| Ezhimala | |
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Ezhimala - A view from the train |
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| Elevation | 286 m (938 ft) |
| Translation | ഏഴിമല (Malayalam) |
| Location | |
| Location | Kerala, India |
| Range | Independent, adjacent to the Arabian Sea |
| Climbing | |
| Easiest route | Hike |
| Ezhimala Kannur |
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| — town — | |||
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| Coordinates | |||
| Country | India | ||
| State | Kerala | ||
| District(s) | Kannur | ||
| Nearest city | Payyannur | ||
| Literacy | 90%% | ||
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) | ||
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Ezhimala (Malayalam: ഏഴിമല) (also known as Ezhimalai), a hill reaching a height of 286 metres, is located in Kannur District of Kerala, South India. As the former capital of the ancient Mushika Kingdom, it is considered to be an important historical site. It is a conspicuous, isolated cluster of hills, forming a promontory 38 km north of Kannur Town. A flourishing seaport and center of trade around the beginning of the Common Era, it was also one of the major battlefields of the Chola-Chera Wars of the 11th century. It is believed by some that Lord Buddha had visited Ezhimala. The hill was once known as Mount Delly by the English or Monte D'Ely by the Portuguese.[1]
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This region is also known as Elimala, Mooshaka Sailam (മൂഷക ശൈലം) and Sapta Sailam.
Ezhimala, which is part of Ramanthali panchayath, is one of the most important places in the recorded history of North Kerala. Mooshika Vamsham, written by Athulan in the 10th century, throws light on the history of the Mushika Royal Family in particular and of North Kerala in general.[2][3][4] The first recorded king of Mooshika Vamsham (the Mooshika Dynasty) was Ramaghata Mooshika, and his capital was Ezhimala.
Athulan describes the later kings of this dynasty, who are now better known as the Kolathiri Dynasty. King Ramaghata Mooshika's successors shifted their capital to Pazhi (the present-day village of Pazhayangadi), Valabhapattanam (Valapattanam), and other nearby places over the centuries.
Ezhimala and its valleys constitute Ramanthali Village, a beautiful landscape adjacent to the famous Payyannur Town in Kannur District, Kerala State, where Perumal Temple is situated. It lies as a separate island surrounded by almost 3/5 by river streams and 2/5 by Arabian Sea. The beauty of the area is such that each side of the mountain drops down as breathtaking greenish valleys and then glides into the sea on one side and river streams on the other. The serene beauty gives profound joy to anybody standing on the top and looking to the west and sighting the white foamy waves gliding on the land as if washing the feet of the divine hill or looking to the east and setting sight on the most stunning heavenly greenish landscapes spread below the hill and climbing up to the Sahya mountains... Such virgin beauty is rarely to be found else where.
Ezhimala has its origin linked to the most revered Epic of Ramayana origin dating back to the "Threthayuga". The story goes like this : In the Sree Rama - Ravana battle, Ravana and his entire troops used all kinds of unlawful acts to win the battle. At one stage of the battle, when none of their strategies worked, Ravana's son Indrajith decided to resort to unlawful means with single objective of winning the battle. At that stage of the battle, Ravana and his army lost all hopes of winning the holy war and decided to use their Maya Power (the power to vanish into thin air). Thus son of Ravana "Indrajith " vanished from the battle field and then started to use a very special missile called "Brahma". Apparently a Brahma missile can only be stopped with another Brahma missile and in this warfare's ensuing heat the whole world will end in the flames. To avoid such a catastrophe, Epic Lord, the reincarnation of the Supreme Lord, Sree Rama, decided not to counter the Brahma missile and bowed himself to the awesome power of the missile. Naturally it ended up making his entire entourage including his brother Lakshmana and other warriors and kings unconscious. The next morning, Ravana's brother "Vibhishna", who visited the battlefield, was shocked to see the devastating scene. He walked around to see if anybody is conscious in the whole field of corps lying across the battlefield and to his pleasure found "Jambhavan" who due to his special power was able to survive the onslaught unscathed. Jambhavan and Hanuman are immortal due to their specially gifted divine origins. They were very concerned about well being of Lord Rama and Lakshmana.
Jambavan knew that in the north, in the Himalayas, there existed a small hill known as "Ishabhadri". In Ishabhadri, there was a divine herb, named "Mrithasanjeevani". It restored life once it was smelled by the deceased. Then the major challenge in front of them was to act fast failing which recovery would be impossible. They needed the help of a power that could fathom the long distance at high speed beating the deadline of time and bring the divine plant before dawn. Jambhavan through his transcendental powers knew that Sree Hanuman, the greatest disciple of Sree Ram was the only soul amongst them, that could achieve such a feat. With this understanding they rushed around the battlefield in distress and tears and to their relief found Sree Hanuman stuck in grief and sorrow. Jambhavan told Hanuman that he was the only one who could bring his master back into consciousness and told him about the plant and challenge of bringing it in time. Sree Hanuman was extremely delighted to do anything for his master and in no time, with his divine powers grew in to his huge size, raised himself up and flew heading to the north.
Removing all kinds of obstacles created by Ravana in Hanuman's path he finally reached the location as per the graphic explanation provided by Jambhavan. But the precious plant eluded his comprehension. Frustrated and confused in appreciation of the limitation of available time, Hanuman apparently lifted the whole mountain and flew back to Lanka.
As Sree Hanuman glided around the battlefield with the mountain in his hand, the whole entourage of King Sree Rama and both brothers got back their consciousness as they were able to breathe the divine oxygen coming out of the Mrithasanjeevani. Sree Rama was delighted with the feat achieved by his greatest disciple Sree Hanuman. He embraced Sree Hanuman and blessed him abundantly. Is it said that to reach Sree Rama and Salvation, the best conduit is gaining the blessing of Sree Hanuman and such special status was achieved by Sree Hanuman from this great blessing of Sree Rama. Back into the story, while going back for putting the mountain in place, on the way small pieces of the mountain happened to drop away and fell in coastline of Kerala touching Payyannur, Ramanthali, Vengara, Payangali region. The pieces fell in seven segmented portions one touching the other and that was how the hill was born.
Needless to state that this is a piece of land dropped by the greatest divine soul Sree Hanuman. Being a part of the original divine Ishabhadri which had extraordinary herbal plants and trees, ancient Rishis and Yogis discovered the value of the place, and set up hermitages where they meditated and practiced their yogic life. Also a number of Vaidyas (doctors of olden days) practiced in this area and in the neighboring villages and across the state of Kerala using the herbal plants plucked from the Ezhimala hills. This ancient epic linked land is beautiful, blessed and its serene beauty is extremely stunning and soothing for anybody who happens to visit the place. In fact the famous Sree Narayana Loka Santhi center constituted by Sree Nithya Chaithnaya Yedi with his thousands of disciples from across the globe used to converge in this holy land and they also had an Ashram for a long time.
Putting up a divine temple at the top of this mountain was found to be a necessity and its establishment will be a blessing for whole of humanity as per the predictions. Now with the blessings of Swamy Hanuman, this noble project of the temple, Eye Hospital and Boarding School will come in to fruition and will spread the blessing of Swamy to the neighborhood and far.
There is a famous temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman and the Mount Deli Lighthouse also located here. It is maintained by the Indian Navy and is a restricted area. The beach sand is of a different texture and the sea is bluer than in other areas. At the Ettikulam Bay, one can enjoy watching dolphins. Bordered by sea on three sides, Ezhimala had Indian Naval Ship (INS) Zamorin commissioned here marking Phase I of the Indian Naval Academy project, which was completed in January 2009.
The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, inaugurated the Indian Naval Academy in Ezhimala, Kerala on the 8th of January 2009. The Prime Minister's address on the occasion began with appreciation of this place "It is my profound pleasure to be present here today at this magnificent campus overlooking the Arabian Sea. There could not have been a better place for the establishment of India’s Naval Academy. I am therefore grateful to the Government of Kerala for having made all this possible".[5]
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