Chiravarambath Kavu Bhagavathy Temple.

kerala is popularly known as God'sown country.Spread over an area of 15005 Sq Miles ,there are approximately over 10,000 Hindu Temples in Kerala.A major portion of it is in Thrissu District. There are annual festivals in every Temple in Kerala.In Thrissur District ,I have heard a common saying from Kottappadi,{near]Guruvayur that "Aalukkal ninneduthal Palakkal vare".This implies that the first Pooram/Vela begins in Kottapadi Aalukkal Temple and ends with Kattakampal Pooram/Vela.Please dont ask me who is responsible and who made this saying.May be me, you,or any one else.What is meant by it is that the first Temple festival begins at Aalukkal Temple in Kottapadi and the last in the Kattakampal Temple in the month of Medam.There was another popular saying "Chendpurathu Kolu Vechidathellam Pokuka" means Visit every Temple where drumming Melams starts.Dont ask me again who is responsible for this saying.Mostly our dearest Mother. Let us come back to the Temples of Chiravarambathukavu Bhagavathy at Aruvayi. In Aruvayi ,Pazhanji,{near}Kunnamkulam therer is one Temple called Cheruvarambathu Kavu Bhagavathy Temple.The Temple festival this year falls on 26th and 27th of Februay 2018. THE SPECIALITY OF THIS TEMPLE AS COMPARED TO OTHER TEMPLES IS THAT THE NUMBER OF CAPRISONED ELEPHANTS IS MORE THAN 50 AND IT IS A SIGHT ONE SHOULD ENJOY AT LEAST ONCE IN A LIFE TIME!!! Like all other Temples in Kerala Cheruvarambathu kavu Temple also bears history and Legends. According to the Asthamangala vidhi of the Temple,the temple is as much old as 800 years.There are no autoritative writings or books about this Temple.However as heard from old generation approximately 15 Km from Aruvayi there is one place called AYINURKUNNU.This place was important for commerce and shops of Marchants.Most of the Merchants were Paradesi bhrahmins known as Iyers.When a Financial cricis occured to the business of the merchants in general most of the Iyers left business and returned home.One Bhramin Iyer out of the remaining iyer inAyinur Kunnu was a Devotee of Devi.He instead of returning home went to Guruvayur wearing an Olakkuda(An umbrella made of Cococonut tree leaves()The present location of the Cheruvarambathu Bhagavathy Temple was a forest place,On the both sides of Aruvayi field there were Two Chiras(Water resorce like a river but a called "Thoduu".)Our devotee Iyer was walking through the Varambu(A roadlike path to walk along)").Our Iyer thought of taking bath in the thodu and doing Sandhyavandanam(An evening ritual observed by Brahmins who wear Holy Thread) on the Varambu.Iyer sat on the Varambu ,kept his umbrella on the varambu and did the ritual.When he got up and was about to take the Umbbrella kept on the Varambu,he found that it was stuck on the Varambu and was unable to take out of there.Kepping the Umbrella there he went to Guruvayur.On return aso Iyer tried to take the umbrella but was unable to remove it from the varambu.Stunned with this experience,the iyer called all other iyers remaining in th area and performed a Deva Prasnam(A devotional method to decide the reason behind any unusual occurence ) ,The result of the Deva Prasnam indicated that the iyer was a true devotee of Devi and pleased with the iyer ,the Devi herself entered into the Umbrella .The Devaprasnam also indicated that the spot where the umbrella was kept had Devi Chaitanyam and so a Temple should be constructed at the place for the devi and the Devi installed there.Hence the Devi Temple was constructed at the place and Devi prathshta performed.Thereafter the Temple was called Cheravarambathu Bhagavathy Kshetram.Iyer after a few days entrusted the ownership of the temple to Four prominent Tharavadus(Family)&left for his native place..Out of this just one tharavadu remained there.They are called Payyazhi Tharavadu who are carrying out the management of the Temple today.Another Devaprasnam performed later on according to the resu of which a Naveekarana Kalasam(Renovation process) was performed and Devi Bhagavathy was reinstalled in the present Sreekovil on th Makayiram Star day of Meenam Month.Since then Devi bhagavathy is living comfortably in the new abode spreading Her Chaitanya all over the place to keep the people of the area peaceful and happy.Every year on the Makayiram day of Meenam monthprasadaoottu(Annadanam) is performed for which thousands of people gather here to enjoy the Prasada oottu. The other Upadevathas in this Temple to enhance the chaitanya of the Temple are Ganapathy,Dharmasastha,Shree Hanuman,Rakshas,,Karukulam Ayyappan&Karineeli.People visiting this Temple are pleased with main Diety and Upadevathas equally and the Devi And Upadevathas look after people eqally . As told earlier ,there is no other Temple in Kerala who use more than 50 Elephants to honour the Devi in the procession And Ezhunnallippu.Similarly in Melam also veteran specialists are invited to take part.Besides ,before the Pooram is commenced the ritual of Parayeduppu from 53 Desams are regularly performed to please the Devi. in a nut shell, the Para,Pooram,Melam,Vela and all remaining programs in a Temple is system,aticcally performed in Cheruvarambathu Kavu Kshetram. Ma God almighty help conducting the Pooram and Vela in future also ,if not better than the present system.Improvement and renovation always help to perform things more usefully not only in Temples but all fields of business as well.All the best wishes for the conduct of Pooram and safe fireworks in Cheruvarambathu Bhagavathy Temple. SreedharanMundanat , 24th of January,2018, Thrissur