The legend of Manjulal

Well, a break from the routine always does you good. I was part of a small group of people that visited the Guruvayur Temple in Kerala to have a darshan of the Lord and to also attend a family wedding. This year, there has hardly been any rain in Kerala, God’s Own Country and, quite unlike this part of the year, the weather was warm and dry.

One of the first pictures I took was of Manjulal, the peepul tree named after a devotee of Lord Krishna, called Manjula. Legend has it that she came one night, garland in hand, to offer it to the deity. From where she stood, near the peepul tree, she noticed the temple doors closed for the night. Saddened, she was about to leave when a saint, Poontanam, came by and told her to leave the garland on a stone and pray – God was omnipresent after all. This she did. The following day, when the temple priest was removing the adornments of the previous night from the deity, one garland refused to come off. Poontanam, who was present, said aloud that if the garland was the one placed by Manjula, it should come off. And lo and behold, it did! The peepul tree near where Manjula stood became a shrine. Today, of course, how many care to pause and have a look is another question…