Legends Surrounding The Kadampuzha Devi Temple
The legends surrounding the Kadampuzha Devi are related to Arjuna, one of the heroes of the epic Mahabharata.
Arjuna fought with god Siva during the Kirata incarnation (he was accompanied by Devi Parvathy during her Vanadurga incarnation).
A demon named Mukasura took the form of a wild boar and started destroying the trees and shrubs around Arjuna. Arjuna was in deep meditation at the time, in order to get the Pasupathasthra (a divine arrow named "Pasupatham") from Lord Paramasiva.
Both Arjuna and Shiva shot at the wild boar and both claimed that his arrow had killed the animal. They argued, and finally agreed to fight a battle with bow and arrow. The victor of the battle would also get the honour of being the killer of the wild boar. The ensuing battle was fierce and Arjuna was defeated. Despondent over the defeat, Arjuna placed a big stone in front of him and started praying to the mother of the universe Parasakthi while showering flowers over the stone. He was amazed to see that the flowers fell at the feet of the Kirata and Kirati. He realised that those people were actually Lord Paramasiva and Devi Parvathy. The Lord and Devi Parvathy were pleased with Arjuna and gifted him with the Pasupathastra arrow.
Another legend says that Adi Sankaracharya, during his travels, once happened to pass through Kadampuzha, which was then a grassland. At one place he could not pass further, as he seemed to strike an invisible wall. He understood it to be the meeting point of the Goddess Parasakthi in her Devi Parvathy incarnation and Lord Parameswara in his "Kirata" incarnation. Adi Sankaracharya prayed to the Devi and she appeared before him. After blessing him, the goddess disappeared into a small hole in the ground. He did the first poojas to the devi there on that day in Vrishchikam (November–December) and the sanctum of the temple is said to have been built around that hole.
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“Therefore our legends always come around to seeming legendary,
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“Every winter the liquid and trembling surface of the pond, which was so sensitive to every breath, and reflected every light and shadow, becomes solid to the depth of a foot or a foot and a half, so that it will support the heaviest teams, and perchance the snow covers it to an equal depth, and it is not to be distinguished from any level field. Like the marmots in the surrounding hills, it closes its eyelids and becomes dormant for three months or more.”
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