Chelakkara Sri Narasimha swami Temple
Compiled from various sources
By
P.R.Ramachander
Chelakkara is a small town
in Thalapilly Thaluk (granary of
kerala) of Trichur Disrtict, inside the valley
of Machattu mala .
There ia an agraharam of nearly 120 houses(now about 15 ) in this
Village . This agraharam was
built around one of the ancient temple
of Narasimha Murthy , which appears
like a golden thilaka to the agraharam.
People believe that this temple is about 1000
years old.Lord Narasimha murthy faces east .
There
is a story about this temple .It seems Sri
Padmananbhacharya(originally a
Nambudiri) , who was a important Sishya of Adhi Sankara (some people say it was
only a great sage) went to the forest
near here to do Thapas(penance)
and there he saw a hunter who asked him
why he was visiting this dark forest. Then the acharya told him , that
he came in search of an animal, which
had lion’s head , human body and had
hairs and nail like a lion. He also said that he would not return
from forest unless he
finds this animal.The hunter took
an oath that he will find that
animal , tie it and bring it to him.The
hunter without food and sleep started
searching for that animal.Lord
Narasimha took pity on him and appeared
to him.The hunter took wild climbers
in the forest , tied that animal
and brought before
Padmanabhacharya .But the acharya saw only wild climbers but not the animal. Then the hunter took him to the place where he caught the animal.There the acharya could see Lord Narasimha murthy in his mind.He immediately built a
temple for Narasimha Murthy there and started worshipping him.
This temple was given for management
for “Palakattu perada mana” and palakkattu mana”.Later it came under the management of “manithara mana” and Kaippancheri mana” .The king of Cochin by
a record gave this temple to these manas,in Malayalam year 971 in the month of vrischikam (approximately 220
years back)
The pretty form of Lord
Vishnu with four hands was consecrated in this temple., the temple also has sub temples ofLord
Ganesa (who grants all wishes of Devotees) and Lord Sastha who pardons
all sins by devotees worshipping
him.The temple was managed under kerala thanthric system and for several years the Priest
was an Embrandiri. There is a
strong belief that Elephants should not visit
this temple and if they
enter they will die.
There is a belief that Tipu sultan during
his invasion of Malabar attacked this temple.
They introduced
a small chariot function in
this temple during Thiruvadira.Many Brahmin families Started
giving OOttu(feast for Brahmins here).They also started Ganapathi homams in this temple. They
celebrated Swarga vatthil ekadasi, Thai poosam
and Rama NavamiThey
celebrated their festivals
in side the temple.
They built a hall called
(Samooha Madam) for doing
religious functions and called it
Samooha Madam
The major celebration of the temple is the 'navarathri' festival extending up to
dwadasi day, ie. 12 days of festivities. As per the traditions followed by earlier generations, groups of families who were/are residing in chelakkara gramam conduc the functions in a fitting manner. 11 days are celebrated by the groups and the 12th day is known as 'dwadashi vilakku' or 'kuttikal vilakku' is the most famous of
the 12 days.All
families having roots in chelakkara, wherever they are attend this festival.
In the year 1972, Swami
Jayendra saraswathi of Kanchi Mutt
visited this temple and requested
to repair the temple and
conduct Kumbabhishekam ,From then on the
Brahmins make it a point to repair the
temple and conduct a kubhbhishekam based on deva prasnam and conduct Kumbabhishekam almost
once in 10-12 years,Kumbhabhishekams have been conducted earlier in 1972, 1996 and 2010.
This year the
Kumbhabhishekam is going to be conducted
on grand scaleon 20-5-2024
The Pin Code of Chelakkara is 680586.It is 12km from Shoranur Jn
Temple worshipping hours Morning Normal days :
Morning 5.30 AM to ( Am
Evening 5.45 PM to 7.45 pm
Howver on festival days temple will be kept open from 5
Am to 10 Am and 5.30 PM to 8.45 pm
On Mahaganapathy homam days: 3.00 - 9.15 am
Evening
5.00 pm - 7.45 pm
How to reach:-
By train
step down in Shoranur junction (14 km) or Wadakkanchery (15 km)or Thrissur(34km)
By bus
From thrissur: Thrissur - thiruvillwamala busThrissur - elanadu busThrissur - mayannur bus
From shoranur:Shoranur - chelakkara via painkulam
Shoranur - chelakkara via panjal
From wadakkanchery:Thrissur - thiruvillwamala busThrissur - elanadu busThrissur - mayannur bus
from palakkad:palakkad - alathur - pazhayannur -chelakkarapalakkad - lakkidi koottupatha-thiruvillwamala-chelakkara
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