History - Part One

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Let us go back several thousands of years now. The time is so far back in the past that one really doesn't have an accurate date......or even an accurate millennium, for that matter!(This is long, long before the Rama Avatar, if that helps you to get things in some sort of perspective)The Sage Kola had wandered around plains, crossed rivers, climbed hills and traversed dangerous forests in search of the perfect place to meditate and do religious rituals. Finally he landed up at an idyllic place deep, deep in the forest, surrounded by mountains, on the banks of a little stream with water that was clearer than crystal. Things should normally have been perfect for him despite the fact that the place was teeming with wild animals.(The enlightened sages of those times, though carnivorous in their dietary habits, managed to co exist peacefully withnature in all its glorious forms and the very possibility

of animals being put on the Endangered List some day hadn't struck their great minds at the time.) But trouble he did have,in the form of the Demon Kamhasura, who delighted in disrupting Kola's meditation in ways too gross to be printed. The patience of even Great Souls like Kola though vast, isn't infinite. And finally a day came when he simply couldn't take it any more. So he started praying and praying to all the Gods to come to his aid and to rid him of this pain in his saintly neck, Kamha But there was a tiny problem in that Kamha himself was a devout Thapasvi and consequently extremely well endowed in spiritual ammunition, so to speak. And to make matters worse, he had pleased Shiva so much with his Thapas that Shiva had given him the boon that no man could ever kill him. And thus began Womens Lib....all those years ago....in the forests haunted by Kamha, when Saint Kola started to pray

for a Woman to kill destroy the horrible Asura that no man could. Kamha was quick in finding out about Kola's plans and started to pray to Shiva once again in his demoniacally efficient way.....This time, to seek the boon that no Woman could kill him either! By this time though, most of the Gods were on Kola's side.And when the moment came when Shiva Manifested Himself before Kamha, Saraswathi,the Goddess of expression sat on Kamha's tongue and rendered him mute.(Saraswathi's tricks in this line are legendary; the time when she similarly caused Kumbhakarna to sleep for eternity being another such celebrated instance) Shiva smiled a pleased Shaivite smile and said to Kamha "I am pleased with your devotion again, O Kamha. Tell me..what can I do for you this time?" But all Kamha could do was just gulp wordlessly. Shiva was a tad surprised, for normally the Thapasvis were quicker than

US Missiles in asking for boons....and here was this Asura just staring at him mutely! So Shiva asked him again.....and again...why he was summoned from his blissful activities in the arms of Parvathi all the way from Kailasa if the bugger had nothing to Tell him. And Kamha remained desperately mute. So Shiva cursed him roundly and went off in a huff. It was celebration day for Kola naturally. And he in turn, wasted no time at all in invoking the blessings of ALL the Gods...not just Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Saraswathi, Lakshmi and Parvathi, but every single one from the Thirty Three CRORE Devas to come to his aid. And come to his aid, they did! And how! The collective power of all the Gods manifested itself in the form of a woman....a Goddess...more glorious than anything anyone had ever conceived of till then:-Aadi Paraashakthi,the Primordial Female Force! And She made short work of Kamha before

he could utter a single syllable of protest. As she killed him when he was rendered mute...or Mooka in Sanskrit....she came to be called Mookambika.Soon after she killed Kamhasura....or Mookasura .... She disappeared into a rock on the ground,around which the present Mookambika Temple is built.The place itself was called Kolapuram....the place where Kola used to live....which has become corrupt over the years into Kollur. During the time of Shri Rama,long before the Temple we now see was built, Lakshmana was wounded gravely in battle.And the ever faithful Hanumanwas crossing the country with a flying leap,(Which was His speciality, beingpartly the son of Vaayu or the God of Air) carrying a huge big portion ofthe divine mountain Chandra Giri which had the two divine antidotes to cureLakshmana (Sandanakarini and Mritha Sanjeevini) apart from sixty four otherdivine medicinal

plants.During his flight however, fragments of this divinemountain fell here and there in some blessed spots in our country.And onesuch piece fell near the spot where Goddess Mookambika had manifestedHerself.This still stands as a mini mountain and is calledKodashadri.Around the same time, Garuda landed up there to do a bit ofmeditation Himself because of the obvious concentration of cosmic energypresent.He used water from the Divine stream originating at the top of thehill. As Garuda was also called Suparna this river came to be known asSauparnika. It flows happily to this very day, containing the beneficialeffects of all the sixty four divine medicinal herbs from the hill, but asit seems to be the case with most divine rivers in our country, it getshorrendously polluted by hordes of visiting pilgrims, many of whom keeptheir noxious bodies unwashed like the cohorts of Attilla The Hun just topurify them in the divine

waters of the Sauparnika without giving theslightest heed to the welfare of the river itself. PART TWO WILL BE POSTED SHORTLY. PRANAM, Babitha

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