Poonthanam Sri Krishna Temple and Poonthanam Illam

Sri Krishna Temple

Poonthanam’s house, locally known as Poonthanam Illam is 65 km from Guruvayur. It is situated on the Perinthalmanna – Nilamboor route at Kizhattoor, Perinthalmanna. Temple is close to the Angadippuram railway station on the Shoranur – Nilambur railway line.

Poonthanam (AD 1547-1640) was an ardent devotee of Lord Guruvayoorappan. His devotion to Lord Krishna was steeped in awe and reverence. He composed poems for the pleasure of the Lord. Poonthanam was the family name; his personal name is not known. He married at 20, but for a long time had no children. Poonthanam began to propitiate the Lord of Guruvayur. A son was born to him in 1586. He called for a celebration and everybody known was invited, but the child died an hour before the ceremony. By stoically absorbing the tragedy with a sense of reality, Poonthanam submitted himself to the will of Lord Guruvayoorappan and took His refuge.

Gradually Poonthanam become enlightened and self-realised. He was blessed with a glorious vision of the divine child Sri Krishna, inspiring him to sing the famous verse – “While baby Krishna is dancing in our hearts, do I need another baby of my own?” Poonthanam spent the rest of his life of 90 odd years reading the Srimad-Bhagavatam and singing the Lord’s glories in simple Malayalam. He composed ‘Bahsakarnamritam’, a devotional work. The Anandakarnamritam(dance of ecstasy) was his last contribution to devotional literature. Poonthanam’s life is a fine illustration of how sufferings (soka) of pure devotee can result in a divine hymn (sloka).

Every month Poonthanam walked to Guruvayur from his home to take darshan of Sri Guruvayoorappan. As Poonthanam grew old, he found it very difficult to travel up to Guruvayur. Once he set out for Guruvayur to see his dearest Lord Krishna. But, after walking just a little distance, he felt extremely tired and had to abandon the trip. At this point, Poonthanam cried out to Guruvayoorappan lamenting his inability to meet Him. Immediately, he saw Sri Guruvayoorappan standing to his left side (Idathu puram).

Sri Guruvayoorappan blessed Poonthanam “You need not walk all the way to Guruvayur temple – I will be personally present here to accept your worship. Construct a temple here and do your worship.” Accordingly, a temple was constructed at that place, very soon. Poonthanam eulogized this Deity in many of his works as Vaamapuraadi-naatha (Lord of the left side). At this temple, there is a marking on the ground to indicate the area where Poonthanam offered his obeisances to Lord Krishna. The successors of Poonthanam Namboodiri gave this property to Guruvayur Devaswom.

The Lord as Mangattachan (The Ring story):

Poonthanam used to walk to his favourite temple of Guruvayur which was 65 km from his home to take darshan of Guruvayoorappan every month. The route to the temple was very desolate. Poonthanam was walking fast on that route. His mind was fully immersed in thoughts of Guruvayoorappan. Suddenly he found himself surrounded by robbers who started to hurt him verbally and physically. He gave them everything he had, the money and his gold ring. Still they were at him. They asked for the small packet he was clinging to. Poonthanam said it was only Srimad-Bhagavatam. The thieves were not convinced. Poonthanam did not want to part with the Bhagavatam, which was his whole treasure. Sensing danger, he closed his eyes and cried out for the Lord’s help. The sweet scent of Vanamala, the garland worn by Sri Krishna, spread all around and he opened his eyes to see Mangattachan (the Minister of the Zamurin Raja) standing before him with his drawn sword drenched in blood. He also saw the bodies of the robbers around him. Relieved, Poonthanam cried out, “Krishna! Krishna! Your lilas are wonderful!” He took the ring off his finger and presented it to Mangattachan for his help.

The same night the main priest of the Guruvayur temple heard a voice in his dream saying, “You will find a ring on the deity, give it to Poonthanam, who will come tomorrow”. Sure enough, the priest saw a ring on the deity when he opened the Temple the next day. Shortly after, Poonthanam came for darshan and started his prayers. The priest came out and gave Poonthanam the ring and told him what happened. Poonthanam was flabbergasted to see the ring he had presented to Mangattachan the day before. It was Lord Guruvayoorappan who had come to the rescue of Poonthanam as Mangattachan.

Poonthanam rendition of Srimad-Bhagavatam attracts Lord Siva:

People loved Poonthanam for his beautiful Srimad-Bhagavatam discourses. There is a temple in North Kerala called Kottiyoor. The presiding deity in the temple is Lord Siva. The temple was kept open only for a few days in a year. There was no human activity in that place for the rest of the year. Once, Poonthanam reached the Kottiyoor temple and bathed in the holy water. He worshiped the compassionate Lord Siva, felt happy and stayed there for a few days. He recited Srimad-Bhagavatam every day in front of the deity and hundreds of people listened to his sweet discourse on the wonderful pastime in the 10th Canto 60th chapter of Srimad-Bhagavatam named, “Lord Krishna Teases Queen Rukmini”. The Lord always plays a complete role in all the pastimes. Be as Parthasarathy, a dutiful son, a loving husband or a loyal friend, He plays the role immaculately. The Lord decides to play with a great devotee and His beloved wife Queen Rukmini. He playfully asks her why she wanted to marry the Lord when she had better choices like king Sisupala, Salva, Jarasandha, etc. Hearing this, Queen Rukmini faints and Lord consoles her. This is the gist of the chapter. Poonthanam finished reading this part of the chapter and kept the bookmark at the end of the chapter. Next day, to his surprise, he found the bookmark at the beginning of the same chapter. So Poonthanam read the same part for the second time. This was repeated for the rest of the days. It was the last day to close the temple for the year. Poonthanam finished the discourse and was returning from the temple with the other devotees, but somehow left the Bhagavatam in the temple. Having walked some distance, he remembered that he forgot to bring the Bhagavatam. He hurried back; crossed the river and reached the entrance to the temple, which was closed. He was all alone.

He could hear somebody reciting the same part of the chapter inside the temple. As he looked through the key hole, he saw Lord Siva reading from Poonthanam’s Bhagavatam. Mother Parvati and other Bhoothaganas were listening, their eyes filled with tears of devotion. Poonthanam stood there and heard the recitation. In the end, Lord Siva asked Parvatidevi, “Did you like the recitation?” Parvathi replied, “Yes, it was nice, but was not as good as Poonthanam’s.”Lord Siva replied, “Yes. That is true. I also like to hear Bhagavatam from Poonthanam. That is why I placed the bookmark again and again at the beginning of the same topic every day.” Hearing this, Poonthanam, who stood outside was shaken and uttered the holy name of Lord Krishna loudly. When he watched again, Lord Siva and Mother Parvati had disappeared.

Melpathur humbled:

The Jnanapana (means the song of wisdom) written in simple Malayalam is Poonthanam’s greatest work. Melpathur Naryana Bhattadri was the most popular Sanskrit scholar of that time. Poonthanam showed the draft of his Jnanapana to Melpathur. Malayalam was not accepted in learned circles those days and Melpathur held Malayalam in contempt as he did not consider it equal to Sanskrit. He refused to see Poonthanam’s work and told him blatantly to learn Sanskrit before writing. This hurt Poonthanam. Melpathur was composing Narayaniyam those days. When he came to offer 10 slokas (ten stanzas) before the Lord the next day, he could not utter a single word. A small boy, never seen before, presented himself and pointed out mistakes after mistakes in the slokas composed by Melpathur. After 10 mistakes in 10 slokas, Melpathur realized the divinity of the boy. He fell at the feet of the boy but He disappeared. A celestial voice rang out saying, “Poonthanam’s devotion is more pleasing to me than Melpathur’s knowledge in Sanskrit grammar”. Melpathur realized his mistake and asked Poonthanam to pardon him. He amended his arrogance by reading the works of Poonthanam.

A Helping Hand to the Devatas One night

Poonthanam had the following dream. A beautiful airplane landed in the courtyard of his house. The Vishnu-duthas (celestial servants of Lord Krishna) had come to pick up Poonthanam to take him to Vaikuntha. Poonthanam received them properly. The Vishnu-duthas led him to the plane with due respect. That plane passed through many worlds and reached Vaikuntha. The celestials guided him throughout and Poonthanam got out of the plane. He saw many other Vishnu-duthas there who all had reached Lord’s abode due to their intense Bhakti-yoga. Poonthanam offered obeisances to the divine place. As soon as he reached the entrance two divine Gatekeepers with a humble bow received him. Poonthanam thought he was unfit to receive that kind of honours from them. But they said they were two plantain trees growing near the portico in Poonthanam’s house in their previous birth. They got to hear Poonthanam’s Srimad-Bhagavatam recitation every day, which elevated them. So they respected Poonthanam as their Gurudeva. By this time Poonthanam woke up from his dream with exciting memories of Vaikuntha. When he went to the front yard he saw those two plantain trees had fallen on the ground.

The Ultimate Benediction, Vaikuntha!!!

Poonthanam was getting too old. He couldn’t travel anymore. He remained at home and spent most of his time in reciting Srimad-Bhagavatam and meditation. He used to get visions of Lord Sri Krishna very often. But others couldn’t understand what he was talking about. They thought he had become senile. One day Poonthanam said, “The Vishnu-duthas are visiting our house tomorrow. So the whole house needs to be decorated with plantain trees.” Poonthanam’s servants thought he was going crazy. Still they completed all arrangements, as he instructed. Next morning, while Poonthanam was resting after meditation, he could see the plane coming to fetch him. Immediately he invited anyone who wanted to join him and to get ready to go as the plane had landed. All the villagers declined. Ultimately, only a maid who had been nursing his ailing wife asked for his permission to go with him. Poonthanam gladly agreed.

The Lord’s partiality for Poonthanam:

Though Poonthanam and Melpathur were devotees of Lord Guruvayurappa, Poonthanam, a great poet, who wrote his verses in the vernacular, was famous for hisbhakti, whereas Melpathur, an erudite scholar and great poet in Sanskrit, was known for his knowledge. The Lord was partial towards Poonthanam. Melpathur used to laugh at Poonthanam’s Sanskrit reading and recitation. One day, Poonthanam was wrongly reciting “Padmanabho Maraprabhu“, (Vishnu Sahasranama: aprameyo-rsikesa-padmanabho-maraprabhu), which means “Lord of trees” in Malayalam. Melpathur openly laughed at Poonthanam and corrected him saying, Padmanabha is not Maraprabhu (Lord of trees) but Amaraprabhu (which means Lord of immortals in Sanskrit). Immediately, there was celestial voice from the inner shrine, “I am also Maraprabhu” (Lord of trees). Now there is a statue of “Maraprabhu” in the Srivalsam guest house (at the southern side of the temple), made of clay. It is the biggest clay deity in Asia.