Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.– Seneca
Guruvayur (also written Guruvayoor) is a bustling pilgrim town and a municipality in Thrissur district of the Indian state of Kerala. It is home of the Guruvayur Temple,one of the greatest Krishna shrines in the country. Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple enshrines Lord Krishna, the eighth avatar of Lord Vishnu, as the presiding deity. Shri Krishna is known here by different names such as Unnikannan (Baby Krishna), Unnikrishnan, Kannan, Balakrishna, and Guruvayoorappan. The idol was once worshiped by the Lord Mahavishnu himself in Vaikunta and hence Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple is known as Bhooloka Vaikunta - The Heaven on Earth. Sri Guruvayoorappan Temple is also renowned as the Dakshina Dwaraka (Dwaraka of South).
Most of the piligrims comes here for blessing of Lord Guruvayurappan (Sri Krishna). Besides the main temple there are few other shrines in and around Guruvayur which are of interest to pilgrims since these are either connected with the main deity or have been its kizhedams or subordinate shrines. Sree Bala Rama temple at Nenmini is one of such temple.
ABOUT BALARAMA:
Balarama, also known as Baladeva, Balabhadra and Halayudha, is the elder brother of the divine being Lord Krishna. Also he is acknowledged as a manifestation of Anantha or Adishesha, the divine serpent on whom Vishnu rests. Balarama is described as being physically very strong, in fact 'bala' in Sanskrit refers to 'strength'. His weapon was a plough.
Balarama took birth as the son of Vasudeva and Devaki. Kamsa, the brother of Devaki and an evil king, was intent upon killing all the progeny of his sister because of a prediction that he would die at the hands of her eighth son. Kamsa thus threw his sister Devaki and her husband Vasudeva into prison, and proceeded to kill each of their children as soon as they were born.
In due course of time, Devaki became pregnant for the seventh time. However, this child was not destined to meet the fate of the six previous infants. The unborn child was miraculously transferred from Devaki's womb to the womb of Rohini, who had desired a child of her own. Thus Balarama's other name is also Sankarsana which describes the transfer of the child from the womb. The child was formally named Rama, but because of his great strength he was called Balarama (Strong Rama).
Thus, Rohini actually gave birth to Balarama and raised him. Balarama spent his childhood as a cowherd boy with his brother Krishna and friends. He later married Revati, the daughter of King Raivata, ruler of the Anarta province.
Lord Balaram is also known as "God of farmers". Farmers in india worship him before any task. His weapon Plough is worshipped by farmers before all important tasks related to farming.
ABOUT THE BALARAMA TEMPLE:
The temple for the Balarama is very rare. This is a temple 3 kms from Guruvayur towards east of the Guruvayur Temple. There are two small temples separated by 500 meters. The main deities here are Balarama and Ayyappa.
This temple was originally own by the Nenmini Mana. It was handed over to the Guruvayur Devaswom on 10th march 1989.
ABOUT NENMINI:
Once a Nenmini Namboodiri was the priest at Guruvayur temple. There was only one priest on those days and had to go out on an urgent and unavoidable situation. He told his 12 year old son to offer the Nivedyam to the Lord and left.
At the prescribed time he offered Nivedyam (cooked rice) to the Lord and thought in simplicity that the Lord will eat the rice, but the idol did not move. Unni went outside and brought some salted mangoes and curd from neighborhood in the belief that the Lord like food this way. He mixed the curd with rice and offered it again. But the idol again remained unmoved. He cajoled , requested, coaxed and in the end threatened , but idol still unmoved . He started crying on his failure and shouting towards the Lord that his father would beat him. The Lord could not bear it any more, and suddenly the Nivedyam got disappeared. The boy left the place satisfactorily.
The Nivedyam offered to the Lord was the Variyar's prerequisite. On seeing the empty plate, he became very angry with the Unni, but Unni still could not understand and told Variyar that God ate up the rice with the curd and salted mangoes. The Unni's innocent word made Variyar more furious. On santhi's arrival, Variyar told the complaint that Unni himself had eaten the Nivedyam, and that he was making a false story. Though Unni told his version, father could not believe it. He raised his hands to beat him, but just then an asareeri (celestial voice) was heard saying, "I am the guilty, Unni is innocent".
AKSHAYA TRIDIYA:
The first Thridiya of Vysaka is regarded as Akshaya Thridiya. It is known as Balarama jayanthi. Kazhchaseeveli is conducted in the temple. Naturally, the day is appropriately celebrated at the Balarama temple, Nenmini a keezhedam of Guruvayur Devaswom.
It is also known as Parasu Rama jayanthi.
FESTIVALS:
In the Balarama temple every year Ashtami Rohini , Pradhishta Dinam and Vrishchika pooja are celebrated. Vrishchika pooja is celebrated from 1st to 12th of Vrishchikam every year. In the Ayyappa temple Pradhishta Dinam is Celebrated on Makayiram of Meenam month.
HOW TO REACH GURUVAYUR:
By Road:
- Guruvayur is well connected with the other parts of the country by road and rail. It is half an hour drive by car from Thrissur and busses ply every 5 minutes from Thrissur to Guruvayur.
- Kerala Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) runs bus services from all major locations of the state and few inter-state services. The bus stand is 500 meters to the west of the temple.
By Rail:
- Guruvayur has got a railway station towards the east of the temple which is connected to the Chennai -Mangalore main line at Thrissur.
- One from the Mangalore side can get down at the Kuttippram station. Those from the Chennai / Trivandrum side can get down at Thrissur. Regular buss services are available from there to Guruvayur.
By Air:
- Kochi international airport (Nedumbassery) is 80 kms from Guruvayur and the Calicut airport is 100 kms away. All major international flight services are operated from these airports.
HOW TO REACH NENMINI BALARAMA TEMPLE:
The Balarama temple is located towards the east of the Guruvayur Sri Krishna temple. It 3 km away from the temple. You can access this rare temple by a auto-richshaw or vehicle.
TEMPLE CUSTOMS:
Similar to Guruvayur Sri Krishna temple, do not enter the temple wearing shirt, banyan, pyjama, lungi, chequered clothes, chapels etc. There are facilities to keep them outside the temple.
MY TRAVEL ITINERARY:
- A trip to Guruvayur is always a blessing. This time the blessings turned out to be a basketful as we were able to see five new Temples around this sacred Kshetra.
- We have been coming to Guruvayur for the past many years and were totally unaware of some Temples that exist here.
- After we worshipped the Lord Guruvayurappan , we took an auto to go Nenmini Baladeva temple. Normally temple for Bala Rama is very rare.. worth watching.
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