Hundreds crawl to shake off sins

THRISSUR: Hundreds of devotees crawled through the Punarjani cave at Thiruvilwamala, near here, on Tuesday. Crawling (noozhal) through the 150-metre cave is believed to wash away one’s sins.

The Cochin Devaswom Board conducted a special pooja at the cave mouth. Thiruvilwamla temple chief priest Mundakkal Vamanan Naboothiri led the rituals. After the pooja, the chief priest rolled down a gooseberry through the cave after which the crawling began.

Devotees took bath in the ‘papanasini theertham,’ a water source near the hill. Of the 24 Ekadasis, the 11th day of every lunar fortnight a year, the Vrischika Ekadasi is celebrated as the day for the ‘Thiruvilwamala Punarjani Noozhal.’

Legend has it that the cave was made by Viswakarma on the request of Parasurama. The latter, having committed many sins, wanted a means to free himself of the ill-effects  and get ‘moksha.’