India is a home to multiple religions and the largest country to have Hindu temples. As per the official 2001 census, India is possessed with over two million temples. We can imagine how much it would have grown to after 19 years. There are several mysterious temples in the country to which few are scientifically understood and few aren’t. There is one temple by the name “KANIPAKAM”(in two million) among the (unresolved) mysteries to the human mind. Kanipakam is a temple of Lord Vinayaka situated in Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh. Millions of devotees all around the world visit the temple. It is now under the (supervision/administration) of the TTD board of the famous Tirumala temple of Lord Balaji. It is believed that this temple is constructed around the 11th century by Chola kings and expanded during the Vijayanagara Dynasty.
MYSTERY
A STORY OF THREE PHYSICALLY DISABLED BROTHERS:
There were three brothers who were blind, deaf, and dumb. They live in kanipakam village by doing cultivation. Once two brothers among them started drawing the water from the well to their surprise, the well dried up and then they started digging the inner layers of the well with a rod and water flow began suddenly, then stone in the water got hit by the rod and blood starts oozing from the stone and in very few minutes both the water and blood got mixed, they were shocked by looking each other and their physical disabilities were cured. They informed the villagers who live in the village. They started digging the well too deeply and finally found self-manifested Lord Ganesha which was in the form of a stone.
Everyone thought that it was a miracle and soon they brought coconuts and offered to the self-manifested idol Lord Ganesha. This coconut water started flowing up to a distance of more than one and quarter acres, which lead to the phenomenon of the word Kanipakam, which means, “Kani-Wet land” and “Pakam-Flow of water”. Then the villagers decided to build a temple around the well. Even until today, the idol of Lord Ganesha is in the same well filled with water always.
SCIENTIFIC JUSTIFICATIONS
As per Cory Black Eagle, a geologist at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, he says that rocks are usually composed of minerals such as aragonite, opal, chalcedony, calcite, etc have some unique properties. Rocks formed by this dripping water are called “stalactites” when they grow down from the ceiling and “stalagmites” when they grow up from the floor.
If the rocks are metamorphic, the minerals in the rock tend to transform due to heat and pressure. So at times, new minerals grow to make their minerals lock tighter and result in increased density. So the same amount of material in a smaller volume.
Hence we can assume that this is one of the possibilities of the idol of Kanipakam rising since it’s surrounded by water all the time.
STORY BEHIND BAHUDA RIVER:
Long ago there were two brothers, one fine day in the early morning they started for a pilgrimage to Kanipakam. Due to continuous walk, they felt tired and the younger brother among them felt hungry. He searched for food around them, that he can find something to fulfill his hunger. But he couldn’t get anything. Then he found a mangrove nearby them and started plucking a mango from the mango tree, by refusing his elder brother’s advice as not to pluck it without the permission of the owner. But in vain the younger brother plucked it from the tree. Then the elder brother reported this issue to the king of that place and asked him to punish his elder brother for not taking permission to pluck the mango. Hence the king chopped the two arms of the younger brother as a punishment. Then he started crying with pain and reached finally kanipakam. Then they went near to sacred water that is present in the river and took a dip from it, to their surprise a wonderful miracle took place. The chopped arms of the younger brother were restored. As soon as the king came to know this miracle, he named this river as “BAHUDA”, in which “Bahu” means “arms” and “Da” means “giver. This is the reason for naming the river as Bahuda.
INTERESTING FACTS:
- A stunning fact about the idol of Lord Vinayaka in Kanipakam is that it is rising higher than before in size and height for 50 years. It is observed by historians, enthusiasts and the priests in the temple who perform daily pooja to the idol, they came to know this fact when one of the devotees of Lord Vinayaka donated the silver armor to the idol before 50 years, in which today the idol is not fitted in it. Like this nearly 4-5 times the armor with different sizes was made based on the measurements of the idol size. These are displayed in glass vaults for the public to notice the difference of sizes over the years.
- The water that is present around the idol Ganesha which is self-manifested in the well is considered holy water and is distributed to the devotees as prasadham.
- It is also believed that the idol of Lord Vinayaka will be increasing in its size until the end of Kaliyuga and after that Lord, Vinayaka will appear in person.
SELF MANIFESTED IDOL → LORD OF JUSTICE:
There is a belief that when devotees do come to make a promise, they should say only the truth. If in case the person promises and tells lie, a bad omen is said to haunt them and bad happens to a certain person. By taking a dip in the sacred water or holy water in the temple tank, the culprit or the person who has lied or the person who committed sin accepts the truth before entering the main temple. The program of truths is done every day under the name of “Sathyalu” meaning the “truth”. Several couples, businessmen in local and statewide come due to conflicts, distrust, or cheating issues to confirm.
By BANDI AISWARYA, CHITTOOR
