Mridanga Saileswari Temple is an ancient temple located at Muzhakkunnu , Kannur district in the southern state of Kerala. The temple is among the 108 temples believed to have been established by Sage Parasurama. There is a story behind the temple getting the name “Mridanga Saileswari”. Mridangam is a percussion instrument from India of ancient origin.
A rock in the shape of Mridanga has fallen from heaven at this place and Sage Parasurama feeling the presence of Goddess has invoked her into the Rock and established a temple for her. With today’s scientific knowledge, one could assume this to be a site of a meteor fall. Mridanga Shaileshwari temple is also the birth place of South Indian Classical dance, Kathakali.
Four times in recently history, thieves stole the temple idol, but returned it as they could not go far with it. The reasons they gave for that makes the story even more intriguing.Recently DGP (retd) of Kerala, Shri Alexander Jacob narrated the story of the idol thieves who stole the idol of Bhagavathy. The ‘panchaloha vigraham’ has a market value of about 1 to 2 crores. And there were no security guards, though as ACP he had recommended too. First time the thieves abandoned it on the roadside at Parakkadavu with a note – this idol belongs to MSK. We are unable to carry it forward. It may be taken back to the temple.After 3 years, the thieves could take it only 300 metres away. In both the cases there were defecations in the temple precincts and at the abandoned place.Third time the thieves could carry it up to Kalpetta. They abandoned it in a lodge there after calling and informing the nearest police station regarding the details of the idol.
Video Source ; safari tv
Since Mr. Alexander was involved in all the 3 times he was puzzled at the failure of the thieves. Later, when the thieves were caught many years later they were asked the exact reason for their inability to get away with the stolen idol.That’s when they explained that while they remove and take away the idol, they lose all sense of direction. They go into a tizzy. And the worst part was that they lose the control over their bowel movements and urinate and defecates uncontrollably.When quizzed the Temple priests, they explained that the ‘prathiShta karmam’ of the idol is a very elongate procedure (more than 9 days) and the inability of the thieves are the result of those ‘tantrik vidhi”.That describes the reason for the extreme power of the goddess and the deity’s ability to bless the devotees with even the ‘IMPOSSIBILITIES’.
Three failed attempts did not deter another gang of idol thieves. This time it was a gang of seasoned thieves from a minority community in Kerala state itself. They did not believe in the supernatural powers of the idol. They also abandoned the idol. When later caught, they gave the same reason for abandoning the idol.
There are a lot of things around us that we can reason with our intelligence and our scientific knowledge. But still there are a few, that stays above our capacity to explain. Let us hope one day our scientific knowledge and reasoning ability will grow enough to explain such phenomenon’.