108 Shiva Temples
Group of Shiva temples in Kerala
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The 108 Shiva Temples are a group of Hindu temples dedicated to the god Shiva, enumerated in the Shivalaya Stotram, a Malayalam devotional hymn. Of the 108, 105 are in Kerala, 2 in Karnataka and 1 in Tamil Nadu.
Background
According to Hindu beliefs, Parasurama created the land between Gokarna and Kanyakumari. It is said that Kerala was reclaimed from the ocean using his axe to donate the land to Brahmins after the killing of King Kartavirya Arjuna and other Kshatriyas.[1] He split this land into 64 villages (gramas). Out of these 64 villages, 32 villages are between Perumpuzha and Gokarnam and the spoken language was Tulu. The remaining 32 villages were in the Malayalam-speaking area between Perumpuzha and Kanyakumari.[2][3]
Parasurama is the sixth avatar of the god Vishnu; he was the youngest son of sage Jamadagni and Renuka. According to legend, after donating the land to Brahmins, 108 Shiva lingams and Durga idols were installed in these 64 villages. These 108 Shiva temples are mentioned in the Shivalaya Stotram,[4][5] and a song is written in the Malayalam language.[6][7] Of the 108 Shiva temples, 105 temples are in Kerala, 2 in Karnataka and 1 in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu.[8]
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