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THE MANDIR:
The
sacred shrine of Kumari Parvathi is situated at the exact place of the merging
of three seas, and so it is washed by their holy waters. It has two prakaras and
two entrances. The main entrance facing the north is adorned with a modest sized
tower The other gate facing the east is always closed, but opened on special
occasions, for bathing the idol during festival season. This has an odd story.
It is recorded that the unexceptional brilliance of the gem set in the nose
screw adorning the statue was drawing many a ship in the nights, like the shaft
of light of modern
light house towards the shore and leading to disastrous consequence of their
dashing against the rock and smashing into pieces.
To safeguard the interests of the ill-fated mariners, the eastern gate was
closed long back. There is a belief that the English sailors entering through
the east gate stole the jewelled nose ring of the Virgin goddess. It too has a
story According to it, the diamond set in the nose-ring was Nagamani extracted from a cobra; it dazzles as
brilliant as that of a broad bright shaft of light
equal to a light-house. Once some sailors mistook the temple to be light house
and sailed in that direction Alas! they were ship-wrecked off the present
Vivekananda rock. Many died, but a few survivors-vultures as they were, entered
the temple in the dark night. plucked out the sparkling nose ring and vanished
in to pitch darkness. So the eastern gate was closed anon to prevent further loss.
Since then admission to the sanctum is made through north gate only. As the
devotees pass through
the corridor of the inner prakara, they come across Navaratri Mandapam of huge
dimensions, capable of holding thousands of persons normally congregated on
special occasions.
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