Punarjani Guha
Encyclopedia
Punarjani Guha is a natural tunnel 150 meters long in a rocky cliff in Thrissur district
of Kerala
state, south India
. Punarjani Guha is situated 2 kilometres from the Thiruvilwamala Temple where the chief presiding deity is Sri Rama. The idol is believed to be ‘swayamboo’ i.e. born on its own. It is believed that performing ‘noozhal’ or crawling through the tunnel from one end to the other will wash away all of one’s sins and thus attain freedom from rebirth or moksha
. Only men are allowed to do the ‘noozhal’ and women can only visit the cave. The legend is that sage Parasurama once observed this ritual 101 times in a row to atone the sin of annihilating the kshatriya
s.
This ritual is practised only one day in a year on Guruvayur
Ekadasi day, in the malayalam month of vrichikam. The "noozhal" is a challenging task and not all can perform this ritual. There is utteany times need about half an hour to finish the ritual. The movement through the cave demands all kinds of bodily postures like standing, sitting, creeping, crawling etc. yet every year thousands of men flock to this place on Ekadasi day to avail themselves of a chance to be reborn.
Kerala°N date=December 2010°W
Thrissur district
Thrissur is a revenue district of Kerala situated in the central part of that state. Spanning an area of about 3,032 km2, Thrissur district is home to over 10% of Kerala’s population. Thrissur district was formed on July 1, 1949, with the headquarters at Thrissur City. Thrissur is known as...
of Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
state, south India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
. Punarjani Guha is situated 2 kilometres from the Thiruvilwamala Temple where the chief presiding deity is Sri Rama. The idol is believed to be ‘swayamboo’ i.e. born on its own. It is believed that performing ‘noozhal’ or crawling through the tunnel from one end to the other will wash away all of one’s sins and thus attain freedom from rebirth or moksha
Moksha
Within Indian religions, moksha or mukti , literally "release" , is the liberation from samsara and the concomitant suffering involved in being subject to the cycle of repeated death and reincarnation or rebirth.-Origins:It is highly probable that the concept of moksha was first developed in...
. Only men are allowed to do the ‘noozhal’ and women can only visit the cave. The legend is that sage Parasurama once observed this ritual 101 times in a row to atone the sin of annihilating the kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
s.
This ritual is practised only one day in a year on Guruvayur
Guruvayur
Guruvayur is a municipal town in Thrissur District, of Kerala State in India. It houses the famous Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple, the fourth biggest temple in India in terms of the number of devotees per day.-History:Guruvayur, according to the legends may be 5,000 years old as the Guruvayur...
Ekadasi day, in the malayalam month of vrichikam. The "noozhal" is a challenging task and not all can perform this ritual. There is utteany times need about half an hour to finish the ritual. The movement through the cave demands all kinds of bodily postures like standing, sitting, creeping, crawling etc. yet every year thousands of men flock to this place on Ekadasi day to avail themselves of a chance to be reborn.
Kerala°N date=December 2010°W