പുനർജ്ജനി ഗുഹ

Punarjani Guha

Useful Information

Location:	Thiruvilwamala Peringottukurissi Rd, Pampady, Kerala 680588. Thiruvilwamala, near Thrissur. 2 km from the Thiruvilwamala Temple. (10.736979096880386, 76.44807257069641)
Open:	On Guruvayur Ekadasi day 6-18. [2024]
Fee:	Men: all sins. Women: not allowed. [2024]
Classification:	Tectonic Cave
Light:	not allowed
Dimension:	L=150 m.
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	not allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Shiridi SaiRam Sanasthan, Thiruvilwamala, Trissur Dt., Kerala, South India, Tel: +91-4884282094. E-mail:
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History

Description

പുനർജ്ജനി ഗുഹ (Punarjani Guha, Punarjani Cave) is a mystical or holy place, open only once a year on Guruvayur Ekadashi, the Shukla Paksha Ekadashi day of the Vrichikam (November/December). The 150 m long narrow cave is believed to have been built by Viswakarma, the legendary creator of Kerala. According to legend, Punarjani Guha was carved out by him on the orders of Devendran following the pray of Parashurama.

The Punarjani Noozhal, the crawling through the Punarjani cave, is an important local ritual. The crawl is said to be difficult, but to remove all sins from the devotee. Only men are allowed to do the noozhal, women can visit the cave but will not get rid of their sins. The devotees first cleanse their body by bathing in the Papanasini Thirtham. Then they enter the cave without a light, in the dark they need about 45 minutes to reach the other end. Then they cleanse their body by bathing again in Papanasini Thirtham and thereafter dip in Pathalathirtha located at the starting point of the Punarjani.

The Kshatriya class, with weapons and power, had begun to abuse their power, take what belonged to others by force and tyrannize people. A king named Kartavirya Arjuna stole the celestial cow of Parashurama's father, the sage Jamadagni. When Jamadagni asked the king to return the cow, he struck him with his fist, killing him. When Parashurama learnt of this crime, he challenged the king to battle, defeated and killed him. The warrior class challenged him, and he killed every single member of the class except those who belonged to the lineages of Manu and Ikshvaku.
Out of shame, Parashurama atoned by providing an idol of Vishnu to the spirits of those killed. This gave the spirits darshan, but not salvation. He went to Brihaspati, the guru of the devas, to remedy the situation. Brihaspati told him that the ghosts had taken many births due to their karma and hence would not get salvation. So Lord Parasurama called Vishwakarma, the divine architect. He came with Indra and Brihaspati.
Since the place for the ghosts was not supposed to be near the temple, they found a suitable place some distance away. There Vishwakarma discovered the presence of Trimurti and Brihaspati started performing poojas. At that time, Lord Parasurama built a tank called Ganapathi Theertham, which was at the beginning. Within the time the construction was completed, he built two more tanks, namely Papanasini and Pathala Theertham. Indra built Ambutheertham with his arrows and Airavata, his vehicle, built Kombutheertham with his tusks. The spirits entered through the cave and attained salvation.
At the same time, some Brahmins also came there and expressed their desire to crawl into the cave. Lord Parasurama told them, that humans could also do this, but only on one day: the 11th day (Ekadasi) in the month of Vrischikam, the other days were only for spirits. The Brahmins arrived on this day, performed all the rituals, crawled through the cave and attained salvation.

Every year about 900 devotees come here to attain a new life. They believe that one janma (lifespan) is reduced from cycle of births and deaths with each crawl through the cave. It starts at 6 in the morning, and officially it should end at 6 in the evening, but there are too many people who come, and sometimes it extends to the wee hours of the next day. So actually, women are not allowed to enter the cave, they can just worship near the cave. It's not forbidden for women to visit the cave, but there are so many male visitors and since it doesn't work for women, it doesn't make sense for them. And they would take the place of a man who could be cleaned.

Such "crawling through holes" and "re-birthing" ceremonies seem very old, holes in rocks were venerated since the Stone Age. We know this from archaeological excavations. In modern times they seem to be a thing in India and in esoteric circles. Franz Lindenmayr actually made a detailed page about this topic, see the link below. For us this is a little too esoteric.

However, the summary is: it's not possible to "visit" this cave. The entrance is gated, the exit not, but it's a crawl. It is a religious place, and the only way is obviously to attend the ritual, which does not allow lamps, so you actually can't see the cave. The site is not a tourist site and even the trail is unmarked. However, it's possible to walk to the site and have a look at the entrances, and visit the temples. The official pilgrimage route starts at the Thiruvilwamala Sree Vilwadrinatha Temple, and is about 2.5 km long along the ridge of the hill.