Sri Kottiyoor Mahadeva Temple!

Kottiyoor temple is a famous Shiva and Sati Devi temple located in the amidst of the forest in the district of Kannur, Kerala. Kottiyoor temple is also known as the "Dakshina Kashi" or "Varanasi of the South". 

There are two temples in Koottiyoor which are located on both sides of the river Bavali. One is called Akkare Koottiyoor(also called Kizhakkeshwaram)(Akkare means that side) and the other one is called Ikkare Koottiyoor(also called The Thruchherumana Temple)(Ikkare means this side). 

Vaishaka Maholtsavam (Maholtsavam means festival) is the main festival of the temple. This is held during monsoon, that is it might be anytime between May to June. The festival will last for 28 days. 

Akkare Koottiyoor doesn't have a temple as such. Temporary shelters(like yaga shrines) are built here during the Vaishaka Maholtsavam and these shelters are abolished after the festival. The shelters will be surrounded by water and devotees have to go through this water to reach the shrine to get the Darsan. 

Ikkare Koottiyoor on the other hand is a permanent temple just like all other temples. The temple will be open through out the year except during Vaishaka Maholtsavam. During which time only Akkare Koottiyoor will be open. 

A view during Vaishaka Maholtsavam

Mythology says that Akkare Kottiyoor, the shrine on the eastern bank of the river, was the location of Daksha Yaga, at the conclusion of which, Sati Devi immolated herself to fire. The folklore is Daksha father of Sathi Devi performed a Yaga at this place. Sathi Devi married Shiva against the wishes of her father. Daksha performed a great yaga (with the aim of insulting Shiva), to which he invited all of the gods and goddesses except his daughter and son-in-law to participate in it. Sathi, who was angry at this treatment of her father, went to her father's place to ask the reason for not inviting them. Daksha insulted Sathi again by calling Shiva poor and wild. Sathi could not bear the fact that her husband was being insulted in front of the guests. She immediately jumped into the yaga fire out of shame and anger and killed herself.

Lord Shiva, became very angry when he came to know about this and came to Daksha's place. On the orders of Lord Shiva, Veerabhadra and Bhadrakali destroyed the yaga and Veerabhadra beheaded Daksha. On seeing the dead body of Sathi, Shiva was so enraged that, he lifted the body on his shoulder and started the tandav (the dance of destruction). The dance continued for several days and the earth was on the verge of being destroyed. On the request of all the other gods and goddesses, Lord Vishnu with the help of his Sudarsana chakra, started cutting Goddess Sathi's body. 

Later to the plea of Brahma and Vishnu, Lord Shiva gave life to Daksha and completed the yaga. Daksha understood his faults and started worshipping Lord Shiva. Shiva appeared infront of him in the form of a Swayambhoo Lingam(swayamboo means by itself). Later this place became a dense forest. Once a Kurichyan(a tribal guy) went into this forest to collect logs. His weapon struck the Swayambhoo Lingam and it began to bleed and he informed it to the lords and thus people started worshipping this idol. This Swayambhoo Lingam is in the Akkare Kottiyoor temple. This Lingam is in a forest and so the brahmins were unable to reach there to worship the Lingam daily. So they decided to offer poojas to this Lingam only for 28 days in an year. Inorder to perform daily poojas they constructed a temple on the opposite bank of Bavalee river. This is the present Ikkare Kottiyoor temple. 

As Thrimurthis(Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva)  were met here this place was called Koottiyoor(meeting place). Later this became Kottiyoor.

The Vaisakha Maholsavam celebrations begin with the ritual of bringing a sword from Muthirerikavu from Wayanad. On the following day, on Visakham star Bhandaram Ezhunnallath ritual is held. Gold, Silver vessels, heavenly ornaments etc are brought from nearby Manathana village to Kottiyoor.

An important ritual during the festival is the 'Elaneer Vayppu' or presenting tender coconuts before the Swayambhu Shiva linga. On this special day, thousands of tender coconuts carried by devotees from different parts of Malabar area are presented. The following day, priest of the temple pours the collected coconut water on the idol which is known as 'Elaneeraattam'.

Women are allowed only for a certain period of days. 

One more attraction of this festival is oda poovu(a beautiful hanging made by beating bamboo).

Oda Poovu

Location:

Kannur district

In Kuthuparamba - Nedumpoyil- Peravur route.  From Thettuvazhi you will find boards with route to Kottiyoor. You have to take a right turn from here.

Nalambala Darsanam...🙂

What is Nalambala darsanam? It is a pilgrimage trip to four famous temples of Kerala during the Malayalam month of Karkidakam.Nalambalam means four temples and darsanam means visit,view etc. that is visiting of four temples. Karkkidakam is the last month of Malayalam Era. Salient feature of Karkkidakam is that it is period of famine and illness. To overcome sufferings people resort to medical treatment and spiritual enrichment. Worship of Rama is the general trend of the period. Chanting of Ramamantra and recitation of Ramayanam  is considered auspicious during this month.

The journey starts from Thriprayar Sri Rama Swami temple, and then to Irinjalakuda Bharatha Temple( Koodalmanickam) , Thirumoozhikkulam Lakshmana Temple, Payammal Sathrugna Temple and ends with revisiting Thriprayar Sri Rama Swami temple. The temples have to be visited in the above order and pilgrimage should be finished in a single day. All these temples are located in and around Trissur district of Kerala.

It is believed that Lord Sri Krishna worshipped these idols during his reign in Dwaraka. These idols were lost in the sea along with Dwaraka. While fishing,  fisherman got these idols in their net. All 4 idols were tied together and found at the same time.  These idols were then placed in different directions as directed by astrologist. And thus Nalambala darsanam became famous among pilgrims.

Thriprayar Sri Rama Swami temple:

Irinjalakuda Bharatha Temple(Koodalmanickam):

Thirumoozhikkulam Sri Lakshmanaperumal Temple:

Payammal Sri Sathrugna Swami Temple:

Tip: There are tour packages from KSRTC which you can opt that way you can avoid standing in long queues for Darsan.

The Royal Hill Palace of Thripunithura!

Hill Palace was the official residence of the Kochi rulers in 17th century. At present it is the largest archeological Museum in Kerala. Hill Palace spread across 54 acres of land which includes a museum,a pre-historic park,  Deer Park, children's park,etc. Museum has a wide range of collections which includes Crown and ornaments of the Cochin Royal Family, sculptures, paintings, inscriptions, coins, weapons. Photography is strictly prohibited inside the museum. This museum is the first heritage museum of Kerala. Irrespective of this place being at the midst of the city it is surrounded by many trees which adds to the greenery. Many famous film shooting has taken place at this Palace. Being a Malayali we really enjoyed each and every shooting spot of Manichitrathazh movie. 

Steps to Hill Palace 

Outside view of museum

Once you take tickets and enter the place you will be directed to cloak room where you have to deposit your footwear, camera and mobile phones which are prohibited inside the museum. Now you are all set to enter the museum which displays the belongings of Kochi royal family which includes Crown, jewellery, apparels, paintings of the former kings like Kerala Varma, Rama Varma and many more. 

Heritage museum

Once you are done with museum you can move to heritage museum. This was our favorite area just because of the movie Manichitrathazh. There is a pond where Royal people used to take bath which is sealed now. The water in the pond gives a shade of green.

Then we went to Deer Park. Both musk deer and spotted deers are available here.

Opening Time:

9:00 am - 12:30 pm | 2:00 pm - 4:30 pm (Closed on Mondays and National/State Holidays)

Entrance Fee: 

Rs. 10 for Adults | Rs. 5 for Children

Peralassery Subrahmanian temple!

Peralassery temple is one of the famous ancient temples in Kannur district of Kerala. Serpent form of Lord Subramania, the son of Lord Shiva, is the presiding deity worshiped at this temple. Peralassery is a town situated in the Kuthuparamba - Kannur highway. From Peralassery bus stop the temple is at walkable distance. 

Temple Entrance

A Banyan tree outside the Temple

You can see many idols of King Cobra inside the temple. The main offerings in the temple are egg(for snakes),  ney payasam( A sweet made from rice, Jaggery and Ghee), Sarppabali. The main festival in Peralassery is during the month of December.

Different idols of Cobra

A beautiful Banyan tree inside temple premises

The large temple pond is one of the architectural marvel. Devotees wash their legs in the pond before entering the temple. It is believed that the water from river Cauveri reaches in this temple pond in the first-day of Malayalam month Thulam. This is known as Cauveri sangramanam. This day is considered as an auspicious day and many devotees visit the temple on this day and take a dip in the pond. You could see this pond in many of the films. 

Fishes in Temple pond

Folklores says that Peralassery temple was an Ayyappan kavu earlier. Lord Rama came across this place while searching for his wife Sits Devi. When he reached here he felt the presence of Lord Subrahmania here.  He explained the story to Lord Lakshmanan and Lord Hanuman which is as follows "When Lord Subrahmania was a kid he has imprisoned Lord Brahma for not letting him know the meaning of the Pranava mantra "Om". Later as per Lord Shiva's request he has released Lord Brahma.  As atonement, Lord Subrahmania turned into a Serpent and stayed alone in an isolated well of Ayyappan kavu in Peralassery."

When they heard this story all three came to visit the temple and decided to place an idol of Lord Subrahmania here. They seeked permission of Lord Ayyappan who was being worshipped here. Lord Ayyappan agreed and gave them the permission to make Lord Subrahmania as main idol and to give him a place at the South of the main temple. Lord Rama asked Lord Hanuman to get an idol and Lord Hanuman went in search of one. Lord Hanuman couldn't return on time so Lord Rama removed his bangle (Peru Vala) and placed it in place of worship. When Lord Hanuman returned Lord Rama tried to place the idol in top of the bangle. Lord Hanuman asked to remove bangle and place the idol is originally but they couldn't remove the bangle. And while trying to remove the bangle a Serpent appeared and asked not to remove it.  As Lord Rama removed his bangle and placed it hence the name Peru valasserry (place where bangle was kept) which later became Peralassery.

There is one more temple which has a relation to this story, Makreri Temple. As Lord Hanuman couldn't come on time he felt regret. Seeing Lord Hanuman's disappointment Lord Rama told Lord Hanuman to place the idol he brought towards north side of the temple. Lord Rama told people have to visit both temples to fulfill their wishes. So he placed the idol and for anoint Lord Hanuman tapped his tail and there a pond was formed. As Markkadan (monkey) placed the idol this place was called Markkadasserry and later came to known as Makreri.

Muzhakkunnu Mridanga Saileswari Temple in Kerala

This is said to be one of the most famous Devi temples in Kannur district of Kerala. Muzhakkunnu Mrithanga Saileshwari Temple has a powerful pancha loha idol inside.

Earlier the temple was only known among the localites. The temple became famous when a recorded speech of Retired DGP of Kerala, Alexander Jacob was posted in facebook. In this video he described few strange experiences he had in connection with the temple while he was working as the ASP, Thalassery and SP/DIG, Kannur. This video was also televised in safari channel.

He has depicted that the hill in which the temple is located is in the form of Mridangam( a musical instrument: a barrel-shaped double-headed drum). And the idol of the temple is the Goddess of music. There are no guards to protect the idol even though this idol is very costly. He has also mentioned that the idol was robbed twice and was found in an abandoned state in a road side with a note attached to it asking to return the idol to Mridanga Saileswari Temple in both cases. They found traces of secreta in the incident locations. The idol was robbed a third time, again it was found abandoned in a hotel room in Wayanad. Finally when police got their hands on thieves they enquired about these incidents and why it was abandoned everytime. Thieves said that once they got hold of the idol they lost track of directions and they couldn't control the functionality of their bowels. 

The temple authorities mentioned that the process by which the idol is installed in the temple takes 7 days of prayers and that makes the idol powerful.

After this video become viral devotees started flooding into the temple making it very famous. It is believed that the Goddess here is very powerful and your wishes will be granted if you pray from the temple.We have visited this temple once. 

It is believed that the origin of lady form of Kadhakali is at Mridanga Saileswari Temple. Kottayam Maharaja(Malabar) designed the costumes of kathakali at this temple. He  didn't have an idea of how the lady costume of kathakali should be. During king's meditation,  the goddess appeared and displayed the lady costumes in the pond. 

Temple pond

 Location:

In Kuthuparamba - Mattannur route after Uruvachal junction take right. Go via. Shivapuram,  Thillangeri and finally reach Muzhakkunn. From Muzhakunn junction take right and the temple is within 0.5 kilometers.

Escape from the hustle and bustle of city to Kadamakudy!!!

Kadamakudy is an island in the district of Ernakulam, Kerala. Backwaters, paddy fields, fishing, birds; all the charismatic shades and hues of rustic life await visitors at this picture-perfect getaway. You could see the live agricultural activities, fishing and toddy tapping. Kadamakudy is a cluster of 14 islands. 

There are 2 routes to reach Kadamakudy. One is normal bus route via Varapuzha and the other one is a route using Jangar boat.  If you are taking the first route after crossing Varapuzha bridge(if you are coming from Edappally side)  take a left turn which will take you to Kadamakudy. 

Unaware of the routes available we depended completely in Google Maps which took us via jangar boat. This was an experience in itself. We have traveled in boats many times but taking a car and getting into the boat was first of it's kind experience for us. You have to cross two backwaters before reaching Kadamakudy. I was really excited by this experience and really enjoyed the experience. Getting away from the fast life to get a glimpse of the slow life followed here was a rejoice. The best way of transport is using a bike. You could enjoy the view with an added advantage of stopping by any place you wish to imprint on your camera. 

After riding a while we came across picteresque view of paddy fields and agricultural land. This place is a treat for photographers. Toddy shop in Kadamakudy is famous among city dwellers with a wide range of local food recipes.