Nenmara Vallangi Vela and Nellikkulangara Devi Temple

Nenmara Vallangi vela is a famous event across the globe. Caparisoned elephant’s procession along with Melam (traditional drum beats) and vast fireworks add more attraction to the event. The event called “Vela” is being organized by two villages Nenmara and Vallnagi as a competition. Both the villages try their level best to gain supremacy in all areas including the melam and fireworks. This event is being organized on the premises of Nellikulangara Devi temple which is an ancient temple. The temple is located in the Palakkad district of Kerala.

Nellikulangara was a part of princely state “Parambikkulam” during the Sangha period, which has been ruled by the feudal lord “Pari”. In a yearlong battle, he has been defeated jointly by the kings of Chera, Chola, and Pandya dynasties. At that time, a Devi idol was kept at Nellikulathu Mana, a house of a Brahmin and the family members used to worship it.  After the defeat of Pari, the significance of Parambikulam and Nellikulam and along with the Mana, the Devi idol also left uncared. There is a mention of this Devi in the “Puram Kavithakal” written by Kapilar in the 14^th century.

Years have passed and the control of Chera kings over Nellikulam started diminishing. Parambikulam, which was a strong kingdom with more than 100 villages under it has got divided into several smaller regions ruled by feudal lords.

On those days, the feudal lord of Nellikulam heard about the Nellikulathu Mana and the Devi idol kept there. He took possession of the idol and consecrated near Pothakkulam. Although the idol has been worshiped as Goddess Devi by the family members of Nellikulathu Mana, while consecrating the same, the tantric did so but giving the form of Goddess Bhadrakali to the idol. At present, the deity is being worshiped as Goddess Bhadrakali. Later a new temple has been constructed in the present place and the idol has been consecrated. People belonging to Pappukkara Mana enjoy the tantric rights in this temple.

Every year on the 20^th of Malayalam month Meenam, Vela is being organized by two adjacent villages Nenmara and Vallangi. People from faraway places used to gather here. Caparisoned elephants’ procession will begin at noon and it will be over by the dusk. Fireworks start post-midnight and will last until dawn. 

Thiruvattatu Adikesavan and Azhaka Pillai; a rare story of love and affection between an Elephant and Mahout

The procession of caparisoned elephants is an integral part of any temple festival in Kerala. It is more a Kerala tradition than a Hindu tradition as it is being seen in local festivals related to churches and mosques too. Elephants, the largest wild animals in the world have a significant role in the history and cultural heritage of Kerala and that is the reason for including elephants in the official logo of Kerala state.

Although it was a practice for centuries to use elephants for procession in temples and for other cultural events in Kerala, a movement is getting stronger against this practice nowadays. Many eminent persons are also backing this movement terming it as an act of cruelty towards animals. Indeed it is cruelty in some cases whereas it is not in some other cases. There were and are many mahouts who have loved their elephants more than their wards and this story is about a story about the implausible relation between an elephant and its mahout.

As all are aware, Kerala has been divided into several fractions before the arrival of British and each fraction has been ruled by different dynasties and feudal lords. They used to fight with each other to establish their supremacy and to conquer the other. After a long battle which lasted for several days, Marthanda Varma, then King of Travancore subjugated Kayamkulam a nearby princely state. After the victory, King Marthanda Varma visited Thiruvattatu Adi Kesava Temple, which was the family temple of Kaymkulam dynasty. There he found a cute calf elephant. He adopted it and named it after the temple deity as Adikesavan. He appointed a teen aged boy, Azhaka Pillai as the mahout for Adikesavan.

He ordered Azhaka Pillai to keep the elephant at the Thiruvattatu Temple and gave him permission to take elephant to other temples too if they need Adikesavan to take part in the procession. He also gave permission to Pillai for using the elephant in bringing large woods from the forest. On those days, it was elephants that are used to bring huge wood pieces from the forests.  However, the king put a strict condition that on 15 th of every month, Pillai should bring elephant to his palace in the early morning as he wants to see Adikesavan as the first sight of the day on that day.

King has designated a specific place in his courtyard for Adikesavan to wait so that he can see the elephant as he wakes up and open the windows. Azhaka Pillai used to bring the elephant on every 15^th and keep it at the place. Then he will move far as he did not want the king to see him too as the first sight. After seeing the elephant, the king will come out and give bananas, sugarcanes and jiggery which are kept ready. Once the King as given him one piece from each item, Adikesavan will move a bit back. This is a sign that he does not want the king to take trouble in feeding him. As the king understands Adikesavan well, he will move back and sit on a chair after giving permission to Adikesavan to have all. Even Azhaka Pillai has been rewarded with clothes and money on those days.

It has been a practice for both the elephant and the mahout and on some occasions, when Azhaka Pillai was not well, Adikesavan had come alone to the palace travelling miles and miles.

Suddenly one day, the King expired and his predecessor, Dharmaraja took the Charge. As Azhaka Pillai knows that the news of demise of king will be hard to digest, he did not inform Adikesavan. The next month, as usual Adikesavan came to the palace along with Pillai. As usual he trumpeted to wake the king. Dharmaraja, the new king did not have the habit of waking up early. Hence the trumpeting irritated him. He got furious and shouted the mahout to take the elephant away.

Experiencing a different treatment, Adikesavan broke down and he ran away from the place taking Pillai in his trunk. They travelled many miles and stopped for a while to take rest. At that time Pillai told Adikesavan about the demise of the King. It was really painful to him and the tears started coming out of his eyes. He did not eat anything.

At the same time, back in the palace, when the king woke up, companions told him about the practice of Marthanda Varma keeping the elephant for first sight in the morning. They also told him that Adikesavan might not be aware of the demise of Marthanda Varma and hence he came there as usual. Hearing the details, Dharmaraja too felt bad on his behavior and he sent persons to bring back the elephant. However, Adikesavan was not in a mood to obey royal order.

Seven days have passed and Adikesavan did not even drink water. All these days, officials used to come there to take Adikesavan to the palace. On the seventh day Azhaka Pillai told Adikesavan that it is not a good practice to disobey the royal order. He agreed and went to the palace.

With a great joy on his arrival Dharmaraja offered him bananas, coconut leaves, sugarcane etc but he did not went near the king. Then Pillai told king that the elephant did not have bath for last seven days and if it touched King, he will became impure. Hearing the reason for Adikesavan keeping a distance, King ordered Pillai to take the elephant to the nearby river and to have bath. Adikesavan came back to the palace after taking bath and accepted the materials submitted by his majesty. Then the King ordered to continue the practice as usual but not very early in the morning.

Both Adikesavan and Azhaka Pillai were of same age and both of them were getting weak as they grew older. Azhaka Pillai became very weak and he became bedridden. However, Adikesavan used to go for temple processions and for brining woods from the forest alone. He insisted that Azhaka Pillai should his part of wages. Temple authorities used to come to Azhaka Pillai’s house and present him his part of money. Then only Adikesavan will go there. He never created any mishaps even when he was alone and without a mahout.

Whenever he is free, he used to spend his time in the premises of Azhaka Pillai’s house. One such morning he heard a loud cry from Pillai’s house and he understood that his friend has left the world. He lifted his trunk as if he is paying homage to his friend of the life and moved to a corner in the compound. He lied on the ground and did not eat anything. On that night, Adikesavan too left the world to join his lifelong friend Azhaka Pillai. Both of them were around eighty years old then.

Since his teen ages, Azhaka Pillai never worked as a mahout for any elephant other than Adikesavan and Adikesavan never had a mahout other than Azhaka Pillai. They started life together, lived together and died together too.

Goddess of Cheerma and the toddy tapper

It has been considered that the piece of land where there is no myths and the piece of land which does not have its own folklore is drier than deserts. If to go with this statement, Kerala, the southernmost state of India is filled with greenery as it has a huge treasure of myths and folklore. The most fascinating feature of Kerala Mythology is that one can find gods, goddesses, human beings, celestial creatures, animals, etc living together, interacting with each other. Here is one such tale which is about the origin of Cheerma Bhagavathi Temple at Kanakathur in Kannur district of Kerala.

Once upon a time entire area belonged to a single feudal lord called Kanakathur Nair. There were a lot of coconut trees in his farm and youth belongs to Theeya community was the toddy tapper of this farm. Toddy is a traditional liquor of Kerala which is made out of tender coconuts. Kannan used to tap the coconut trees. He was an ardent devotee of Kodungalloor Bhagavathi. Once, he climbed a coconut tree that was located near the road to take out the toddy from that. When he was pouring the toddy to the can he was carrying, a drop or two fell down by mistake. When he looked down, he saw a beautiful young lady passing by and the drops falling on her.

He was totally upset with that and climbed down immediately. When he searched for the young lady, he saw her a bit far from him. He ran to her and kneeled down in front of her and begged for pardon. He told her that it happened by accident and he did not do it purposefully. She smiled at him and consoled him saying that there is no need to beg pardon for a mistake which happened accidently. Then she asked him for some toddy as she was feeling thirsty. Without thinking twice, he gave the can he was carrying with him. She drank the entire toddy and walked away.

The land lord, Kunnathur Nair came to know about this incident. He was very angry that Kannan has given a full can of toddy to a strange lady. When he questioned Kannan, he did not answer anything, but begged to pardon him. Nair, who was arrogant by nature could not control his anger, he killed him then and there itself.

Few days have passed. Kunnathur Nair’s family started experiencing troubles. Unnatural deaths, quarrels etc have become a regular thing in that family. Fed up with such happenings, he consulted one famous astrologer. He explained that all these things were happening due to the anger of Kodungalloor Bhagavathy, the Goddess of Kodungalloor. And the astrologer told that the reason behind this anger is the killing of an innocent man who was an ardent devotee of Bhagavathy.

Suddenly Nair recollected the incident of Kannan. Now he was sure that the strange lady was none other than Kodungalloor Bhagavathy who came there to see her devotee. He also realized that Kannan has been killed because he gave toddy to Goddess. With heart full of guilty feeling, he asked the astrologer to suggest some solution. According to the instruction given by the astrologer, he consecrated the soul of Kannan at the place where he has been killed. He constructed a small hut also. Near to this place he constructed a temple and dedicated it to Kodungalloor Bhagavathy.

However, the goddess was not satisfied with these and the Kunnathur family disappeared from the earth gradually. After that, the temple has been controlled by the locals, mainly belonging to the fisherman community.

Brahmins were jealous about the divine power in this temple managed by another community and its development. First they propagated that the divine power inside the temple is not Kodungalloor Bhagavathy. Then they brought an expert Brahmin Tantric to invoke the divine power from that temple and to take it away. They invoked the power and kept it inside a copper pot. To the surprise of all, suddenly the pot broke with a loud noise. From that day onwards, nobody had dared to play with the divine power in this temple. 

Legend of Pattazhy Devi Temple

Pattazhi is a small village in the eastern part of Kollam District in Kerala. It is located just 10 kilometers away from Kottarackara and just 9 kilometers from Pathanapuram. The small village which attracts many people with its natural beauty is more famous for the Devi Temple located here. It is well known as Pattazhy Devi Temple.

Pattazhi Devi Temple

The temple is an ancient temple and the legend goes like this. Darika Asura (Demon Darika) has undergone a rigid penance and at the end of it, Lord Brahma appeared in front of him. As a boon, he asked a favor that he should not be killed by ant gods or men. Besides, he demanded the creator that the Brahma Danda, a most dangerous weapon too. Pleased with his devotion, Lord Brahma fell blindly for him and has given the boons he asked without thinking about the after-effects.

Once gaining more strength with boons, Darika went on creating havoc on the earth. He literally created his kingdom here and all good people found it difficult to live here. When they stopped worshipping, Gods too found it difficult. After a long discussion, they planned to undergo rigid penance to please Lord Shiva.

Lord Shiva appeared in front of them and they told the miseries caused by Darika. They also expressed their inability to fight Darika as he is stronger with the boons from Lord Brahma. Shiva got angry with this and he opened his third eye. Flashes of fire came out from it and they formed a female figure. She has been named Kali as she was in a dark complexion. She went to fight with Darika. She had to continue her fight for twenty days and finally, she killed him by beheading him. Yet she was not able to control her anger. Taking the head of Darika, she came to the gods with anger. Seeing that, Lord Shiva lied on the ground in front of her. Blind with anger, she could not see him and she placed her legs on him. Realizing that she had placed her legs on her father, she repented and this decreased her anger to a certain limit.

Then she asked her father, Lord Shiva about the aim of her birth. He advised her to go to some serene place and be there blessing the devotees who worship her with great devotion and unselfishness. She went to a village and on the way, she saw the Navagrahas. As she still agreed, Navagrahas, the nine planets got feared and they took the form of children. Seeing children, her anger was completely diminished and she asked them to sit with her. Even now the navagrahas are being worshipped in Pattazhy temple, though there are no idols for them.

There was a family called Kutiyam Thuruthil Kizhakke Veedu in this village. They were rich feudal lords of the village and have vast lands and other properties. Once the head of the family was taking a walk through his land, he saw a woman clad in white garments. Suddenly she disappeared and there came an open well in that place. A piece of red silk was there on the top of the well. When he had a look inside the well, he saw the water with huge waves just like in an ocean. Silk is called as “Pattu” in the local language Malayalam and “Azhi” is the word for the ocean. Clubbing both these the word came as “Pattazhi” and thus the village got the name Pattazhi.

The temple has been taken care of by nine families once. Then a man called “kambithan” came there. He was very powerful and had many divine powers too. He took care of the administration of the temple.

There are many legends about Kambithan. Actually, it is a sir name, and after the first kambithan there came a second one who was also as strong as the first one. After the second one, no Kambithan is here till so far. There is a Shiva Temple that seems to be older than this Devi temple which is located near to this temple. There are two old buildings with single rooms behind this Shiva Temple which are believed to be the monuments of these two Kambithans.