servant to Vilwadri, and after preventing attacks, he resided there permanently for preventing further attacks. The idol is around 5 ft tall, and is in sitting posture. There is another store room near Lord Hanuman temple, and also a stage for various entertainment programmes as part of temple festival. On the southern side, there is a shrine dedicated to Lord Ayyappa, here called 'Kundil Ayyappan', as the shrine is situated on a pit (called 'kundu' in Malayalam) 50 ft below the main temple. Here, Lord Ayyappa resides with his father Lord Shiva and his consort, Goddess Parvati, all facing east. It is from this temple that Lord Vilwadrinatha gets his rice for 'Thripputhari' in the month of Karkkadakam (July–August). There are shrines dedicated to serpent Gods and Brahmarakshass near Lord Ayyappa shrine. Another fleet of steps starts from here, and by going there, we can reach 'Rakshasappara'. Below it is the Parakkottukavu Temple, a famous temple dedicated to Goddess Bhadrakali. The 'thalappoli' in the month of Medam (April–May) is the main festival there. It is believed that Goddess Sita lived there after getting away from Ayodhya, and once she heard that Lord Rama has reached there, she jumped into the nearby pond, which had kept its 'mouth' open. That pond is now called as 'Vaikattichira' (meaning 'the pond which showed its mouth'). Later, a temple appeared there. The temple is constructed facing east towards Vaikattichira. There was a huge banyan tree on the south-western side, with the presence of all deities, especially Lord Guruvayoorappan (another form of Lord Vishnu, also considered to be Lord Krishna), the major deity of the world-famous Guruvayoor Temple, situated 50 km away from Thiruvilwamala towards the south-west. One of its branches broke down on 25 June 2015 after heavy rains, and destroyed the south-western portion of the nalambalam. As the incident occurred after the nada was closed, no danger occurred. Later, it was destroyed. Now, a new banyan plant is planted on the place of this tree. There are idols of various Hindu gods below this plant. Outside the temple complex, on the eastern side, there is a huge peepal tree. It is a wonderful sight for the devotees, as there is no soil on that place, and still this tree grew up. That point of the hill is called 'Bhoothanmala', meaning 'the hill of the ghosts'. The way to the famous Punarjani cave starts