Kumbha Bharani
This is an humble dedication to the Chettikulangara Amma.
The Pictures that follows are of high resolution and may take some time to load. The site will be frequently edited and so please come back as often as you can. Also if you have any sort of suggession please do send it to the editor.
This years Bharani was on March 10th.
We are please to welcome you all to Chettikulangara.
We bow before the Devi Durgha before we further proceed with the presentation.
First a little bit about the temple.
Chettikulangara is in between Kayamkulam and Mavelikkara of the Alleppy District. This place is famous for the Durga Temple and its festivals. The Temple is under the Travancore Devasom Board and is a Major Temple in Kerala. The income of this temple is second next to Sabarimala according to some statistics of the Devasom Board. To have a small idea of its income, this year it earned around 1crore70lakh rupees as income for a single type of offering called "Chanthattam". For the people in and around the place the Devi is so powerful that they are ready to do anything for the Devi.
This is the Temple where Durga Devi resides as Chettikulangara Amma.
The Key position in the Temple Complex where Devi Durga appeared as a aged women, who later came to known as Chettikulangara Amma.
This is the Sub-Shrine for the Lord Ganesha.
View of the temple from the South West Corner.
The Sub-Shrine for Yaksha.
This is a palm tree ("Karimbana") which is not now in the temple.
The West side of Temple. This is near to the Kayamkulam-Mavelikkara Road.
Along with this Elephant we also once again bow before Devi Durga.
Now about KumbhaBharani.
The main festival of Chettikulangara Devi Temple is on the month of march or april. The date is determined according to the Malayalam Calender ("KollaVarsham"). In that this day comes in the month of Kumbha and the day which has the star Bharani and hence the name KumbhaBharani. Even though this is famous amoung people outside the locality the actual festival of the temple is almost 17 days afterwards and is a 13 day festival. This is done so that it will finish on the Aswathy star of Menam month. The next day which is the Bharani star, the Devi of Chettikulangara, who is considered as the daughter of Kodungaloor Devi, goes to see her mother. So starting from that day for 3 days the temple will remain closed and there will not be any offerings.
Here we currently focus on the KumbhaBharani and we will later go to the actual festivals when this page will be updated.
The preparation for KumbhaBharani starts 7 days before the actual day and incidentally that day will be the Shivarathi. People who had pledged for "Kuthiyottam" will start training their children for the offering on that day. All these 7 days these people will host public get-togethers and arrange food for them. The children will be taught a special dance steps called "Kuthiyoota chuvadukal" etc.
Meanwhile the people from 13 sub-areas of chettikulangara will arrange for the processions one each for each area. Generally it remains the same every year and according to them it will be 6 big chariots 5 smaller ones, one big idiol of Bheema and another one of Hanuman. A small one of Panchali will always be there with Hanuman.
The processions starts early morning on that day and till afternoon it will be the turn of "Kuthiyottams". Those who had offered Kuthiyoottam to Devi will bring their children to the temple as a procession and will offer the children before Devi as it reach the temple. The boys will be playing the Kuthiyootam dance before the Devi.
During the evening hours it will be turn of the Chariots. People from each area will pull the Chariots from the construction sites (usually in their respective locations itself) to the temple. Some times the route will be through agricultural fields but the loose sand and bumps are no obstructions to the highly inspired people.
We will take a round on all these quickly.
The Kuthiyoottam procession.
In this shot you can see the boys who are offered.
This ornamented Elephant is the part of one such procession.
Another shot from the procession.
A more closer look on those boys.
A smaller Chariot ready for offering.
One of the shed where they secure the materials used to make these chariots during the year.
A bigger Chariot ready for the people to take to the temple.
Another big Chariot being pulled.
A Chariot which is offered before the Devi.
Some of the ornamental work done in wood in the Chariot.
A Chariot being pulled back to the field in the east of the temple after being offered to the Devi. Note the inclination of the chariot when it decent down the ramp into the field.
Three of the Chariots being arranged in the field after being offered to the Devi.
Another views of a chariots being pulled to the temple. Note the size and the mass of the structure. These chariots are having solid wooden wheels and without any bearings.
More technical details later when this page will be updated.
Hanuman and Panchali being pulled together to the temple.
A closer look on Panchali. The sari she is wearing is the best among the offering she got from the public.
A night shot of the Chariots being arrange in the field.
Another speciality of the festival is the exhibition cum sale arranged near the temple complex. Being a agriculture based locality people used to buy equipments, seeds, etc and also they used to sell their harvest. This is a unique sight in the whole Kerala.
A view of the market. All sort of knifes being sold here.
Different type of local measuring vessels. All these are made out of wood or brass.
Wooden handles for their tools.
Another shot of the market. These bags are made out of palm leaves.
Harvests of people being sold.
Seeds of different plants being an important item of this markeet.
This page has been visited
This Site is created and maintained by Rajesh Anandarajan.