Aroor Sri Karthyayani temple
Compiled by
P.R.Ramachander
Aroor is a big
village in the border
of the kingdom of Travancore and
Cocin of the olden stays situated near NH 47. It is about 22 km away from Alappuzha town. There is a belief its earlier name was
Athiroor(The village near the border). It is believed that Vilavangalthu Samiyar was returning
from Trivandrum to Guruvayur and
happened to take rest below a huge tree. Suddenly he could see the presence of
Goddess there .By his wisdom he
understood that it was Karthyayani devi
and built a temple for her. It seems he
stayed there for some time worshipping
the Goddess and later entrusted the
management of that temple to various Nambudiri families. There is also
a mention that it was one of the 108
devi temples which was consecrated by Parasurama all over Kerala and this place was called “Kattil
Pisharam”
During the march
of Tippu Sultan through Kerala people
believe that he broke the stattue of Goddess Karthyayani
,Later the temple fell in to disuse
for several years. It is believed
that seven Nayar families settled here ,They are believed to have repaired the temple and
got made a new idol of Karthyayani and consecrated her here. In those families there was a very great man called Kannam kulangara kaimal .
A thought occurred to him that
the power of this great temple was getting reduced and he felt because
of the prosperity of the families of the families who have settled
in the village also would diminish.One
day he happened to see the goddess in
person looking very famished and tired .Kaimal
realized that it was the Goddess. He told her to take rest
and promised her , he would bring a tender coconut for her. He requested her to
wait till then . He then went to his
home and committed suicide by hanging. ThE goddess remembering his words waited for him for some
time and later went in to the sanctorum. The Soul of Kaimal
who committed became a
spirit and started wandering here and there and at that time the prosperity of the temple
further reduced. The Soul of Kaimal
stated living in a Palmyra tree to the south of the Aroor temple.People started liking this spirit and started
calling him “Aru kola Ammavan (Uncle who faced bad death).” As they found the spirit was helping them a lot.Later this
temple management was taken over by the Travacore kings. Thorough repair was done to the temple
by Ayilyam Thirunal king who lived between 1860-1880. And today it is one of
the important temple under Travancore
DEvaswam board.. The temple is a small one and faces east..The idol of the
Goddess is made using black stone and
has four hands.Statutes of Lord Shiva, Lord Ganapathi , Naga devathas and Arukola(the spirit of the Kaimal who committed
suicide) are found in side this small
temple .Below a Branyan tree a Brahma
Rakshas and Yakshi have also been consecrated, . The templke does not have any
carvings or paintings .
YThe temple has a grand festival for eight days in the month of Meenam ending in Uthram star. The Last three days of the Mandala time
is celebrated as Thalapoli. Several devotees have felt the greatness of the
Goddess as she used to solve their problems without fail..Let her also
bless all those who read this compilation.
Thanks for the fascinating story!
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