The Temple Where the Unsettled Soul of a Judge is Worshipped

Judge Ammavan (Uncle Judge) Temple is a sub temple of Cheruvally Sri Devi Temple but it is more popular than the main temple because of the specialty of the deity worshiped here.  The deity here is the soul of an old Judge who was really honest.

Justice Govinda Pillai was the Chief Justice of the Royal Court of Travancore. He enjoyed the reputation for his fairness and honest. Nothing had influenced him in making the verdicts. Once, he ordered one of his nephews’s to be hanged to death and the order has been carried out by the Royal Police.

Later he came to know that his nephew was innocent. This was really a shock to him and he could not sleep due to guilty consciousness. He approached the King and told the incident. Justice Govinda Pillai told the king that he committed a heinous crime by ordering an innocent to be killed and he should get the death penalty for this.

King was not in a mood to listen to Pillai as he was enjoying the reputation as an honest judge and the king was very pleased with him. King tried to console him saying mistakes can be happened as they all are simply human beings and not gods. But Pillai was adamant and was not ready to go back from the decision. Finally, the king told him that the duty of the king is to execute the orders and only a judge can pass orders. Then Govinda Pillai insisted that the case will be taken care of by himself.

He went back to his office and prepared an order. It was clearly mentioned in the order that the intensity of the crime will be more if the same has been conducted by those who are responsible for ensuring law and order. He ordered himself to be hanged to death. There is one more punishment he added in his order that the legs should be chopped off before hanging.

King has no other way but to execute the order. Later, the family members of Govinda Pillai experienced many tragedies and approached an astrologer who practices Kerala Astrology. He told them that the soul of Pillai has not yet settled and they should invoke it and consecrate in their family temple, Cheuvally Sri Devi Temple.  That is the legend behind this temple. Devotees used to offer a special type of offering called “Vellam Kudi” (offering beetle nuts) to the deity which is affectionately called as Judge Ammavan or Uncle Judge. Devotees are saying that there are many instances where many complicated legal cases have been cleared in favor of the devotees who offered Vellam Kudi to Judge Ammavan.

The Cheruvally Sri Devi Temple is also an ancient temple which is claimed to be constructed about 800 years before. The legend behind this temple is that the divine power of Goddess Devi appeared there as per the request of Saint Sankaracharya. Later the divine power left there ignored for centuries and a lady belongs to a lower cast found a stone bleeding when she rubbed her sickle on it to sharpen it.

It has been found to be the divine power of devi. Then a temple has been constructed there and the power has been invoked to a stone idol of Devi which is about four feet high.  History says that King Marthanda Varma came here when he was in a battle with his cousins over the control of Travancore and stayed at Vanchipuzha Madom (A monastery for Vedic Studies) in the hide. Later he became the king of Travancore and conquered the feudal kingdom of Chembakasseri, Cheruvalli came under his rule and he handed over the temple to Vanchipuzha madam. Now it is under the control of Travancore Devaswom Board.