The story of a goddess awaiting her marriage with Bhagwan Shiv till date

At the tip of our country’s land down South where the two great seas meet with the waters of the mighty Indian Ocean stands a temple in which a goddess is awaiting her marriage with Bhagwan Shiv till date. The deity of this beautiful temple here is Devi Kanya kumari (Kanya meaning Virgin, Kumari meaning Young Girl). She is waiting for her groom Bhagwan Shiv who resides in another great temple around 22 kilometres away from the temple at Suchindram.

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According to legend, a demon Banasura created havoc in the three worlds with his injustice and brought the worlds to misery. On the advice of Bhagwan Vishnu, the Devas propitiated the Parashakti by performing a Yagna. Goddess Shakti appeared in front of them and assured them of killing the demon and restoring peace. The Goddess came to the land near the confluence of the great waters in the form of a young girl Kumari and started her penance over there to gain power to fight the evil forces of Bansura.

Time passed and Bhagwan Shiv who was the main deity at Suchindram temple saw her in the mystical place and fell in love with her. On the proposal of marriage with her, Kumari agreed happily and asked him to come to her place at an auspicious time in the midnight for the wedding. All preparations are made and Kumari dresses beautifully as a bride and starts awaiting her groom, Bhagwan Shiv.

Meanwhile, Rishi Narad comes to know that Banasur can be only killed only if the goddess remains a virgin. For the welfare of the world, he sets a plan to break the wedding off. Rishi Narad transforms himself into a rooster and crowed loudly at midnight. Bhagwan Shiv who was on the way to the wedding venue, heard the roosting and thinks that the auspicious time set for the wedding has passed away. He gets disappointed and turned back to Suchindram and the wedding was broke.

Kumari gets disappointed that Bhagwan Shiv did not turn up decides to stay in the same dress as a bride and wait for her swami. In the meanwhile, Banasur hears about her beauty and comes to her. He lures her to get married on which the goddess gets enraged and destroys Banasur and all his army with her great sword. The Devas appear in front of her and thank her dutifully with gratitude. Later, the goddess resumed her penance and till date is awaiting the presence of Bhagwan Shiv to come and marry her. Hence, she is worshipped as a virgin goddess at this very place and her name came to be known as Kanya Kumari. The pious place where she took the form of a virgin goddess also came to be known by her name as Kanyakumari.

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There stands a huge temple where the goddess resides and the Chola and Vijayanagara kings have given huge contributions to it in terms of donations, architecture and sculptural splendour. Apart from that, this place is also famous for the tiny colourful pebbles and stones which are found all over the beach. These stones are believed to be the food and the colourful preparations made for the wedding which transformed into sand after the wedding broke off. As the place of the confluence of the three great waters too, Kanyakumari is a place with a divine aura which fills every person’s heart with bliss and devotion for the creation.