Mannarasala, the snake temple of Kerala

Snakes have been worshipped all over the world in the old days. Different cultures and civilizations had their own methods and rituals to worship snakes. However, the one common thing in snake worship was that snake gods have been regarded as the gods who are responsible for the prosperity and continuance of the clan. It is believed that by shedding their skin once in a while, snakes are attaining rebirth. When there is no death, there is no rebirth too. Hence the snakes are reminding us about the inevitable death. This concept and the fact that most of the snakes are poisonously created a sort of fear in the minds of people towards snakes. This also could be a reason for snake worship.

Although the spreading of Christianity and Islam could put an end to snake worship in many parts of the world, it is still prevailing in many other regions. Even in Babylonia, snakes play an important role in their New Year festivals as a remnant of the ancient practice of snake worship. In many parts of Africa and Mesoamerica, snake worship is being carried out in different styles.

However, snake worship is a common practice in India, especially among Hindus. Several snakes had a mention in various epics. Right from the Anantha Nag with thousand heads upon which the Lord Vishnu sleeps and Vasuki, which has been used by Lord Shiva as a garland there are several unholy snakes too just like Kaliya. Snakes have great importance in Hinduism and it is more in Kerala. Earlier, there used to be a designated place for snake gods in every compound. This designated place known as Sarppa Kavu was a replica or a miniature form of nature with one or two tall trees surrounded by bushes and creepers. There used to be a pond or a small water body near to that. Thus the snake worship in Kerala was closely related to the preservation of nature.

Sarppa Kavu

There are some temples also in Kerala, which are dedicated to snake gods, and Aranmula Nagaraja Kshethram is one of the prominent snakes temple in Kerala. Located in the Alleppy district in Kerala, it attracts thousands of devotees, especially childless couples who believe that they can be blessed with children if the snake god blesses them.

The legend of this temple goes back to the period when Lord Parasurama, the sixth incarnation of Lord
Vishnu carved out Kerala from the sea. Varuna, the god of sea withdrew from a certain area to make it a land and the same land has been donated by Parasurama to Brahmins to escape from the sin of killing many Kshatriyas. When this land has been created, it was full of snakes and the soil and water were with a high content of the soil. It was not livable for human beings. Hence those Brahmins whom Parasurama donated the land returned to their original places. This made the lord sad. He underwent a penance to appease the snake god Vasuki and when he appeared in front of him, Parasurama told the incidents happened. Then Vasuki told him that the snakes will absorb the extra minerals in the water and soil and make the land livable. Besides, they will not attack any human beings unless they are attacked. Parasurama reciprocated in the same way saying that the people of Kerala will certainly worship snakes. He designated some families for performing rituals to snake gods and asked others to leave a place for snakes in their compound as Sarppa Kavu. Mannarasala temple belongs to such a family that has been entrusted by Lord Parasurama to carry out snake worshipping rituals and the rituals are strict as Vasuki instructed.

Ayilyam festival at Mannarasala

However, the village which houses the temple derived the name Mannarasala during Dwapar Yuga. When Arjuna, along with Lord Krishna gutted the Dandaranya in the fire, the temperature everywhere on the earth raised. Snakes of this tiny village too suffered a lot from increased temperature. Seeing the pain and struggling of snakes, ladies of this family came out with buckets full of water. They poured water on the soil to cool it. They did it until the temperature level became normal. At that time one of the ladies told that they can stop pouring water as the soil became cool, in local Malayalam language, “mannu aari”. Thus this place is come known as mannu aariya sala or the village where the soil became cool. Later it got corrupted as Mannarasala.

Mannarasala Amma

Pleased on the efforts of the ladies of the family on saving his clan, Snake God Vasuki appeared in front of them and asked them to conduct the daily rituals by the women of the family. The eldest woman of the family will be called as Amma or the mother and should take care of the snakes as her sons and daughters. In turn, the devotees who pray to Amma will be blessed by the snake gods without fail.

Even now, this blessing of Vasuki seems to be effective as the visitors to this temple is increasing day by day.