Koodalmanikyam temple

I have visited Triprayar many times before; But this was my first visit to Koodalmanikyam temple

I was on my way to Thrissur in November 2007 from Peruvaram with Vava and Manikutty, when suddenly I felt like visiting the temple. Great temple with a lot of history. Koodalmanikyam Temple has many unique features/ legends:
1. It holds the image of only one deity and there are no 'chuttambalam'/sub deities in this temple.
2. It is the only temple in India dedicated to the worship of Bharata.

3. There is a view that this temple belonged to the Jains.

4.There is another view that the deity is the incarnation of “Dhanvanthara moorthi” or the saint of healing.

5. The idol of this temple radiated bright light like 'manikyam' (a mythological precious stone) A 'manikyam' kept in Kayamkulam palace was brought to this temple to compare which is brighter. It seems that the palace manikyam when brought near the idol merged with the idol! (koodal manikyam means merger of manikyams)

6. Thetchi and thulasi flowers are not grown in the temple premises.

7. Incense sticks and camphor are not used for the pooja.

People had to wait for sometime before the temple opened for evening poojas on that day as there was some 'shuddhikalasham' ceremony taking place inside the temple. One of the temple persons was not very happy with Vava's dresscode ( She was wearing a Kavi Mundu, that was perfectly alright for entering the temple) , but another person said its fine. I Could feel the power and aura surrounding the temple......This feeling was very strong when I did the pradakshinam around the temple and also when we went around the temple pond.

I would like to do the Nalambala yatra some day in the future; ie starting with Triprayar (Sree Raman), then Koodalmanikyam and Moozhikkulam (Lakshmanan) and ending at Shatrughna temple at Payammel.
There is also a Sreekrishna temple called Elambalakkattu at Edakulam while going to the Shathrugna temple.

Gowreeshapattom temple

One of my favorite Shiva temples in Trivandrum . I used to go to the temple quite regularly during my Medical College days. There are lots of nice memories for me surrounding this temple......

Padmanabhapuram Palace November 2007

Visited Palace on 23rd of November 2007 with Anju (my younger bro). We were visiting the shivalaya temples in the morning and came to Padmanabhapuram in between to visit Thampi uncle and family. He suggested going to the palace which was a brilliant idea.

Padamanabhapuram Palace complex is located in at Padmanabhapuram Fort, close to the town of Thuckalay in Kanyakumari District that was part of old Travancore. It is about 20 km from Nagercoil, and about 50 kilometers from Thiruvananthapuram. The palace complex is inside an old granite fortress around four kilometers long. The palace is located at the foot of the Veli Hills which form a part of the Western Ghats The river Valli flows nearby


Thampi uncle kindly came with us and showed us around the palace

The palace was constructed around 1601 A.D by Iravipillai Iravivarma Kulasekhara Perumal who ruled Travancore between 1592 A.D. and 1609 A.D. In the late 18th century, the capital of Travancore was shifted from here to Trivandrum, and the place lost its former glory. However, the palace complex continue to be the best examples of traditional Kerala architecture, and some portions of the sprawling complex are also the hall mark of traditional Kerala style building art. The palace I beleive is still under the governance of Kerala state.

The backyard


Thai Kottaram, literal meaning, Mother's Palace - believed to have been constructed before 1550. There is a secret passagehere through which the king, his immediate family members, and their entourage could escape to another palace, located several kilometers away in the event of any emergency.

Nataksala, literal meaning, the Hall of Performance, or of Performing Arts

Cot made with about 64 medicinal woods

Old style tea making outside the palace...V. Nostalgic

Will write on all about Shivalaya ottam soon......

My first blog

I was never a good writer, I don't think still I am one....I read a lot of articles everyday (other than my routine pub-med search). Some of them are very good....I always wonder how can someone write so well. How can they reflect what's in their mind so beautifully. Is it a talent or experience or hard work or a combination of all of these virtues.
I had been thinking about writing something for a long time. I used to write my diary as a child, since 12 years of age. I think I still have some of my diaries back home in Trivandrum
I think I will start with what happened in my previous 24 hours.

After my Sunday morning tea and checking my mails, I thought of making Pathiri( ie Kozhikodan style , v.thin and smooth; unlike the Trivandrum Oratti, which is quite thick) Mixed hot water and rice flour as per instructions from a friend and started to roll the mixed dough into shape...Good lord, it was breaking in between and felt something was missing.....So had to change the idea of pathiri into Idiappam...that came out very well. Also made some Kozhukatta ( the one with jaggery and coconut mix inside) with the remaining dough. To be frank all this came out very well, including a nice potato curry with coconut milk. I think if you make any thing with coconut milk it will come out fine, even in the hands of a person who cannot boil water. I realised how lucky these so called eminent 'cooks' are in kerala, who always add coconut in to anything and everything they make, like the 'Thais'...

Afternoon watched a nice movie about Koodiyattam. Great movie......The dance form, more than 2000 years old is said to be much more classical and elegant, in form and content, than Kathakali. Nice roles played by Nedumudi and Jagathy, as usual. The lead female is herself the doyenne of Koodiyattom. The best was saved till the last scene. The climax depicted Nedumudi enacting Bali’s (one of my favourite characters in Ramayana) death in the story Balivadham. I initially thought the lead person is going to do the same like a lot of other climax scenes when the actor dies playing a character. But the anticlimax was the twinkle in Venus eyes when he come of out of 'death' . It was simply superb.....

In the evening made kozhukatta ('pidi' as is called in Thrissur and Ambalakozhukatta in Padmanabhapuram it seems). Vava likes brown kozhukatta, so added Jaggery into it.

Evening watched "Panchavadipalam"...A classic movie...V. Nostalgic...How KG George named his characters...Dushasanna kurup, Iravathykuzhi panchayat, Mandodhari, Jeemoothavahanan, Bhiman pillai, isahaq tharakan, yudas etc etc. The film seemed v. contemporary especially if we think that the central govt in India is facing a very similar (no) confidence motion. Poly-tricks are all the same, even it's a panchayat or State/ central/federal govt anywhere in the world. This will happen again and again and again...

Last night, also heard a prabhashanam by Amma in Amrita Television. As usual she was using very simple language and stories to convey her message. I was attracted to a very simple message she said and felt it to be so true. For anything to happen we need 3 things
1. Time or 'Kalam'
2. Effort or 'Prayatnam'
3. Gods Grace or 'Daivanugraham'

V. true indeed.
I think it is 33%, 33% and 34%.....