Chengannur Devi, the Goddess who menstruates regularly

Have you ever come across with an idol menstruating regularly and the devotees throng to the temple to worship the idol on those four days? Yes, it happens in Kerala. Although the temple in the tiny town of Chengannur in Alappuzha district is dedicated to Lord Shiva, it is more famous because of the presence of Devi or Ma Durga in the temple. It is more famous that the deity menstruates regularly every month and the clothes adorning the deity will have the precipitates of blood on those days. The legend of this temple goes back to the days of the marriage of Lord Shiva with Goddess Parvathy.

All gods, Saints, and other celestial creatures have assembled on the lap of Mount Himalaya to witness the marriage of Lord Shiva with Goddess Parvathy. This created an imbalance on earth and it started tilting towards the north. Then Lord Brahma called Saint Agasthya and asked him to move towards the south and to sit at Sonadri (a hillock on the beds of River Pamba). Although he was sad as he cannot witness the marriage, he obeyed the order of the creator. Then Brahma promised him that after the marriage Lord Shiva and Parvathy will come to Sonadri and there he could witness the union of both.

As per the promise, Both Shiva and Parvathy reached at Sonadri after their marriage and all gods and saints accompanied them. There Parvathy attained puberty and they all celebrated the same as per the Hindu culture. Thus Saint Agasthy could witness a grand celebration.

After many years, Parasurama brought Brahmins from other places and made them stay in Kerala. In order to rule the land easily, he had divided the area into sixty-four villages and appointed a person each like the head. The place where Chengannur Temple situates thus came under the rule of Vanjippuzha Thampuran. As per the system prevailed on those days, one person called Nayanaru Pillai has taken some land on lease from Vanjippuzha Thampuran for the purpose of cultivation. The entire land was filled with grass and bushes. Hence he appointed some laborers to clear it off. When woman labor was sharpening her sickle by rubbing it on a stone, blood started oozing out from the stone. Afraid of this strange incident, laborers ran away from the land and informed their master, Pillai. He in turn informed the head of the village Vanjippuzha Thampuran about it.

He came there along with Thazhamon Potti, who was a great tantric. Thazhamon Potti identified the presence of the divine power of Lord Shiva in that stone and he informed Thampuran about it. He also mentioned that Shiva is not alone as he feels the presence of Goddess Parvathy too. He asked the village head to construct a temple there. As per the instruction of Thampuran, Perumthachchan (the master carpenter in Parayi petta panthirukulam) came there and provided the design. When there was the need to make an idol of Devi Parvathy, Perumthachan roam around in that compound and asked his assistants to dig at a particular place. When the laborers dug at that place, they found a beautiful idol of Goddess Parvathy. Perumthachan asked Thampuran to install that idol inside the temple. Anyway, he made another idol of Goddess Parvathy using five metals and handed it over to Thazhamon Potti. Perumthachan told Potti that the temple will gut in fire after a few years and the present idol of the devil also will get destroyed in that fire. He insisted that this idol should be installed after the reconstruction of the temple. Perumthachan also insisted that the Potti should write this instruction and keep it as this incident may occur after his period. Years after it happened as predicted by Perumthachan. Although the idol of Shiva left unharmed, the idol of Parvathy got destroyed completely. Now the idol made by Perumthachan is being used there.

One day, when the chief priest was removing all the flowers and the dress adorning the idol in the morning to replace them with new, he noticed a stain on the cloth. He handed it over to the temple administrator and asked him to show it to the then head of Thazhamon Madom who are the Tantriks of that temple. The administrator did so. After examining the cloth by the ladies of Thazhamon Madom, it has been confirmed that the Goddess menstruated. Ladies of Thazhamon Madom came there along with several other ladies and celebrated the incident according to the prevailing custom.

The same thing happened in the coming months too. Then Vanjippuzha Thampuran came there and allotted a specific amount to celebrate the festival every month. Even now many devotees especially women throng to the temple during these days. Even now stain is being witnessed in the cloth on those days. Now, this is being celebrated as “Thruppootharattu” or the festival of menstruation.