19/02/2017
Kanyakumari, confluence of three seas
Kanyakumari is famous for its incomparable geographical location of not only it’s the land’s end of the Indian sub-continent, but also for the confluence of three seas viz. Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. Here, Bay of Bengal meets the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. A dip in the ‘Triveni Sangam’ (confluence of the three seas) is considered to be very auspicious.
Kanyakumari is a popular pilgrim centre and named after goddess ‘Parvati’, wife of lord ‘Shiva’. ‘KumariAmman’ a temple is dedicated to virgin goddess Kanyakumari (kanya – ‘lady’, kumari – ‘virgin’). Kanyakumari has great spiritual signiñcance for Hindus. It’s dedicated to the goddess Devi Kanya, an incarnation of Parvati. Pilgrims come here to visit the Kanyakumari temple and bath in the Triveni sangamam.
The legend says that the Asuras got supremacy over the Devas, which led to Adharma, ignorance and injustice. Banasura, the king of demons, drove away Devas from heaven and meted out cruel punishments to saints. Due to the agony, Mother Earth sought the help of Lord Vishnu, the Protector of the Universe. The Lord advised that the Devas to pray to Parashakti, who alone is capable of destroying Banasura. Devas performed Yagna to please the Goddess, who appeared before them and promised to
annihilate the evil forces. She came to Kanyakumari in the form of a Virgin girl and began her penance. Meanwhile, Lord (of nearby Suchindram temple) fell in love with her and arrangements were made for their marriage.
The divine sage Narad realized that this marriage will destroy the chances of annihilating Banasura, because it was pre-ordinated by Brahma that the demon king could be killed only by a Virgin. Narad decided to stop this marriage. He met both Goddess, Kanya and Lord Shiva and asked them to be ready for the marriage, which has to take place at an auspicious hour at midnight. On the date of marriage Lord Shiva started from Suchindram to Kanyakumari, for the marriage at the auspicious time without missing it. As the Lord reached Vazukkamparai, five kilometers south of Suchindram, Narada assumed the form of a c**k and crowed falsely, heralding the break of dawn. Thinking that the auspicious hour for this marriage was over, Lord returned to Suchindram. The Goddess decided to remain Virgin ever after. All the food items prepared for the divine wedding were turned into sand. Small pebbles, resembling rice and the multi-coloured sands are found abundantly on the shore, are believe to be attributed to the above incident.
Bansura heard about the beauty of the Virgin Goddess and requested her hand in marriage. When the Goddess spurned the idea, the demon king decided to win her by force. A fierce battle ensued that the Goddess killed the demon with her Chakrayudha. This relieved Devas and they expressed their gratitude to the Goddess and returned blessed.
