MASANI AMMAN OF ANNAMALAI

Very recently, I and my family went to  Coimbatore-Marudha Malai,  Esha  Paradise , Masani Amman Temple located at AnnaImalai  and  we  went to see  Sri Kodi Swamy who is not having age..  The house of  Puravi Palayam  is also casted in many tamil movies like  Suryavamsam.  The actor is  Sharat Kumar.  

This temple known as Masaniamman Temple in the outskirts of Pollachi has a unique feature. The Goddess Shakti in this temple is not standing upright like other goddesses in temples. She lies supine, hands stretched upwards, eyes staring towards the heavens. The locals staunchly believe in the powers of this goddess and one day is not enough to listen to all of them.

A friend of mine who is a frequent visitor to this temple told me several stories related to this temple and I have since been overawed by the temple and its lush green surroundings. Nestled among endless rows of coconut palms and areca nut trees, the temple, locals say is frequented by women pilgrims who have gynaecological problems.  Another unique feature of this temple is that the deity helps beget lost property and relieving one from voodoo related problems. One of the problems which my friend related to me was about a bag of money which her relative had locked in his room. The next morning when they went into the room, they could not find the bag. So they asked a soothsayer, who in turn told them it was done by a relative and for immediate results they should visit this temple and grind red chillies in the sanctum of the goddess. They rushed to the temple to do the bidding of the soothsayer. In the next day or two the relative who had taken the money couldn’t move his right leg and soon his right hand too was paralayzed and it was then that he confessed to taking the bag of money.

I could never believe this story, but I witnessed the huge mortar where people were lining up to grind their chillies.   Even I  did this to put and end to  the  Black Magic performed  by   kindless and heart less people on us  and our family.  We Shanti pooja also which was  grand one. Felt very happy by doing that pooja after many obstacles faced by us.

Here is the picture of the Goddess. Photographs were not allowed, so picture is taken from a photograph I got at the temple.

STORY  ABOUT THE TEMPLE

Once the sage Vishwamitra, went to a hilly terrain known as Kadaganachi malai and meditated upon lord Shiva. There was a demoness named Tataka in the forests of Kadaganachi malai and Vishwamitra was sure that she would try to disturb his penance. Tataka had the evil powers possessed by Ravana and she used it for all her evil deeds. So Vishwamitra decided to take the help of Rama and Lakshmana to fight the demoness.

Rama and Lakshmana agreed to protect the sage and came to live in the forests till his penance was over. Both of them wanted the blessings of Goddess Shakti to defeat the demoness. Shakti too tells them how to fight the demoness. The brothers then make an idol of the Goddess Shakti in clay and propitiated her. Shakti tells them that after defeating Tataka, they should also destroy the clay idol they made of Shakti. However, Rama forgets to destroy the idol. Later, when he remembered, He said that the statue would be his representative and guard the village. It is believed that this Goddess is Masaniamman and that she also has the power to punish evil doers.

According to another legend, there was a couple (names unknown) in the beautiful village of Anaimalai. Once when the wife was pregnant, she refused to go to her mother’s house as was the practice in those days and didn’t want to leave her husband. One day when she felt that she would deliver the child, the couple decided to go to the next village where a popular midwife lived, so that they could have her assistance with the delivery. The path to the next village was through a dense jungle and it was getting dark. The lady told her husband to go and find the midwife as she couldn’t walk anymore. Reluctantly, he left and reached the midwife’s door.

On seeing him the midwife was shocked and told him she had had a bad dream about a pregnant lady that morning and immediately left with him to the spot where he had left his wife. There they had the shock of their lives. The lady had delivered a baby and both mother and baby had been murdered in a gruesome manner. The husband in his grief asked the midwife in what way was her dream related to this murder of his wife.

The midwife then related her dream of the morning. When the husband left his wife, a big dark form stalks her. Seeing the form the lady screams in fright and tells it to go away. But the figure stalks her and she began running. While running she slips over some cow dung and falls down. The figure then stooped to hold her hand. At that moment she screams at him to leave her alone and he is struck by lightning by some force. The figure becomes blind and runs away.

Hearing this story from the midwife, the husband breaks down in tears. The midwife then reassured him that the mother and child were an incarnation of Shakti and that the incident was also God’s way to free the sins of Kamadenu, the divine cow.

The people of the village who had gathered to listen to this story were surprised. How can a cow dung be freed from sin. How can that be possible?

The midwife began her tale of the cow dung. When the devas and asuras were churning the ocean for nectar, Kamadenu, Kalpakavriksha and Iravat the white elephant, were among the things obtained. The devas took the above three. Jealous of the devas, the asuras decided to kidnap Kamadenu. Kamadenu prayed to Shiva and Parvati for protection. Parvati and Shiva gave Kamadenu protection and housed it in a garden.

Meanwhile, the Devas were searching for Kamadenu and went to Shiva and Parvati and asked them to help find the cow. Parvati told Kamadenu that the Devas had come looking for her. In a moment of fear, Kamadenu dropped some dung in front of Parvati and hung its head in shame. Smiling at the shamefaced cow, Parvati said that the incident was a precursor to her incarnation on earth and that the cow need not be worried. She also said that cow will be worshipped by all and that her dung would be considered a symbol of purity by mankind. Kamadenu was relieved of her fear and left happily. She also told the devas to look after Kamadenu and that was this garden, finished the midwife. That the lady had slipped on the cow dung was an indication that Shakti had incarnated in the form of the lady, she added. Since Shakti herself came into contact with the dung, Kamadnu was freed from sin. (This is the only explanation I could figure.:) 

(Not a very convincing explanation, but the book on the temple has put it this way. So one can draw their own conclusions).  There  are many folk stories.  Let stories  be  like the stories.  And  LET  BHAKTHI   BE  LIKE  BHAKTHI.