Laksha Deepam

Anantha Padmanabha Swamy temple seen on a car side view mirror. 

It is time for Laksha deepam at Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple, Thiruvananthapuram. This occurs once in 6 years. I was fortunate to witness 2 deepams with the temple tower and the surroundings in full glory. The deepam is preceded by 40 days of Mura Japam (chanting). 

Then there is the Annual Swati Sangeethotsavam n the Kuthira Malika (palace) where the atmosphere is ethereal. 

Sadly, I will miss al these this year. 

Koodiyattam, A two thousand year old art form

Maya Seethankam by Shaktibhadra.

 Koodiyattam, a 2000 year old dance form being performed in Thiruvananthapuram under the aegis of Drisyavedi. UNESCO has declared Kutiyaam as  one among the "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity". The male actors are from the Chakyar community and the female parts are played by Nangiars. Accompaniments are Mizhavu and edakka played by Nambiar men and kuzhitalam by Nangiars

Edakka and Mizhavu

Kuzhithalam

Temple Festivals 3

The very next day, on the highway between Pallipuram and kaniyapuram, we came across yet another temple procession.
This procession had people dressed up in Theyyam constume. Theyyam is a practice in the Malabar region and it is rarely seen in the Travancore area. Perhaps, the coverage in the media has given rise to demands on  the costume makers.

  The other costumes were Subramanya, Vishnu etc.

The woman in traditional burqua is not amused by all the fervour around.

Temple festivals 2

The other festival on the same day was near my house - the pongala at the Jagathy Mudippura Devi temple. Being a working day, I missed the pongla but could catch a glimpse of the function at night when the goddess was taken around in an elephant.

Sorry, I missed the elephant.

Temple Festivals

In a span of 2 days, I witnessed three different temple festivals, two of them serendipitously. 
The first one happened just outside my office. As we were driving out in the evening, we came across a procession of devotees from the nearby 'appooppan' shrine. they had all gone to the CRPF temple/church/ mosque complex to pray to lord Muruga.

Free auto service

Many autos in Thiruvananthapuram offer free rides to devotees during the Attukal pongala

Attukal Pongala 2012

The Attukal Pongala which entered the Guinness Book of Records with 27 lakh women devotees is set to break the records this year with 35 lakh participants expected. This is evident from the early morning crowd today captured in these images. The lines have extended to Bakery Junction and interior of Thycaud - a good 5-6 kilometers from the Attukal temple. There are also many clusters near other temples in extended areas. I am also impressed by the discipline and cleanliness of the devotees, compared to pilgrims elsewhere in India. 
More pictures at: http://bit.ly/xhX4E7

9th Century Cave Temple at Madavoor, near Sreekaryam

After having visited the cave temple at Vizhinjam, a couple of times, I decided to explore Madavoorpaara which is closer to my place of work, Asian School of Business, Technocity. 


Madavoor para houses an ancient Shiva temple of 9th Century C.E. Now it is under the care of the State Archaelogical department. It  is on Pothencode - Sreekaryam road. I took the Pothencode road from Vettu road junction on NH 47 at Kazhakootam (near the Sainik School). A sharp right turn at Kattayikonam takes you to the Sreekaryam road. (Incidentally, this is also a good road to take if you want to avoid the traffic snarl between Vettu road and Kazhakuttam on NH).  Madavoor para is within a couple of Kms. on this road on the left. There is a hand painted wooden board in Malayalam. A newly laid road takes you to the bottom of the rock temple.There are well laid steps to the rock. (could be slippery in monsoon). The last few steps on the rock could be a challenge for senior citizens.
 Pooja timings are from 6am to 10 pm and from 5-15pm to 6-30 pm . It was closed when we visited . So could not see the lingam and the inside carivngs of Ganapati and Subrahmanya. However the surrounding areas, including the nearby rubber plantations were soothing sights.Since it is not far from Technopark, it is well worth a visit if you can spare about an hour.

Chenthitta Bhagavathy temple

The street facing the Chenthitta temple. (Taken with my Blackberry)

Chenthitta bhagavathy temple is situated in the heart of Trivandrum. This serene little temple overlooks the Trivandrum Railway station. During navartari the temple burst into life as the deity Munnootinanka is brought here from Suchindram.

Elephant display at East Fort

This life like display of elephants with full regalia was to promote a jewellery showroom in East Fort neat the Anandapadmanabha swamy temple.