temple is Sri Muthappan, a personification of lord Vishnu as Thiruvappan and lord shiva as Vellatom. The temple welcomes everyone irrespective of their caste, religion or nationality. Before entering the temple wash your hand and feet In the Valapattanam river.

Nearest railway station: Kannur railway station

Nearest Airport: Kannur international airport 30 km away / Calicut international airport 133 km

Timings and dress code

Timing of the temple is 7 am to 7 pm. There is no particular dress code for the temple and the devotes have to remove the footwear before entering the shrine.

The story

The story is very interesting as the ruler Ancharamanaykkal Vazhunnavar of Eruveshi of Kannur was childless and His wife Padikutty amma being a shiva devotee made sacrifice to lord shiva for children. When she was returning home after her bath, she found a child near the river and she took the child with her back home and treated him as their own son.

The child was very kind and used to offer food and help to the tribal who used to reside in the nearby jungle, which was not acceptable by his father. His parents requested him to stop this practice and he didn’t. Ancharamanaykkal warned him and the boy revealed his true form (Vishwaroopam), he was an incarnation of lord Vishnu himself and his anger through his vision burnt everything which came in his way> his mother pleaded him not to destroy everything he created so he pierced his eyes to stop the destruction. The myth says that Lord Muthappan is blind because of this reason.

The story behind unique offerings and prasadam

This temple offers boiled red beans, coconut and tea for all the devotes from morning till evening 7:30.

The story says that when Muthappan (disguised as an old man) reached Kunnatoor, a place which is filled with palm trees, he was attracted to toddy. A toddy tapper found him stealing the toddy, he tried to shoot an arrow on Muthappan but was unsuccessful and fainted. The toddy tappers wife came searching for him and found him unconscious and called out for help from Muthappan and earnestly prayed for her husband and her husband regained his conciseness. Later she offered Muthappan red beans, coconut, roasted fish and toddy.

This is why red beans; coconut is distributed a s prasadam to the devotees and roasted fish and toddy is offered to the Lord.

This is one of those temples in Kerala which serves free food to the devotees every day. Prasadam: which includes boiled red beans, coconut and tea for all the devotes from morning till evening 7:30. Meals is served from 12:00 pm to 2:30 pm, 8 – 10 pm.

The seating arrangement for men and women are arranged separately.

Importance of Dogs

Dogs are considered to be the vehicle of Lord Muthappan. The offering for the Lord is first served to the dogs. Dogs are considered sacred here and roam around and inside the temple premises and are never ever driven off. As you enter the main sanctum you will see two bronze dog statues one on either side of the sanctum.

Theyyam

His life is best portrayed through a traditional dance known as Muthappan Theyyam. Theyyam is the ritual which is performed every morning in the temple. The artist, who performs the theyyam, listens to the plight of the devotees, comforts and blesses them. It really looks like as if Muthappan is standing in front of you and listening to you. This is truly a divine experience.

The temple is usually crowded with devotees form all around the world and its very unique.