Deity
The statue of Shiva is in the form of a huge lingam and is not visible. It is covered under a mound of ghee, formed by the daily abhishekam (ablution) with ghee over the years. A devotee looking into the sanctum can now see only a 16-foot-high (4.9 m) mound of ghee embellished with thirteen cascading crescents of gold and three serpent hoods at top. According to traditional belief, this represents the snow-clad Mount Kailash, the abode of Parvathy and Shiva. This is the only temple where Lingam is not visible. It is said that the ghee offered here for centuries does not have any foul odor and it does not melt even during summer.
Read more about this topic: Vadakkunnathan Temple
Famous quotes containing the word deity:
“Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“Man disavows, and Deity disowns me:
Hell might afford my miseries a shelter;
Therefore hell keeps her ever-hungry mouths all
Bolted against me.”
—William Cowper (1731–1800)
“Dog. A kind of additional or subsidiary Deity designed to catch the overflow and surplus of the world’s worship.”
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914)