Ayilur Akhileswaran (Shiva) and Sri Krishna temples
Compiled by
P.R.Ramachander
Ayilur also called as Ayalur or ayiloor by some people is a village in Palakkad district of Kerala . It is referred as Nemmara Ayilur , because, the nearest small town is Nemmara and the high way passes only through Nemmara .Before 1947 it was in Cochin state .It is 30 km from Palakkad town and is 4 km from Nemmara and is on the shores of Ayilur Puzha. There is a very big Shiva temple in this village and the God is called Akhileswaran (The God of all people) . Many people claim it is very old , some say even thousand years o;ld.There is a theory that this area was thickly populated by Akhil (cup-calyxed white cedar) trees and so the God was called Akhileswaran and that the original name of the village was Akhileswara puram, which got modified in to Akhiloor and later to ayilur or ayalur
It seems this temple was owned by Kodakara Nair and his commander Kulangaattu nair was managing the temple.Later it seems the temple came under control of some Nambudiri families and at present it has been taken over by Cochin devaswam board.
There are upadevathas of Ganapathi , Subrahmanyan and ayyappan in side the temple on the south west Also there is a Chandikeswara prathishta .There is a nandikeswara which is not in the front of Lord Shiva but to the south of the sreekovil( Sanctum) facing east On the right side of Nandikeswaran along the pradakshina path are located the saptha mathrukas
There is a belief that that our worship is accepted by Lord Shiva doing thapas and he is accompanied by Gioddess Parvathi . On the southern wall facing east there is a prathishta of lOrd Shiva wth Goddess Parvathi .and a lamp is lit before her. Near Nandikeswara there are carving of Saptha mathrukas as well as Dakshinamurthy.
Like most of the Shiva temples there is only half pradakshinam in this temple also .Pradosham is celebrated with pooja and abishekam to the Nandi , possibly it might have been started by Tamil speaking Brahmins of the village
There is a Ratham(Theru) on Thiruvathira day (dhanu masam) . This is was possibly arranged by the tamil Brahmins who have settled there because kerala the custom is to have a sriveli
The aarattu Grama Chaitanya Ratholsavam is conducted on Karuthavaau(new moon day) in the Malayalam month of thulaam. The festival is conducted by Kulangattu Nair and aarattu is conducted in the Ayiloor river. Near the river side wher Aarattu festival is conducted ( aarattu kadavu) thers is a banyan tree , a temple and a pratishta of lord Ganesha.
Ratholsavam is celebrated for three days. First day Udayasthamana Pooja is performed to Lord Parthasarathy, second day Udayasthamana Pooja to Lord Akhileswara followed by in the night Makeera Vilakku and third day is Ratholsavam (Thiruvathira) day. Most of the people who have left Ayalur assemble to have dharshan of their Gods (Grama Devathai) and also to meet their old friends.
Procession by five caparisoned elephants with Panchari Melam,Pandi Melam,Panchavadhyam, Thayambaka and special programs like Kathakali, Music etc. are held on this important on this day apart from Radham Ezhunnallippu. On Thiruvathira day, Arudhra Dharisanam is an important one. Poornabhishekam to Lord Akhileswara starts early morning at 3.00 am and concludes at 7.00 am with japam viz. Mahanyasam, Rudram, Chamakam, Suktham etc. Arudhra Dharisanam (Jothi Dharisanam-Maha Deeparadhana) will be around 5.30 a.m. Since the chariot is very big they take the help of elephants to push it . Some experts help to turn the chariot in corners by keeping Chenni (A huge piece of wood with handle) At present this festival is conducting by Ayalur Grama Janam. This festival shows tamil-malayalam culture
The Krishnan (Partha Sarathy) temple, which was built by the Iyers , more than 100 years back, was built in the same compound as the Siva Temple , to its left . There is an interesting story of exchange of idols that is told even today. It seems the idols for the Nemmara Krishnan temple (Parthasarathy) and Ayalore Krishnan(navaneetha Krishnan) temple were made by the same Sculpture. But there was a mix up while delivering and the Parthasarathy reached Ayalore instead of Navaneetha Krishnan and they decided to install it in their temple. The Pooja for the Krishnan temple is by Kerala Iyers. Navarathri is celebrated in this temple. With great pomp The Lamp around the temple will be lit by iyers from a particular street every day of the Navarathri and the streets also got the name from this practice. Onnam Vilakku Theru (First lamp street) and so on till Eighth Lamp Street. .Unlike distributing Prasadam at the temple , People with prasadam go to each street . It is called as Panku ie share by them
There was a custom of consecrating bulls to the Siva Temple earlier. These bulls used to majestically roam round the village. But this has now been discontinued.
Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2Qzkd24byQ
The timings
A,.Shiva Temple
Open. Morning. 5.30am
Close 9.00am
Open Evening. 5.30 pm
Close. 7.15pm.
B.Parthasarathy Temple
Open Morning. 5am
Close. 9am
Open Evening. 5pm
Close. 7.15pm
Buses run from Palghat and Trichur to Ayilur .
Sri APS Mani who is from Ayilur has commented
Good narration. Suva temple is more than 1000 years and Parthasarathy temple 500 years old. Earlier the roof of the temple was with palm leaf instead tiles. After a fire incident, roof was replaced with Thrissivaperur tiles along with the construction of reading room in thalavattampara. Ganapathy Ranaswzmy Iyer was the representative of Cochin Maharaja at that time when the roof was replaced. After namboodiris, the temple was under the control of Cichin Maharaja.Sanscrit scholars also occupied in zmaharaja's Veda Sadas. My Great Great grandfather Subramania Vadyar was titled as Tharka Siromani by Maharaja of Cochin after winning the Sancrit comprtiyion. Maharaja appointed hin as Grana Vadhyar of Ayalur and in charge of all vaideeka rituals during ratholsavam in Akhileswaea temple. Those days were golden period.Ayalur Parameswaran Subramanian.
