Mannadi Temple and Kambithan the Oracle there

Mannadi, a small village in the Kollam district of Kerala is quite often identified with the famous patriot and the freedom fighter Veluthampi Dalava. It is here he committed suicide after a humiliating defeat at the hands of the British army. The village is being visited by hundreds of people and most of the visitors are devotees of Goddess kali at Mannadi Temple known as Mannadi Kavu. 

Mannadi Kavu

The shrine here is believed to be highly powerful and will realize all your wishes if you pray with dedication and sincerity. There is a legend behind the temple.

The entire area was once under the rule of a Brahmin feudal lord known as ‘Vakkuvanjipuzha Pandarathil’. He maintained a private army to protect the land and other properties belong to him and the commander was one ‘Paniker’. Panicker used to stay in the same village and surrounding three sides of his house was a dense forest. Once, the labors of Panicker were clearing the forest to make it cultivable land. When a lady among them rubbed her sickle on a rock to sharpen it, blood oozed out of it. Seeing that the lady fainted and others rushed to Panicker to inform him about the incident.

Hearing the whole story Panicker rushed to his master, Pandarathil and informed him. Being a Brahmin scholar he understood that the blood from the rock indicates the presence of divine power on that rock. He instructed Panicker to get some bananas and boiled paddy to the spot by the time he arrives there. Panicker did the same. When the Pandarathil was about to offer those bananas and boiled paddy, a tribal man came therefrom within the forest and asked Pandarathil not to perform the ritual. He told that it is the divine power of Kali speaking from within himself and she did not want any type of rituals by Brahmins. She instructed Pandarathil to keep the food articles there for quite some time and then to take it back.

However, most of the people gathered there did not believe his words. They thought that it is the Panicker who is making this tribal man speak so. Sensing the situation, the tribal man got angry. He shouted at the gathering’

“Don’t you believe me? Then I will show you who I Am.” Saying this, he ran into the forest. Some enthusiastic youth also followed him. Deep inside the forest, there is a hill lock and the top of it there is a rock with the shape of an umbrella. It is called in the local language as “Kuda Para”. It is quite impossible for an ordinary man to climb on that rock, but this tribal man climbed over the rock and descended three times very easily. Then he went further inside the forest and came out riding on a tiger. Seeing this people got convinced that it is not the tribal man, but the divine power of Kali is speaking from inside him.

Pandarathil, being a devotee of Maa Kali, built a temple there and started worshiping her. However, he was sad as he did not have a child. One day the old tribal man appeared in front of him and asked to pledge that he will offer a bunch of golden hairs to Kali if he is blessed with a son. He agreed and promised the same. To everyone’s surprise, Pandarathil’s wife delivered a son within a year and as promised he offered a bunch of golden hairs, which is still kept inside the temple and will display on special occasions.

Kambithan

The tribal man went missing after this incident and people were very sad as they could hear the words of the goddess through him. One day he appeared in front of Pandarathil and asked him not to worry as they will get a new oracle. After a few days, a man with a long beard and hair appeared in that village. He sat beneath a huge tree near the temple. Suddenly he jumped from there and started uttering something histrionic. When people gathered there he too went inside the forest and climbed on the Kuda Para and then came out riding on a tiger. People approved him as the new oracle through whom the goddess speaks and started calling him kambithan.

During this Kambithan’s period, the King of Madurai offered to present Golden Crown to the idol if the Kambithan comes directly there. Although he decided it he did not mention it to anybody. One fine morning the Kambithan started shivering and he told the devotees that he had to leave the village as some devotees offered something. On that night just before going to sleep, the King of Madurai saw the Kambithan in his bedroom. Kambithan asked the King to give whatever he had offered.

King handed over a crown of sliver to him. This made Kambithan angry. He shouted that either the King should give what he promised or should be ready to face the consequences. Fearing the wrath of Goddess, the king handed over the golden crown which is still at the temple.

Mannadi

After the death of this Kambithan, the temple authorities deposited the sword used by the Kambithan at a deep place in the nearby river. After quite some time another person came there and repeated whatever the earlier Kambithan did and dived into the river and came out with the sword. He became the next Kambithan.

Presently there is no Kambithan there in Mannadi Kavu. The divine sword is resting beneath the water waiting for another Kambithan.