Legend of Kodungallur Devi and Kodungallur Bharani

Kodungallur is a small temple town located in the Thrissur District of Kerala. Although this small town houses many temples, most of them are dedicated to Lord Shiva, Kodungallur Sri Kurumba Temple or Kodungallur Devi Temple is the most famous one. It is believed that Kannaki of Tamil classic Chilapathikaram attained salvation here.

The mythology behind this temple goes back to the period of the creation of Kerala by Lord Parasurama, the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. When he created Kerala and donated the land to many Brahmins to free from the curses of killing kshatriyas, a demon called Daruka came there. He started driving out people and they all approached Parasurama.

Parasurama underwent a penance to appease Lord Shiva to find a solution. Shiva appeared in front of Parasurama and asked him to construct a temple and consecrate an idol of Goddess Bhadrakali and start worshipping her. Parasurama did accordingly and the Goddess appeared in her most fierce form. She fought a long war with the demon and killed him.

When she came back, Parasurama pleaded her presence at that temple forever for the protection of the people. Pleased with the devotion of Parasurama, she agreed to do so. And the temple is believed to have the presence of Goddess Kali there.

Another legend says that Kannaki of Chilapathikaram came to Kodungallur after setting ablaze the entire Madhurai City and prayed to the goddess. After a few minutes of prayer, she got absorbed into the idol of Goddess.

Kodungallur Amma, as the deity is called quite often by the devotees, is the family goddess of the royal family of Kodungallur. Hence, the presence of the senior member of the family, who is referred to as Kodungallur Thampuran is necessary for all festivals related to the temple.

Kodungallur Bharani is the major festival in this temple. On that day there is a ritual called “Kozhikkal Moodal” which was originally the sacrificing of cocks and offering the blood. After the ritual performed, Kodungallur Thampuran will spread a red umbrella. This is called “Kavu Theendal” which is a symbolic way to give permission to people belonging to all casts to enter the temple. As soon as this is over, devotees, especially hundreds of oracles wearing red cloth will enter the temple and run three times around the temple holding sticks in their arms.

This ritual is to commemorate the return of Goddess Kali and her army after killing Daruka. The sticks in the arms of devotees represent weapons. After completing three rounds, they will enter the temple. In earlier days, the devotees used to air filthy languages against the Devi while they run around the temple. This ritual was based on a belief that the Goddess enjoyed the victory in the war with her soldiers who were shouting bad words out of joy. Later this ritual has been stopped.

Later, Adi Shankara installed five Sri Chakras in the temple and these chakras are believed to be a source of the power of the temple.   People belong to the Namboodiri community or Adiga communities have the right to perform rituals here in this temple. There is one more Sri Kurumba Temple in the Southern part of the town where the rituals are being performed by the people belonging to the Kudumbi community.

Cheraman Perumal, the last King of Kerala and his Arabian Connection

Although this story has a lot of mythological elements, a lot of historical support also there to hold the story as a true incident. It is better to say that this is a history blended with myths. Kerala, the southernmost state of Kerala has been ruled by the Cheran Dynasty. Being the land of Cheras, it used to be called “Cheralam” and later it became Keralam or Kerala. Another legend behind the name Kerala is that the land is rich with coconut trees and in the local language Malayalam, the coconut tree is also known as Kera. Thus the name has come.

Whatever may be the reason for the name, it is a historical fact that it was under the rule of the Chera Dynasty and at the time the kingdom was covering almost all parts of present Kerala. The kings of this dynasty used to be called Perumal and the last Perumal has divided the country and handed over it to his four subordinates, who were his relatives too. In real, Perumal has married one woman each from these four families whom he has entrusted as the kings to rule different parts of his kingdom. “Kolathu” was the family entrusted thus by the Perumal to rule the northern parts of Kerala. The Head of the family is known as Kolathiri and Perumal has married the sister of then Kolathiri.

Perumal used to visit each of his wives at regular intervals. The sister of Kolathiri was a lusty lady. Perumal could not satisfy her physically and the gap between each visit was too long. At that time, There was a person called Padavila Nair, who has been appointed as a minister by Perumal to take care of that region. Perumal’s wife fell for him as he was young handsome and with a masculine body. She tried her level best to allure him, but somehow he did not fall in the trap. Angry with this, the queen decided to teach him a lesson. Next time when Perumal visited her, she did not come out of her room to receive him. Quite astonished with this, Perumal went inside her room and enquired about the reason. Then she told him that Padavila Nair was a morally weak person and he tried to allure her several times. She also told the king that his minister hugged her tightly once.

Angry with this, the king asked his army men to bring the minister in front of him. Although Nair pleaded his innocence, King went with the words of his wife and asked his army men to behead Nair. Before getting beheaded, Nair cursed the king that he will have to leave the country soon as he is ordering the killing of an innocent man.

Cheraman Juma Masjid

After a few days of spending with his wife, Perumal left for the capital city, which was at the present-day Kodungalloor. There he started a strange uneasiness and could not sleep well, eat well. Whenever he sleeps, Padavila Nair appeared in his dreams with the curse. Worried with this, the king decided to check whether the words of his wife was true or not. He sent a young and handsome person who was very loyal to the king to Kolathiri in the disguise of a job searcher. Seeing such a person, the queen immediately appointed him as her personal bodyguard. After a few days, the queen started her tricks to allure this young man. He kept on escaping each time and sent the information to the king from time to time. Thus the king realized that he had killed an innocent man believing the words of a woman who is quite immoral.

Guilty feelings started haunting the king and he decided that he should go to some new places leaving everything behind here. He was sure that then only he will get peace of mind. It was at that time that the first batch of Islamic merchants who came to Kerala for trading. He met their leader and went along with them to Arabia in their ship. When the king’s relatives got the information, they followed the Arabian ship in another ship and had an encounter near the shores of Dharmmapattanam. However, the Arabians fought with them and took the king to Arabia as per his wish. Finally the king, Perumal landed at the Sahir Mukkalhai port and went to Jiddah. It is believed that there he met Prophet Mohammed and got converted to Islam. There he married the daughter of an Arabian King and lived for quite some time.

Relics of Cheraman Perumal

Although he was quite happy there, the memories of Kodungalloor, his old capital city was haunting him. One day he came back to Kodungalloor. There he constructed a mosque which is known as “Cheraman Mosque” is one of the oldest mosques in India. Spending about a year or two, he planned to go back to Arabia as he loved his Arabian wife so much. However, destiny was something different. He died at Kodungalloor and got buried inside the mosque compound.