Chengannur Mahadeva temple is located in the heart of Chengannur town in Alappuzha district, Kerala. There are numerous stories regarding this ancient temple. The origin of Chengannur Mahadeva temple is associated with Sage Agastya.
When Shiva and Goddess Parvati was getting married at Kailash in North all the living beings in the universe arrived to attend the divine marriage. This caused imbalance in the universe. To restore the balance, Shiva asked Sage Agastya, who had the merits and power of penance equal to all living beings in the universe, to go to South. But Agastya Rishi was worried that he would not be able to witness the divine marriage. Shiva promised Sage Agastya that he would celebrate his marriage one more time in front of him.
When Shiva was going to towards the ashram of Sage Agastya, Goddess Parvathi had menstruation when they reached Chengannur. Saints, devas and other living beings celebrated this event at Chengannur. Later this place was completely forgotten. Thousands of years later this place was called Sonadhri (red mountain) and Parasurama Avatar of Bhagavan Vishnu established a Brahmin village here.
At that time one tribal woman sharpened her sword on a stone and blood started oozing from the stone. The Brahmins were called and they found it was a swayambhu murti of Shiva. They decided to build a temple. The astrologers also found the presence of Goddess Parvati in the place. So it was decided o build a temple for Goddess Parvati. At that time the famous Perumthachan visited the temple. People requested him to make a murti of the Goddess. Instead of making a new murti he showed them a spot in the north-west of the temple and asked them to dig there. They did and a murti was recovered from there.
Chengannur Mahadeva Temple And Goddess Sati
Unable to bear the insults hurled at her husband, Mahadev Shiva, Goddess Sati committed self-immolation at the Daksha Yajna. After destroying the yajna and creating havoc in the universe, Mahadev Shiva roamed around the universe carrying the dead body of Goddess Sati.
There seemed to be no end to Shiva’s anger and grief. This led to an imbalance in the universe. Finally Bhagavan Vishnu decided to decimate the body of Sati with his Sudarshana Chakra. He cut the body of Sati into 51 pieces. It is believed that ‘Yoni’ of Sati fell at the spot where the present Chengannur Mahadeva temple stands.
Because of this they believe that the Goddess in the temple has monthly periods. People also believe that because of this the Shivling in the temple is consecrated on a triangular pedestal.
Chengannur Mahadeva Temple And Kannagi
There is also a belief that the Goddess consecrated here is Kannagi, the Tamil heroine who burnt the city of Madurai for avenging the injustice done to her husband. It seems she crossed over to Kerala and stood below a Vengai tree. One huntress saw her and made her murti in mud. Later Cheran Chenguttuvan made an exactly similar murti and consecrated it here.