Kallekulangara Temple.
As I had started reading Malayalam books and magazines, I bought a magazine called “Yatra”, by Mathrubhoomi publications. This turned out to be very good magazine giving plenty of thoughts about the locations in and out of Kerala. As we were browsing I found an article on Devi temples and one of the temples mentioned was Kallekulangara Emoor Bhagavati temple situated in Palalkad. This aroused my curiosity as I have never heard about this and was curious to see. As usual did some research and then went to visit on a rainy day,
This temple is about 8 kilometers from Palakkad town on the road to Malampuzha Dam. The temple also is called Emoor Bhagawathy temple or 'Kaipathi' Ambalam (temple of the hand) or also Hemambika temple. In this temple only the hands of the Bhagawathy are consecrated.
There are several legends about the origin of this temple. “On their regular trek through the dense Vadamala forest to worship at the valley shrine of Durga, one day Kurur and Kaimukku Nambudiris were granted a vision. The golden Goddess stood beside an elephant under a tree. When the aged Kurur was disheartened by his inability to undertake hazardous pilgrimages, the Goddess assured him in a dream that he would find her in the neighborhood. The next day he witnessed the emergence of her hands in the middle of a lake close by. When Kurur swam through to clasp them, the divine hands turned into stone. The lake was filled and a shrine erected by the local ruler, whose descendent remains in charge of temple administration.
Another story is like this. The goddess had once agreed to appear before a devotee on the condition that he would not disclose it to anyone. The excitement led the devotee to disclose the fact to others. When the goddess appeared before the devotee, she noticed many people along with him. The displeased goddess vanished suddenly. By that time the devotees had seen only her upraised hand and in the temple her upraised hand is worshipped. Another variation of this story is that the devotee saw the form of the Goddess rising from the middle of the huge tank and he was so frightened that he cried out and suddenly the Bhagavathy stopped her appearance except for her two hands. A temple with the two hands was consecrated here.
It is believed, the deity takes three forms a day – in the morning as Saraswathi, in the noon as Laxmi and in the evening as Durga. The rituals vary according to the form of the deity at the time of worship.
Emur Bhagavathy (Hemambika), the bestower of prosperity, boons and auspiciousness raised her divine hands in the middle of the blessed pond Kallekulam. In a paroxysm of devotion, her impatient priest jumped in to the pond and caught hold of those hands before she fully manifested. The Devi stopped appearing. The priest got only the Devi’s emerging hands. This is the great legend of the famous Hemambika Temple where the Devi’s hands are enshrined in the sanctum sanctorum.
This temple is unique with the idol of only " two hands ".It is widely believed that the "DEVI" the goddess emerged from the midst of pond to bless an ailing devotee, who out of excitement caught hold of two hands before it could come out.Then a temple was consecrated with those two hands as goddess. This beautiful temple is surrounded by 5 ponds and paddy field, a nature kissed environment
Another story or the belief behind this unique deity of two raised The Hands was that a girl (incarnation of the Goddess Parvathy), who escaped from molestation jumped into the river, holding her hands for help. And the story or belief goes that she was helped by the Lord Shiva, on seeing the hands floating above the river.
Daily pooja timings are 0500 hrs to 1130 in the morning and 1700 hrs to 2030 in the evening
This temple is the family deity of Palakkad kings. In fact the ariyittu Vazcha of the king (coronation) used to be conducted here. Main attraction is the nine day festival of shivratri. Thousands of devotees attend the festival with pomp and fanfare. The celebration ends at the Kalpathy River. Apart from this in the month of May every year a Laksharchana is conducted. The Navarathri festival also is celebrated in this temple.
There is the snippet about this temple. It seems the former Prime Minister of India; Indira Gandhi visited this temple after the Congress split along with Sri Karunakaran. She was impressed by the goddess and made the palm of the goddess as her election symbol.
As I had started reading Malayalam books and magazines, I bought a magazine called “Yatra”, by Mathrubhoomi publications. This turned out to be very good magazine giving plenty of thoughts about the locations in and out of Kerala. As we were browsing I found an article on Devi temples and one of the temples mentioned was Kallekulangara Emoor Bhagavati temple situated in Palalkad. This aroused my curiosity as I have never heard about this and was curious to see. As usual did some research and then went to visit on a rainy day,
This temple is about 8 kilometers from Palakkad town on the road to Malampuzha Dam. The temple also is called Emoor Bhagawathy temple or 'Kaipathi' Ambalam (temple of the hand) or also Hemambika temple. In this temple only the hands of the Bhagawathy are consecrated.
There are several legends about the origin of this temple. “On their regular trek through the dense Vadamala forest to worship at the valley shrine of Durga, one day Kurur and Kaimukku Nambudiris were granted a vision. The golden Goddess stood beside an elephant under a tree. When the aged Kurur was disheartened by his inability to undertake hazardous pilgrimages, the Goddess assured him in a dream that he would find her in the neighborhood. The next day he witnessed the emergence of her hands in the middle of a lake close by. When Kurur swam through to clasp them, the divine hands turned into stone. The lake was filled and a shrine erected by the local ruler, whose descendent remains in charge of temple administration.
Another story is like this. The goddess had once agreed to appear before a devotee on the condition that he would not disclose it to anyone. The excitement led the devotee to disclose the fact to others. When the goddess appeared before the devotee, she noticed many people along with him. The displeased goddess vanished suddenly. By that time the devotees had seen only her upraised hand and in the temple her upraised hand is worshipped. Another variation of this story is that the devotee saw the form of the Goddess rising from the middle of the huge tank and he was so frightened that he cried out and suddenly the Bhagavathy stopped her appearance except for her two hands. A temple with the two hands was consecrated here.
It is believed, the deity takes three forms a day – in the morning as Saraswathi, in the noon as Laxmi and in the evening as Durga. The rituals vary according to the form of the deity at the time of worship.
Emur Bhagavathy (Hemambika), the bestower of prosperity, boons and auspiciousness raised her divine hands in the middle of the blessed pond Kallekulam. In a paroxysm of devotion, her impatient priest jumped in to the pond and caught hold of those hands before she fully manifested. The Devi stopped appearing. The priest got only the Devi’s emerging hands. This is the great legend of the famous Hemambika Temple where the Devi’s hands are enshrined in the sanctum sanctorum.
This temple is unique with the idol of only " two hands ".It is widely believed that the "DEVI" the goddess emerged from the midst of pond to bless an ailing devotee, who out of excitement caught hold of two hands before it could come out.Then a temple was consecrated with those two hands as goddess. This beautiful temple is surrounded by 5 ponds and paddy field, a nature kissed environment
Another story or the belief behind this unique deity of two raised The Hands was that a girl (incarnation of the Goddess Parvathy), who escaped from molestation jumped into the river, holding her hands for help. And the story or belief goes that she was helped by the Lord Shiva, on seeing the hands floating above the river.
Daily pooja timings are 0500 hrs to 1130 in the morning and 1700 hrs to 2030 in the evening
This temple is the family deity of Palakkad kings. In fact the ariyittu Vazcha of the king (coronation) used to be conducted here. Main attraction is the nine day festival of shivratri. Thousands of devotees attend the festival with pomp and fanfare. The celebration ends at the Kalpathy River. Apart from this in the month of May every year a Laksharchana is conducted. The Navarathri festival also is celebrated in this temple.
There is the snippet about this temple. It seems the former Prime Minister of India; Indira Gandhi visited this temple after the Congress split along with Sri Karunakaran. She was impressed by the goddess and made the palm of the goddess as her election symbol.
Excellent Blog. Please keep it going.
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