The legend of Vishnumoorthy

Vishnumoorthy is the deified form of Palanthai Kannan. Kannan was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. He belonged to a lower caste and lived in Nileshwar. One day, while herding cattle the boy became too hungry and picked mangoes from a tree owned by Kuruvat Nair. Nairs are an upper caste Hindu community. Now caste based discriminations have almost disappeared from the Kerala society, but they used to exist in the past. Kuruvat Nair took offence at this. His bodyguards beat the boy and drove him from Nileshwar. Palanthai Kannan went to Mangalore and took shelter in a Vishnu temple there. He was a staunch devotee of Vishnu and spent six years in this temple. After that he returned to Nileshwar.

On the way, Palanthai Kannan took a bath in a large pond. Lower caste men or women were not allowed to take bath in this pond. When Kuruvat Nair heard that Kannan had returned and that he had taken a bath in this pond, he became furious. He and his men rushed to the pond and killed the boy. Lord Vishnu who accompanied this boy was enraged by this act and destroyed the Kuruvat tharavad. To appease the lord, they built a Kavu (temple) and created the Vishnumoorthy Theyyam. Vishnumoorthy resides in the Vaikundeswara Temple at Kottappuram, Nileshwar.