Meen kolathi kavu

Meen Kolathi Kavu
By
P.R.Ramachander
Meen Kolathi means “She who has a tank of fish”. This is a temple of Meenakshi and is
situated in the Pallasena village of Palakkad District on the road connecting Palakkad and
Kollengode.
This temple was established by the family of Mandradiyars. This family originally
belonged to Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu. After loosing all their business assets, they
decided to migrate to Kerala. They went to the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, which was
their family deity, before coming to Kerala. The eldest member of the family took a stone
from Madurai while coming further. He was daily offering worship to the stone. In earlier
years he used to visit Madurai temple every year. Once when he became very old, he kept
his umbrella and the divine stone on the shore and got in to the pond to take bath. While
bathing he cried because he would not be able to go to Madurai again due to his old age,
When he finished his bath, he came out. He could not lift both the Umbrella and the stone
from there. They had got fixed to the land. When they called astrologers and conducted
Deva Prasnam (asking questions to God), they found out that the stone which was fixed
to the shore was Goddess Meenakshi of Madurai herself. After 400 years, the
Mandradiyar family built a temple for Goddess Meenakshi at the same spot. They
consecrated the ashta Durgas ( Brahmini, Kaumari, Maheswari, Indri Vaishnavi,
Narasimhi and Varahi around the sanctum sanctorum. Because of this no body is
permitted to go round the sanctum sanctorum. The main festivals of the temple are
navarathri, Karthiga, Mandala vilakku , foundation day , and palli vettai and vaira poojai.
On festival days, the sword and lamp is taken in procession. People believe that all
sickness will vanish , if people bath in the pond opposite the temple.
The temple would be open from 5.30 Am to 12.30 Am on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays
and during the other days between 5.30 Am to 10.30 Am. In the evening it would be open
between5.30 Pm to 8 Pm.
In the temple there are separate sub temples for Ganapathi, , Nagar (snake god) and
Bhairava.
Chandattam to remove problems from enemies is performed during the first Tuesdays
of certain months in this temple .Seperate pooja reciting Bhagya suktham and
Eikamathya suktham are also done in this temple. In the may-june month (Vaikasi-
Edavam) month, the thol pavai Koothu (shadow play using dolls made of leather) is
conducted for ten days. They sing and enact the story of Ramayana during this time. On
the last day, the arrow of Lord Rama is kept in front of the Goddess and is worshipped.
Once in 12 years during the full moon day of the same month , a festival called Palli pana
is celebrated. Fire walking is one of the high light of this festival which is celebrated for
four days. On the fourth day, the demon called Daruka is killed by the Goddess.
In the eastern and western part of the temple there are two agraharas ( villages where
Brahmins reside) . In the east side village there is a shiva temple and the west side village
there is a Vishnu temple. Effect of pilgrimage to Meen Kolathi is considered enhanced ,
if we can visit these two temples also.