"On the 17th of Kumbham in the year 1030 [Malayalam Era]..." — no wait, this belongs to a different piece. Let me give the translation directly.

The Lore of Thirunakkara

A green, hilly stretch of land, covered in scrub and creeping vines. Along its eastern edge, an old country road running north to south, with a broad lawn beside it. On the northern slope, a pond blooming with water lilies, fed by a small spring flowing into it. Where the hill's left and right slopes end, wetlands and paddy fields begin. This is how Thirunakkara — today the heart of the great town of Kottayam — looked six centuries ago. Written records shedding light on Thirunakkara's history, which has grown over these centuries, are scarce. It is worth remembering, though, that — accompanied as they are by legend — Olassa Neelakandan Unni, Kottarathil Sankunni, and Nalankal Krishna Pillai have each opened windows onto Thirunakkara's past for those who seek it.

Since this area is known through its association with the Thirunakkara Mahadeva Temple — one of the most renowned Shiva temples in Kerala — and since it was the temple's founding that gave rise to the town itself, the temple's legendary history naturally takes a central place when telling Thirunakkara's story. Since this temple-lore also consists of orally transmitted legends, it falls to the reader to reasonably separate legend from history within this narrative. For now, the writer steps somewhat aside from the responsibility of making that determination!

Archaeologists have found remains across Kerala testifying to a megalithic culture nearly three thousand years old. Near Kottayam, the Department of Archaeology has confirmed signs of human habitation from the ancient Iron Age at Kurinji, Kadanad, Mannanam, Neendoor, Vedagiri, and Pullarikunnu. Signs of similar early settlement have also been found at Thirunakkara. Burial urns (nannangadi) containing the physical remains of ancestors have been discovered here on several occasions, though these were never brought to the attention of the Archaeology Department. Such finds, unearthed during building excavation, are typically destroyed on the spot.

Since the plains and valleys were then dense forests inhabited by dangerous wild animals, our tribal ancestors chose elevated hilltops with access to water as safe places to settle. Thirunakkara was well suited to exactly such a choice — which is why our inquiry into its history can reasonably reach back as far as the Stone Age.

It is reasonable to assume that these isolated settlements would have grown little beyond their Stone Age tribal origins, even during the golden age of Sangam-era Tamil country. While the trading centers at the mouths of great rivers absorbed global cultures carried in through seafaring, the inland regions likely remained largely isolated. Agricultural and commercial culture only began to take root here once the trading caravans of Sramanic (Buddhist/Jain) monks, in search of pepper, reached the riverside towns and the marketplaces that had formed in the western foothills of the Sahya mountains. Even the Roman coins unearthed from hillside excavations speak to the foreign trade relations that followed.

We may reasonably take at face value the conclusions of the South Indian historian Nilakanta Sastri, who suggested that the port of Kodiyoor — recorded by Pliny and Ptolemy in the first and second centuries — may have lain along the banks of the Kodoor river, south of Thirunakkara. If so, there is little doubt that this region has an unrecorded past stretching from tribal beginnings all the way to a developed commercial culture.

Following the legend-writers, we may infer that the Thirunakkara Mahadeva Temple came into being in the early decades of the sixteenth century. The lingam-form deity is believed to be self-manifested (swayambhu). If so, it is possible this site was a Shaivite place of worship even earlier. After the seventh century, the propagation of Shaivism took firm root across Kerala. Following Manikkavachakar, 108 Shaiva saints — including Cheraman Perumal Nayanar — worked across South India to loosen the hold of Buddhist thought and pave the way for Shaiva devotion and philosophy. It is said that the region from Vaikom to Chengannur fell entirely within the magnetic pull of the Thiruvachakam hymns — indeed, some hold that "Thiruvaikkam" itself derives from "Thiruvachakam." The wandering ascetics (avadhutas) and Shiva yogis who remained a presence at Thirunakkara until about half a century ago may perhaps be seen as a continuation of this ancient Shaivite tradition. Toward the end of the second Chera dynasty's rule, the expansion of Namboothiri Brahmin villages and the reorganization of the administrative thalis (temple-centers) further deepened the spread of Shaivism. It is historically significant, in this context, that one of the "eighteen-and-a-half thalis" was established in Kottayam.

The legend surrounding the temple's founding goes as follows. In the fifteenth century, the Thekkumkur dynasty left Vennimala, established its capital at Thaliyanthanapuram, built fortifications, and began ruling from there. With the fort's arrival, the place came to be called Kottayam. A sixteenth-century Thekkumkur king named Iravi Varma was a devout worshipper of Shiva. He used to worship Vadakkunnathan at Thrissivaperoor (Thrissur), but as the infirmities of old age grew severe, making the journey to Thrissur became increasingly difficult for him. After his last visit to Thrissur, while staying there overnight, he had a vision in a dream. In it, Vadakkunnathan told him that his divine presence would also appear in the king's own homeland — and that as proof, he would find, near the moment of vision, a white chethi flower and a bull scratching its neck close by; that this alone would suffice for worship there. According to legend, soon after the king returned home, a lingam was found self-manifested on Thirunakkara hill.

Before the temple's founding, there stood by the pond at Thirunakkara a hermitage — Swamiyar Madam — believed to have been established by Thodakacharya, a disciple of Adi Shankaracharya. Vegetables and tubers were cultivated on Thirunakkara hill to supply the hermitage's kitchen. On the day of the event, the renowned Vilwamangalam Swamiyar (this Swamiyar figure appears across various legends spanning different centuries) had arrived at the hermitage after a murajapam ceremony at Vaikom. He had brought along a poor Brahmin named Perepparambu Namboothiri, who was struggling to arrange his daughters' marriages for lack of means. It was those digging up tubers to prepare a lavish feast in honor of the Swamiyar's arrival who discovered the Shiva lingam. On hearing the news, the king arrived from Thalikkotta, and upon seeing the white chethi flower and the scratching bull, rejoiced that his dream had come true.

In the king's presence, under the officiation of Vilwamangalam Swamiyar, Perepparambu Namboothiri was made to perform the consecration rites at once. The legend-collection Aithihyamala records that the king soon afterward had the temple built as well. It is also recorded that once Perepparambu Namboothiri was appointed as the temple's priest (shanthi), his poverty ended, and he was able to see his daughters married.

The bull that had appeared at the temple continued to roam freely in and around the temple precincts. In later times, the temple grounds came to be filled with bulls dedicated by devotees. The old generation could never forget Neelandan, who roamed freely through Kottayam town, as majestic in stature as an elephant!

Once the temple was built and its rites established, the king granted appropriate customary allowances to the Sthapathi, the Tantri, and those dependent on the temple — the priest (Shanthi), the Kazhakam staff, and the temple attendants — but apparently made no provision at all for feeding the bull of legend. One night, this bull wandered into a field west of the palace cowshed at Veloor and east of the Munjanad kalari, and began eating the green paddy there; a farm worker, seeing this, threw a clod of earth and chased it off. The bull, injured, made its way back to the temple and lay there. Devotees, seeing this, were distressed. Realizing he had made no provision for the bull, the king thereupon deeded the aforementioned paddy field to it, and it is said that the proceeds from selling the paddy grown there were set aside for the bull's feed and care. That field is still known today as Kaalakkandam ("the bull's field") — though it has since passed out of the temple's hands.

Once the temple was established, the forests of Thirunakkara were cleared, and people from various regions began settling there. At that time, Kottayam town was centered around Thalikkotta, to the west of Thirunakkara. With the growth of Puthenangadi, established in 1650, Thirunakkara too began developing as part of the town. The country roads from Kottayam to the eastern regions, and running north-south, were improved to allow passage of bullock carts.

The Kottayam Thali, established in the tenth century, was the town's first Shiva temple. It was the Vishwakarmajar craftsmen, brought in by the Thekkumkur king of the time to renovate the Thali temple in the fourteenth century, who were the first to be settled at Thirunakkara. Because they were housed near the Swamiyar hermitage, that family later came to be known as Madathinkal. Blacksmiths and stoneworkers settled close by them as well. Gradually, communities such as the Moothathu priests, Variers, Nairs, and Tamil Brahmins also arrived to take up roles in temple administration.

Thirunakkara Mahadeva's spiritual influence was traditionally believed to extend eastward all the way to Kumily. There is a saying that Thirunakkarayappan holds the position of father, and Ambalappuzha Sree Krishna the position of mother, to Sabarimala's Dharmasastha. Until three centuries ago, pilgrims to Sabarimala would visit Thirunakkara temple before proceeding onward. That practice has since changed.

The temple in its present form was likely rebuilt during the reign of the Thekkumkur king Unni Kerala Varma, who ruled from AD 1674 to 1691. It was probably during his time that gopurams of matching size and an exceptional koothambalam were built, elevating Thirunakkara into the ranks of Kerala's great temples.

The northern slope of Thirunakkara hill later came to be known as Keralapuram. The pond at Thirunakkara was developed into a proper tank and came to be called Keralapuram Kulam. The Thekkumkur king established a palace on the northern slope of the temple, which came to be known as Keralapuram Kottaram, in memory of Unni Kerala Varma. Shastha, the tutelary deity of the Thekkumkur royal family, was consecrated in a shrine on the western bank of the tank, while Cheruvallikkavu Bhagavathy, their guardian deity, was consecrated in a shrine adjoining the palace. In later times, the Shastha shrine was relocated and re-consecrated as a subsidiary shrine on the southern side of Thirunakkara temple. The Cheruvallikkavu temple, which lay in ruin for many years, has recently been restored. The plot where the palace once stood is now covered with numerous houses!

Thirunakkara Mahadevan is believed to reside in a domestic, householder form. The small, elongated idol is covered entirely in a golden sheath. It is an architectural distinction of the temple that during the evening lamp-lighting ritual (deeparadhana), the light within the enclosed sanctum matches the brightness outside. Another notable feature is that the deity can be seen from outside the eastern gopuram. Renowned architectural experts have called Thirunakkara Mahadeva Temple an ideal model for those studying the architectural distinctiveness of Kerala's temples. It is said that a king of Kochi, visiting Thirunakkara temple to worship, once remarked that he had never seen a temple of such architectural beauty.

The murals painted around the sanctum during the Thekkumkur era have lost their original beauty owing to careless repainting over the years.

Subsidiary shrines exist for Ganapathy, Dharmasastha, the serpent deities (Nagadevathas), Bhadrakali, Subrahmanyan, Vadakkumnathan, Bhagavathy, and Brahmarakshas.

The story told about Brahmarakshas goes as follows: The Moothathu who oversaw the temple's management was also a close friend of a certain Thekkumkur king. After finishing his duties at the temple each day, the Moothathu would arrive by noon at the Idathil palace in Thalikkotta, where he would spend the afternoon with the king in conversation and games like chess, staying until evening. Handsome and witty, the Moothathu also became a favorite of the king's consort — and that favor eventually went too far. By the time word of it reached the king's ears, the Moothathu had already fled and gone into hiding, remaining inside the temple without stepping out. The enraged king sent soldiers to kill the Moothathu as he came out that evening to lead the Sheeveli procession. Learning of this through his spies, the Moothathu feigned a headache and asked a junior priest — a Namboothiri from Mangaanam who served as assistant Shanthi — whether he could carry the ceremonial Sheeveli idol in his place. The poor Brahmin agreed. Mistaking the Namboothiri who carried the idol for the Moothathu himself, the soldiers ambushed and beheaded him. It is said that the Brahmin's severed head rolled all the way to Keralapuram. The next morning, on learning of his death, the Namboothiri's wife came running and wailing to the temple, and after cursing that ruin befall all who were responsible for this, is said to have taken her own life there. Some hold that this curse was the very cause of Thekkumkur's fall in AD 1749, and of the royal family's reduction to powerless refugees. The Moothathu's family, too, is said to have suffered misfortune afterward. The slain Brahmin's spirit was invoked and consecrated as Brahmarakshas. It is said that this is the reason Namboothiri women traditionally did not enter Thirunakkara temple in earlier times.

Sir T. Rama Rao, who took charge as Dewan Peshkar of the Kottayam Division in AD 1877, was the one who reorganized Kottayam town around Thirunakkara as its center. He established the Hajur Kacheri and the Thirunakkara market at Vayaskara, south of Thirunakkara. It was he who initiated the early steps to expand Kottayam town with Thirunakkara as its focal point — and he is remembered, for this reason, as the architect of modern Kottayam. He also arranged government funding for the temple's administration and special provisions for its festival ceremonies. The agricultural exhibition and cattle fair he started in connection with the festival later ceased to be held.

It would not be right to close this account of Thirunakkara's lore without mentioning a few other figures. One is Thirunakkara Kochukomban — once the tallest and most majestic tusker in all of Kerala! Kochukomban was a devoted servant of Thirunakkarayappan. Some among the newer generation may still have heard of him. Two striking photographs of Kochukomban can be seen displayed in the temple's front hall. "Kochukomban" ("little tusker") was the affectionate nickname given by locals to Thrivikraman, an elephant dedicated at Thiruvarppu temple at age three by Ashwathi Thirunal, the then Crown Prince of Travancore. He was later brought to Thirunakkara on the argument that the sour, marshy soil at Thiruvarppu was harmful to his feet. Though gentle by nature, Kochukomban was once involved, by accident, in the death of a mahout. On two occasions, he went into musth and ran rampant through the Kummanam area, causing panic; the magistrate even issued an order to shoot him. On one such occasion, a Muslim woman managed to calm and pacify him with soothing words, allowing the mahouts to chain him! Kochukomban died in 1972.

This writer still carries an indelible memory of Kochukomban arriving in procession at the Anchaam Purappadu — the central festival event at Thiruvarppu — bearing the golden ceremonial headgear, betel leaves scattering from his brow as he approached the Bhagavathy temple. That was a childhood spent thrilling to tales of Kochukomban. Compared to him, the elephants flanking Kochukomban as he bore the sacred insignia seemed, at the time, like mere buffaloes. This writer also remembers weeping upon hearing that Kochukomban's body had to be cut apart to be cremated after his death.

After Kochukomban, another elephant dedicated at Thirunakkara, named Vishwanathan, was brutally beaten, stabbed, and killed right within the temple precincts by a group of drunken, frenzied men, under the pretext of "disciplining" him.

The temple elephant currently owned by the Devaswom at Thirunakkara is Shivan, dedicated in later years. Strikingly handsome, Shivan has the largest ears of any elephant in the region. Because he tends to go into musth during the festival season in Meenam, he rarely gets the opportunity to bear the sacred insignia at the Thirunakkara festival.

Though Thirunakkara holds three festivals, the principal one begins with the flag-hoisting on the first of Meenam and runs for ten days, culminating in the ceremonial bath (aaraattu). This bath traditionally takes place at Karappuzha Ambalakkadavu. Custom dictates that the deity's ceremonial bath during the main festival take place in flowing water — but since the Pallikkonam–Karappuzha canal, once the Thekkumkur kings' travel waterway, has stopped flowing and turned into a channel of waste, a small pond has had to be dug alongside it for the ceremonial bath instead. One is left only to wonder why devotees — who today pay far more attention to temple affairs and worship than in the past — have not taken the initiative to restore the canal, so that the Lord might once again bathe in flowing water as tradition intends.