Pishari Kavu of Kollam in Malabar

Pishari Kavu of Kollam near Koyilandy in Malabar

By
P.R.Ramachander

Pisharikkavu is a temple near Koilandy .

In Pisharikkavu   temple  the sword called Nandakam is worshipped here as the Goddess.  There is an interesting story behind it.

It seems a group of Nair diamond merchants  belonging to ettu veetil family who were  from Kollam of Southern Kerala were great devotees of the Goddess Bhadrakali (porkali)   When they meditated on the Goddess   it seems the Goddess  gave them her sword called Nandakam and asked them to worship the sword instead of her.

   Since they were opposed to the very powerful king Marthanda Verma, they were forced to run away from their native place. They migrated to the northern part of Kerala and settled down near Koilandy. They decided to call the place of their new settlement as “Kollam” in memory of their native place. They also built a temple for the sword Nandakam and called it Pisharikkavu. The local population used to call them as Vyapari Nayars and this later changed over time in to “Ravari Nayars”. Apart from the devi temple , the temple also houses a siva temple.

    Valia vattala guruthi is the main offering and booked for several years. Udayasthama pooja, Niramala, Rakthapushpanjali, Palpayasom are a few of the other offerings. 

The main festival of the temple is celebrated in the Malayalam month Meenam (March-April) for eight days and with innumerable processions in the presence of thousands of devotees. The 7th day is celebrated as "Valiya Vilaku", and the 8th day is celebrated as "Kaliyattom", The divine Nandhakam sword is brought in procession around the temple on 7th and 8th day on a fully decorated female elephant, and traditional art forms of Kerala is also staged in the temple. Thayambaka, pachavadyam, padhakom, ottanthullal, chakyarkoothu are also performed well on these days.
Navarathri festival is also celebrated in this temple.

The temple is open for devotees from 5.30 AM to 12 PM and from 5.30 PM to 8 PM.

Important poojas performed in the temple are Ucha pooja at 12 pm Athazha pooja at 8.00 pm. Here, Ucha Pooja is also considered as the saktheya type pooja.

Pisharikavu Temple Contact Number : +(91)-496-2620568

Pisharikavu Temple By Road

Koyilandy is 17 kms from Peruvayal. Buses, auto-rickshaws and taxis are available almost all the time to reach the temple.

Pisharikavu Temple By Rail

The nearest rail head is the Koyilandy Railway station at a distance of 3 kms from the temple.

Pisharikavu Temple By Air

The nearest airport is the Calicut International Airport at a distance of 32 kms from the temple.

Kanjirankattu Vaidyanatha Kshetram

Kanjirankattu Vaidyanatha Kshetram

By

P.R.Ramachander

This temple of God Vaidyanatha (the Lord of doctors) is situated on a hill top near The Thaliparamba town(20 km from Kannur of Malabar) . It is believed that a king called Sathasaoman established this temple There is a belief that in ancient days a sage got affected by leprosy and as per the advice of Lord Garuda , he came to this temple and did penance to the god and got rid of the disease.
The most important ritual of the temple is Dhara (ceremonial pouring of water on the Shiva Lingam). Since this temple is supposed to have the power of Sun God instilled in it, Sunday is the most important day of worship in this temple .Most of the devotees of the temple either do not take any food on Sunday (Upavasa) or take only one main meals (Orikkal) . There are several stories of people getting cured of incurable diseases by praying at this temple.
Many people afflicted by skin diseases regularly come to this temple and by performing Dhara get cured of their diseases.

Ernakulathappan temple of Cochin

Ernakulathappan temple of Cochin

By
P.R.Ramachander

Ernakulam is the largest town of Kerala and is at present part of Cochin town which was the capital of Cochin kings before 1947. In the middle of the town is the Durbar hall ground and in its middle is the great temple of Ernakulathappan (The Lord of Ernakulam) . It is one of the very important temples of the former Cochin state dedicated to Lord Shiva.
The legend of this temple is also connected with Arjuna of Mahabaratha. Needing Pasupathasthra to win over Kauravas, Arjuna went to the forest to pray lord Shiva. He made a Shiva Linga with mud and started worshipping it . At the culmination of his great penance , Lords Shiva and Goddess Parvathi appeared before him and granted him his wish. Ernakulathappan is supposed to be that Linga which was worshipped by Arjuna. Forest completely surrounded the Linga and centauries later it was found by a sage called Devala , who due to a curse has been turned in to a snake. While moving about in the forest he happened to find this Linga and started worshipping it and regained his normal form. Devala was called as Rishi Nagam (Sage serpent) and had made a pond for use in worshipping the lord. This pond is called Rishi Naga Kulam. This temple has found place in the ancient Tamil literature as one of the temple maintained by Cheras.
In the year 1842 , Diwan Edukunni Sankara Warrier got the dilapidated temple rebuilt in the present form and was opened for worship in the year 1846. The presiding deity of the temple is Gauri Shankara in the form of a Lingam. This is supposed to Swayambu which means self made and not by man. On the northern side of the sanctum sanctorum is the temple of Kiratha Murthy (Which was worshipped by Arjuna) and on the southern side is a small Ganesa temnple. A small area behind the sanctum sanctorum is considered as the place where Goddess Parvathi lives and the eastern gate is known as Devi gate.Outside the Inner temple circle, shrines for Lord Ayyappa and Nagaraja also exist.

Chithur Amma Thiruvadi

Temple of Chithur Amma Thiruvadi

By

P.R.Ramachander

Chithur is small town 13 km away from Palakkad town, This town was in Malabar for some time but at the time of state reorganization it was under the Cochin state. By the side of this town there is a rivulet called Chithur Puzha. The town has considerable population of Tamil speaking people. It also houses the Samadhi Of Thunchathu Ezhuthachan, who can be considered as the father of the modern Malayalam language. Children are taught their first alphabets on the Vijaya Dasami day in front of this Samadhi.
The Chithur Bhagathy temple has two temples inside it, one called Pazhayannur temple and the other called Chithur Amma Thiruvadi temple. Both these temples are that of Bhadra Kali. She is supposed to be the daughter of Lord Shiva. It seems in olden times there was an asura called Dharuka (called Kongan) , who due to the several boons he got was troubling every one. One of these boons was that no male member can kill him. He also had a great weapon called Brahma Dandu given to him by Brahma. Further , every drop of blood falling from his body could become 1000 Darukas like him. The Shakthi portion which emanated from Brahma (Brahmi) , Vishnu(Vaishnavi) , Shiva(Parvathi) , Skanda (kaumari) , Indra (Indarani) and Yama waged a war against him and failed to kill him. At that time Bhadra Kali came out of the third eye Of Lord Shiva along with fire. She was anger personified.. She went to the north of Kailasa mountain and rode on the top of a gruesome Vetala and fought with Daruka. But even she was not able to fight with the Brahma Dandu. She then took the form of a poor Brahmin lady , went and begged with the wife of Daruka and learnt the manthras to defeat the Brahma Dandu. Then she along with the Shakthi from all other Gods fought with Daruka. They drank each drop of blood that fell from him. When he was not able to oppose them Daruka tried to run away to Patala but Bhadra Kali caught and killed him. It seems she returned back to Kailasa with the head of Daruka on her spear. Shiva realizing that she was very ferocious and angry , made Lord Ganapathi and Nandi in to small babies and put them on her way. Seeing them her anger vanished.
The Pazhayannur Kavu(temple) also called the moola Kshethram houses the Swayambu idol of the Goddess. Worship in this temple in the olden days was carried out by Nayars. Later Brahmins took over the worship of this temple. The Chithur Amma Thiruvadi temple also called as Chithur Kavu , has a very black idol of Bhadra Kali in her very ferocious form, with eight hands holding sword, spear mace, the head of Kongan dripping with blood , conch , two hands showing blessing and support. And sitting with crossed legs .It is believed that this idol is made of a peculiar type of locally available mud. Due to the daily Chandattam(Pouring of a thick red liquid, we would not be in a position to clearly see the form of the original idol. Several lamps are kept burning inside and outside the temple. A sense of fear comes in to all devotees seeing her. This temple is open for worship only on Tuesdays and Fridays. But during Mandalam and on festival days , two times daily worship takes place in this temple. The worship in this temple is done by Nayars. Along with the baser form of worship involving offering meat and toddy to the Goddess , Udayasthamana Pooja , Trikala Pooja and Madhura Chatti( Sweet pot-Payasam with jaggery) are also offered in this temple. Chandattam (Abhisheka with specially formulated red liquid) is the main offering in this temple. The liquid which falls on the ground is collected in the pots and given as Prasada.

The main festival in this temple is the Kongan pada. The parts of Coimbatore were ruled by the kongu kings and people of that area are referred to as Kongan to this day. It seems they under the leadership of Rajadhirajan(Kongan) attacked Chithur so that they can merge Chithur in their kingdom. When the people appealed to the Goddess she ordered them to fight. Slowly the people were losing the battle. At that time The Goddess from Amma Thiruvadi temple came out and fought with the Kongan pada( Army of Kongu people) and decimated all of them. Chudalai Madan or Kongan (The folk God guarding burial grounds) fought with her riding on a buffalo. Seeing Bhadra Kali he said that he never fought with ladies but challenged her for a competition to jump over a banyan tree there with her feet not touching it. Bhadra Kali jumped but willfully made her toe dash against the tree and bleed.KOngan then jumed much above the banyan tree.. Bhadra Kali caught him before he touched the ground and beheaded him as he had a boon that he can never be killed on earth. While returning back the Goddess Bhadra Kali washed her blood drenched sword in a river (The river is called Valayar-river of the sword) . She then took rest sitting on a big stone. Two Dalit men(chakkaliyar) offered her toddy and meat . She then vanished in the present place of Pazhayannur temple.. A temple was consecrated there. It seems at the time of consecration , one lady sage came there and carried out the consecration there and later this sage disappeared. People believe that it was the Goddess herself who came in the form of a saint. This story of Kongan Pada is enacted every year in a festival called “Kongan Pada” which lasts for 24 days. This starts on the Monday after the new moon in the month of Kumbam(February-march). It starts with a ritual called “chilambum malayum”, in which people of that area go to the Moola Sthanam . along with the letter of war and pray Goddess to protect them.

Cherukunnu Annapurneswari temple

Cherukunnu Annapurneswari temple

By

P.R. Ramachander


This is one of the very famous devi temples of Malabar near the village of Chirakkal which is near the town of Kannur. It is believed that Goddess Annapuneswari of Benares wanted to visit South India. When Lord Shiva was apprehensive that she may settle down there, it seems she assured him that she would appear before him as soon as he wants her. So she was sent in a golden boat accompanied by Kalarivathukkal Amma and Madayi Kavil amma. When they reached Chirakkal , Goddess Annapurneswari liked the place so much that she decided to stay there. She bid farewell to the boatman who also stayed back there. People believe that the famous Olingara Jama Masjid was built by him.
Cherukunnu means small hill but the temple is on the plane surrounded by five small hills. Another interpretation is that it was originally “Choru kunnu” meaning hill of cooked rice. When the Goddess decided to settle down in Cherukunnu she decided to choose to have her temple in the same compound as that of a Krishna temple which was built by Parasurama. People believe that the temple is made of bricks which are joined by a paste of Jaggery and beaten rice. The temple was rebuilt in 1994 a Chirakkal king called Avittam thirunal Rama Varma Raja.Next to the temple is a very big temple pond( Ambala kulam) .
Once we enter the temple we first see the temple of Lord Krishna and the famous Annapurneswari temple is behind this temple. One possible reason is possibly due to the ancient Namboodiri belief that their women should not be seen directly. However there is a small hole in the outside wall through which the Goddess can be seen clearly , by even people who do not choose to enter the temple. Another peculiarity of this temple is the existence of a mirror idol (Kannadi Bimbam ) of the Goddess in her sanctum sanctorum.
Annadanam (Giving free meals) is the most important aspect of this temple. It is believed that nobody who enters the temple should return hungry. Every day before the temple is closed at night, the high priest asks , all the people there , whether they are hungry three times and in olden times, it seems three packets of food is tied on the tree outside so that even the late comers can also eat something. But with the implementation of the Land reform bill, the temple is not in a position to supply food to al the visitors. So the visitors either take Trimadhuram or Payasam in side the temple before leaving it.
Vishu Vilakku (the first of meda masam(April- may) is the major festival in this temple. It is celebrated for a period of one week with bursting of crackers and the procession of the goddess on an elephant. The Goddess takes three rounds of the temple and then visits the village . And there is a dance by a Brahmin carrying the idol of the Goddess. This dance is enacted in front of the temple. People believe that Goddess descends on the Brahmin and makes him dance prettily to the tunes. At this time the temple would be shining with lighted lamps.
The Puna prathishta( the second consecration) day of the temple is celebrated in the month of Kumbam (February march) on Pooyam day. Shiva Rathri and Mahga Navami are also celebrated in this temple.

Balussery kotta Vettakorumagan

Balussery kotta Vettakorumagan
By
P.R.Ramachander

Balussery is a slightly bigger village near Calicut (about 20 km) and Vettakkorumagan temple was established there , Possibly once there was a fort there belonging to Kurumbranad kings and this temple was situated near it.
Vettakkorumaan is the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi born when they assumed the form of hunters so that they can give Pasupathasthra to Arjuna who was doing penance for it . The boy grew up in to a mischievous lad who not only hunted with a bow and arrow for animals and bad people but became irksome to the sages who were doing penance in the forest. It seems they went and complained to God Brahma, who expressed his helplessness as the lad was the son of Lord Shiva. But when they represented the fact to Lord Vishnu, he agreed to solve the problem through diplomacy. He himself went to the forest carrying golden churika ( a sword having spear like end and a sword like blade) The lad was very much attracted by it and wanted it to be given to him. Lord Vishnu agreed to give him provided he will always hold the Churika in his hand. The lad agreed but soon realized that if he were to hold the churika , he cannot use the bow and arrow. Lord Vishnu revealed himself to him and requested to go Kerala (Parasurama Kshethra , where he would be honoured by honour , proper food and also breaking of coconuts. Vettakorumagan with the permission of his parents chose to stay in Balussery and ever since have been blessing the people of Kerala. Most of the royal families of Malabar adopted him as their God who would protect them in war. While there are several temples for Vettakorumagan in Northern Malabar , the one at Balussery Kotta is considered s the most important,
The most important rituals that are performed at the temple are , the performance of Vettakkorumagan pattu and Panthrantayiram Thengayeru.In the former, a very pretty design of the God are drawn on the ground and accompanied by soothing music praising the God , a Namboodiri decorated and painted ,dances over the drawing and removes it completely. It is believed that God comes to him at that time. The other one is the breaking of 12000 coconuts on the stone meant for the purpose in the temple .The temple is decorated with flowers and leaves , coconut and arecanut flowers and banana plants on that day. The Karakara nayar who is authorized to break the coconuts starts the ritual after the final pooja of the temple at night. Drums and Gongs make huge sound during that time Also the place is well lit with live torches, Thekarakarathu nair takes bath , wears new cloths and then meditates on Vettakorumagan. Then initially he will take one coconut with both hands and breaks it on the stone . This is followed by continuous throwing of coconuts on the stone with each hand alternatively . The beat of the drum will then intensify .People believe that the Nair then enters in to trance and breaks and breaks all coconuts before midnight The people offer sandal paste and rose scented water to the God Vettakorumagan . Some people also offer Panakam (Jaggery water) and thamboolam. In some cases there would be a feast after the ritual/.
Other important Vettakorumagan temples in Kerala are


Nilamboor Kovilakom Vettakkorumakan Kavu

Thiruvananthapuram Kottaykkakam Vettakkorumakan Temple

Kayamkulam Krishnapuram Vettakkorumakan Temple

Padinjareppattu Mana Vettakkorumakan Temple

(Padinjareppattu Mana Vettakkorumakan Temple)

Eruvattikkavu Vettakkorumakan Temple

Alappadamba Vettakkorumakan Temple

Neeleswaram Vettakkorumakan Temple

Kottakkal Vettakkorumakan Temple

Kozha Kottakkal Vettakkorumakan Kavu

Kozha Vettakkorumakan Kavu is located near to Kuravilangadu bus stand in M.C Road.

Olassa Vettakkorumakan Kavu near Kottayam

Arathil Bhagawathi temple

Arathil Bhagawathi temple

By

P.R.Ramachander
(You may find lot more information about this temple in the web site of the temple viz. www.arathilkavu.com )
Arathil Bhagawathi temple is a very famous located in Kayalod near Pinarai which is near the KoothuParamba town of Malabar. Apart from Arathil Bhagawathi the temple the temple also has separate temples of Pazhassi devi, Kakkara Bhagawathi , Kelan kulangara Bhagawathi, Sasthappan (Another name for Ayyappan) , Gulikan (Son of Saturn) and Vishnu Moorthi.
There are some interesting stories about its origin. It seems as per the wishes of Lord Parasurama, a Brahmin family in Syamanthaka Panchakam(which is in present Haryana) migrated to Gokarnm along with the Deity of the Goddess they used to worship. At that time The king of Kolathu Nadu in Kerala had quarreled with the Namboothiris who had settled down in his place and they were not cooperating with him. The ministers of the king advised him to bring a noble Brahmin family from outside the king dom. The king himself went to Gokarnam and invited the Brahmins from Syamanthaka Panchakam to settle down in his place. They wanted the king to build a suitable temple for their Goddess. The king agreed and gave them the villages of 1) Arathil 2) Cheruthazham, 3) Kannur, 4)Kulappuram and 5)Vara ruchi mangalam. The 235 families of those Brahmins settled down in these villages. The king also built a temple for their Goddess in the Arathil village. From then on the Kolathu Nadu became prosperous along with the Brahmins who settled down there. Thinking that they were the cause of the prosperity , the Brahmins started quarrelling with the king and slowly started neglecting the temple. Then their prosperity diminished and for a period of 16 years the temple was even closed. The local population who had benefitted from the Goddess , again repaired the temple and started performing the usual worships and they again got back their prosperity.
Pazhassi Bhagwathi , is presumed to be the Daughter of Yasoda who was brought to Mathura by Vasudeva , the father of Lord Krishna. She is fiery by nature and after having her temples in various places has also settled down in the Arathil Bhagwathi temple and is considered as the protector of the Goddess Bhagwathi. The other Gods also joined in the temple. The pooja for these temples are conducted as of now by the Namboodiris of Keezhara illam.
The most important festival of the temple is the Thira festival, where the theyyams of all the Gods perform the ceremonial dance. The Thira festival will be held in the Malayalam month of Meenam on 13th ,14th and 15th (March 27th, 28th and 29th) This has been ongoing without any interruption ever since very smoothly. The same team who conducts the thira festival of Arathil Sree Bhadrapuram Temple also is conducting this Thira festival of these four Bhagavathis and Sree Bhootham.
On All 32 days if KARKIDAKAM (July-August) month GANAPATHI HOMAM and Neyppayasam offerings can be made by Devotees on payment .On Vrishchikam (November-December) 1st and 40th day of Mandalam , CHUTTUVILAKKU will be conducted at the temple. This again can be done as offerings to Arathil Bhagavathi by devotees on payment of 1200/-(One thousand and two hundred only)per chuttuvilakku.