The Menhir of Thirunakkara

Outside the Thirunakkara Temple complex, at its south-eastern corner, stands a roughly five-foot-high, round shaped stone pillar in the middle of the public road. This crudely shaped pillar of dark laterite stone is of unknown date. What survives to explain its origin are mainly legends that have been handed down among local people for generations.

Apart from these legends, there are several theories concerning the origin of the stone. The purpose of this article is not to establish any one of them as the definitive explanation, but to present the different viewpoints and examine their possibilities and shortcomings.

Let us begin with the legends. One story is said to belong to the old days when untouchability and strict caste restrictions prevailed. A young Pulaya woman, carrying a bundle of freshly cut grass on her head, accidentally came into contact with the Swami of a monastery. The Brahmin Swami is said to have cursed her, turning her into stone. The story is embellished and retold in several different versions.

The stone bears a striking resemblance to the menhirs found at several places in Kerala. Such stones are locally known in some areas as Pulachikkallu. It has been suggested that these may be remnants of the ancient memorial stones known as Puratchikkallu or memorial pillars, which were erected in memory of deceased heroes over their burial sites during the Sangam period, when Tamil and Malayalam had not yet fully diverged. Over time, Puratchikkallu may have evolved linguistically into Pulachikkallu. As the Tamil word Puratchi became unfamiliar to Malayalam speakers, people began asking what the word Pulachi meant. Since Pulachi was also used for a Pulaya woman, the story of a Pulaya woman being turned into stone by a curse could easily have developed. Similar legends are found in several other places.

In the case of Thirunakkara, however, this legend does not stand up well to scrutiny. Leaving aside the question of whether a person can actually be turned into stone by a curse, the internal logic of the legend itself deserves examination.

The present-day Keralapuram Pond at Thirunakkara was, in ancient times, apparently a pond or water body. A monastery was later established on its northern bank under the Thekke Matom of Thrissur. If the legend is to be believed, it was a Swami belonging to the monastic lineage of the disciples of Adi Shankara who turned the unfortunate Pulaya girl into stone.

Can such an incident plausibly have occurred right in front of the Thirunakkara Mahadeva Temple, where Shiva is worshipped in the form of "Swayambhoo linga" . Adi Shankara is traditionally said to have overcome the remnants of caste pride within himself when he encountered a Chandala and was made to understand the fundamental unity of all existence. Could a monk belonging to Shankara's own spiritual lineage have revived the very caste prejudice that Shankara had transcended? What place could untouchability have in the philosophy of Advaita, which teaches that there is no essential distinction between beings and that apparent differences arise only from the limitations of the physical senses? Or, if the Swami did curse the woman, was the Mahadeva of Thirunakkara—who is himself said to have appeared as a Chandala to demonstrate the meaninglessness of untouchability—powerless to nullify such a curse? These contradictions alone are sufficient to reject the legend.

There are other legends as well. One says that a Paraya man and woman once came to Thirunakkara and took a false oath, whereupon they were turned into stone. Another says that the stone is slowly moving westward and that when it finally reaches the backwaters, the world will come to an end. It is worth noting that in these legends too, members of Dalit communities are portrayed as the victims of curses and punishment. Such stories may well have been invented as a means of warning lower castes against violating the rules of untouchability.

The first reference I have come across identifying this stone as a menhir is in Kerala Charithradhara, written by the prominent historian T. H. P. Chentharassery. In 1970, a team including C. Chandrasekhara Menon, a noted archaeologist of the Kerala Department of Archaeology, studied the stone and identified it as a menhir. The website of the Kerala Department of Archaeology also identifies and illustrates it as the “Thirunakkara Menhir.”

Such memorial stones are generally regarded as remnants of prehistoric megalithic cultures. Historians generally place the Iron Age megalithic culture of Kerala between about 900 BC and the third century AD. Even while maritime trade flourished at port settlements such as Muziris and Purakkad, the inland regions retained cultural features inherited from earlier prehistoric traditions. Thus, even while Sanghom culture was flourishing across South India, many characteristic features of the Iron Age continued to survive in Kerala.

In Kottayam district itself, Iron Age remains such as urn burials, menhirs, dolmenoid cists, cist burials and cairn circles have been reported from places including Kunnonni, Kalikavu, Marangattupilly, Vempally, Kadanad, Kurinji, Kayyoor, Neeloor, Kurumannu, Kudakkachira, Neendoor and Vedagiri. I myself brought the dolmenoid remains at Kurinji to the attention of the Archaeological Survey of India and took the initiative in facilitating their study.

Since urn burials have been discovered at Thirunakkara on several occasions, it is reasonable to conclude that the area was also a prehistoric habitation site. Urn burials are still occasionally found when the soil is disturbed for construction on the slopes of Thirunakkara hill. Unfortunately, such discoveries are often destroyed immediately, out of fear of attracting the attention of the Archaeology Department. Several Urns were reportedly found during excavation for the "Mall of Joy" building, but the discovery became known only after they had been destroyed.

Viewed in this context, when the Archaeology Department identifies the Thirunakkara stone as a menhir or memorial stone, there is good reason to take that identification seriously.

There is another theory as well. According to this view, during the period when untouchability prevailed, members of the lower castes who were not permitted to approach the temple may have installed this primitive-looking Shiva linga at a distance so that they could worship from afar. At first sight, this theory may appear plausible.

A different theory has gained greater acceptance in recent times. According to it, when the eastern slope of Thirunakkara hill was cut down and levelled for the construction of the Kottayam–Kumily Road (K. K. Road), a portion of the rock was deliberately left standing. The purpose was supposedly to indicate the road level. Similar practices can be seen in certain stone-quarrying areas. It is said that records relating to this exist in the PWD archives. According to people who claim to have seen them, the records state that when the K. K. Road, beginning at the Kottayam boat jetty, reached Thirunakkara, one section of stone was left standing rather than being completely cut away. If this is indeed the case, it raises an intriguing question: how quickly can an event that took place only about a century and a half ago become transformed into legends and stories of miracles? Does this mean that within merely three or four generations the actual history of the stone was forgotten and replaced by folklore?

At one point, the authorities attempted to remove the stone in order to eliminate the obstruction to traffic. Local people collectively opposed the move, and the attempt was abandoned. The stone thus plays a silent role in regulating traffic around Thirunakkara.

A Deva Prashnam conducted at the Thirunakkara Temple is also said to have indicated that the stone has an inseparable connection with the temple. It is therefore currently protected by an iron railing. Unfortunately, the monument is now receiving little care, with banyan roots and other vegetation growing around it.