The Agraharams of Palakkad

Koduvayur - Part 2 - Gokula Street

Overview

KERALAPURAM AGRAHARAM (BOOLOKA KAILASAM )

It is a village situated about 10 km away from Palakkad town. There are four streets that were housing exclusively Brahmins in this village. The streets are New Street, Gokula Street, Corner street (Mukku theruvu) and Double (Retta theruvu) Street. There are three temples managed by Iyers in this village viz. Sree Krishna Temple, Sree Viswanatha Swamy Temple and Sree Ganapathy temple. There is also a temple of Keralathappan, whose idol is supposed to have been damaged by Tipu sultan during his raid. The folk tales say that the prathishta Lingam of Viswanatha and that of Visalakshi were brought to the village from Kasi. The Pooja in this temple is by Kurukkal. The car festival is celebrated during the festival of Thiruvadira and the idols from the three temples would be placed in separate cars and the chariots would be drawn through various streets of the Gramam. Following the car festival there will be a Theppam. This is a flower-decked boat in which the idol is taken round the tank. Though this is common in Tamil Nadu it is rare in Kerala.

Location

Location: The Koduvayur agraharam is located It is located 15 kilometers from the Palakkad railway station

Address: MMM3+W28, Keralapuram St Rd, Koduvayur, Kerala 678501

Temple Timings:

5.30AM TO 9.45AM

5.00PM TO 8.00PM

History

It is said that the four lingams had qualities which were metaphors for the 4 'Varnas'. Thus the "general belief is that he installed one (the Brähmana lingam) at Kalpätti, the second one (the Kshatriya lingam) at Kotuvayoor and the third one (the 'Fourth Varna' lingam) at Kollankot. It is not known where the Raja installed the fourth (the Vaisya-lingam). Perhaps the temple that had Vaisya-lingam is now known by some other name or that might have been destroyed during the invasion of Mysorean forces."

Deities

Sri Visalakshi Samedha Viswanatha Swamy and Sri Madurai Meenakshi
Sri Krishna - Gokula Street
Sri Ganapathy

Videos

Photo Gallery

Utsavams

AADI POORAM
ANNABHISHEKAM – THULA MASAM
NAVARATHRI
KARTHIKAI
PRADOSHAM
ARDRA DARSHANAM
RATHOLSAVAM – ON THIRUVATHIRAI DHANU
PRATHISTADINAM – MEDA MASAM -PUNARTHAM NAKSHTRAM
LORD GANAPATHY TEMPLE
CHATHURTHY
THAI POOSAM
SRI RAMA NAVAMI
ASHTAMI ROHINI
URIYADI ON PURATASSI MASAM EKADASI
PRATHISTA DINAM-MEDA MASAM ,MAKEERAM NAKSHTRAM
THIRUVONAM EVERY MONTH

Vahanas

KAMADENU, BOOTHAM, KUTHIRA, KAILASAM, RISHABA, ELEPHANT

Adimakkavu

-na-

Other Agraharam Information

Total homes in the Agraharam: 326
Number and % of Brahmin homes: 198 or 60%
Number and % of homes retaining traditional look: 50%
Does the village have a brahmana samooham: -na-
Does the village temple have a temple car (theru): 1. GANAPATHY THER, 2. SUBRAMANIA SWAMY THER, 3. VISWANATHA SWAMY THER
When was the last ashtabandhana kumbabhishekam done: 10-05-2019 SIVA TEMPLE, 08-05-2019 GANAPATHY TEMPLE

Contact Information

President – VIGNESH K.G – 8892297617

Secretary – BALASUBRAMANIAN-9400478442

TREASURER – VIGNESH PARAMESHWARAN– 8921462094

KANNAN – 9400478442

Well Known Elders from the Agraharam

VISHWANATHA DEEKSHITHAR (LATE)
CHIDAMBARA DEEKSHITHAR ( LATE )
VAIDHYALINGA DEEKSHITHAR ( LATE )
VENKIDESHWARA DEEKSHITHAR
VISHWESH SASTRI (IAS)

Food and Catering

V.R.D DORAI SAMY HOTEL

K.S.P IYER SWEETS

Hall for functions and Lodging

-na-

Bank Accounts for sending Kanikkai, donation or vazhipadu

FEDERAL BANK ,Koduvayur Branch

In favour of Koduvayur Brahmana samooham

18850100025285

IFSC CODE: FDRL0001885

Author's Notes

Koduvayur - Part 2 - 100 Agraharams Project

I tried and could never find the origin of the word Koduvayur. Also I wondered why this place is called Keralapuram. There is another place with this name in Kollam district.

"Koduvayur was one of the 18 asmams that composed the Cheranad division of the colonial era Ernad Taluk, directly ruled by the Zamorin of Calicut." "The Samoothiri, also known as the Zamorin, was the title of the hereditary ruler of the Kingdom of Calicut in the South Malabar region of India. I understand that the Palghat Raja / Achan were vassals of the Samoothiri."

William Logan in his Malabar Manual records:

"And he (Samoory) possessed himself of the more full and immediate sovereignty over the three Nayarships of Colemgoor (Kollengode), Codovoura or Koorwye (Koduvayur) and Mungary (Mankara), originally a part of the Palghaut (Palghat) country" I read that Itta Punga Achan of Palghat, and the district was leased to him on June 12, 1792 for one year for a sum of Rs. 80,000."

In his blog Historicalleys - Maddy writes: "Palghat was unfortunately or fortunately in the paths of hungry people, greedy traders, marauders preying on them, fugitives and of course travelers. On the Tamil side were weavers, grain and gem traders, and on the other side the Kingdoms of Cochin and Calicut, vying to maximize the spice trade with the Arabs and the Chinese. The flow of goods and wealth was always through the Palghat country and the strategic location as a wedge in the middle of them all made Palghat a veritable battlefield on many occasions.."

“A major landmark in the history of the temple is the invasion by the forces of Tippu Sultan. The legend current here is that the temple was levelled to the ground and the idols were thrown into the nearby tanks, except the idol of Sree Viswanatha. Of the missing idols the most important one was that of Sree Visalakshi. As it was not possible to locate the idol of Goddess Visaläkshi during the renovation of the temple, a new idol of Goddess Meenäkshi was installed. The story goes that after a lapse of some days, on one night a Kutukita-pandi rushed to the temple loudly uttering 'Mother is lying starving in the tank. Why not my children take me and give me food?' Soon he disappeared.

These words prompted the authorities to have a fresh search for the missing Sree Visalakshi idol. To their great astonishment they got the idol from a neighbouring tank. Immediately after the usual purification rites they installed this idol on the right side of the Sree Viswanatha idol. But the Goddess was not pleased with the seat given to Her.

The aftermath of this consecration was that the whole street in front of the temple went into ablaze and residents were stricken with smallpox. A prasna, which followed, revealed that the position of the Goddess should be at the rear of the Lord. Thereafter she was installed at the rear of the Lord and Sree Madura Meenakshi was installed in a separate shrine at the northwest, facing south. The houses destroyed by fire were rebuilt.“

- S.Jayashanker Temples of Palakkad District

Radhe Krishna

Sriram(Hari)

100-Agraharams Project

Rama Bhagavathar Charitable Trust

August 2, 2024

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