At Kodungallur - Days Leading To The MeenaBharani

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Crowds From All Over

The Bharani crowds come from all over North Kerala and parts of Tamil Nadu.

Preparations At The Temple

The temple and the town gear up for the descending crowds.

Iron Ladders

Iron ladders are placed near the main deepasthambham (stone pillar for oil lamps), to arrange for the lamps to be lit all the way to the top.

Stepways

Stairways and stepways leading to the inner sanctum sanctorum are put in place, as a crowd control measure.

Jampacked

These empty stairs will be jam-packed with crowds on the final days, as crowds surge in for the rituals and pooja on the main Ashwati day.

Vazhipadu Displays

At the temple, displays are placed prominently for the main vazhipadus (offerings).

Display in Malayalam and Tamil

The painted display languages for the Vazhipaadu Counter - the counter where you can make payments to buy the temple offerings - are in Malayalam, the local language, and in Tamil (apart from English) - as the bulk of the devotees are expected to be familiar with these two languages.

The Offerings

While appam (sweet made of rice powder, flour and ghee), paayasam (kheer - sweet of milk, sugar/jaggery, rice etc.), pushpaanjali (offering of flowers), naalikeram (coconut), enna (oil) are common across almost all temples in Kerala, some of the special offerings at the Kodungallur temple are: chilambu and vaal (anklets and sabre) used by the komarams (oracles), kozhi (hen) and chuvanna pattu (red silk). The latter offerings are mostly seen in the Bhadrakaali(Mother Goddess) temples, or in Bhairava temples, several of which have been associated with ritual sacrifices in earlier times.

The Fowl

The prominent displays of the kozhi (fowl) at the main North Nada - Vadakke Nada - reiterate the earlier times when ritual sacrifices were a prominent offering. Even today, the kozhi is an offering made to the deity, although none thankfully are sacrificed now, inside the temple precincts, the practice being banned with temple reforms effected.

Red Pattu

Instead, the main offering today inside the temple during the Bharani days is the red pattu - chempattu - that is spread over the kozhikkallu (the stone where fowls used to be sacrificed, earlier) - in a ritual called the kozhikkallu moodal - Covering the kozhikkallu.

Stalls Around The Temple

There are stalls all around the temple now, within the temple compound, as well as outside on the roads leading to the temple,

Different Items

selling all sorts of local wares that do not seem to make their way to the mushrooming modern supermarkets.

Chukkuvellam Distribution

Several stalls offer free 'chukkuvellam' - drinking water boiled with herbal ingredients such as dried ginger powder (chukku) - to the Bharani devotees. Serving chukkuvellam or jeerakavellam (water with jeera - cummin seeds) is a common practice throughout Kerala, and different variants of these are kept and served across most homes and local hotels.

Lodges

Lodges all around are packed with the Bharani devotees - it is the 'Bharani season' much like the 'Shabarimala pilgrimage season' when Ayyappa devotees throng to Shabarimala.

Not All

Not all devotees can afford lodges, however.

Vadakkedath Mattham

The Vadakkedath Mattham - an old dilapidated house - near the Eastern Nada,

For Bharani Devotees

seems to have been set aside for the Bharani devotees,

Packed With Bharani Devotees

and is packed with devotees, camping in every possible spot available.

Arrangements

Several regular devotees, such as the Bepur Arakkal family, make arrangements with familiar homes and households in the neighbourhood. Such arrangements would need to be made well in advance, as crowds pouring into Kodungallur, increase, as the culminating days of the Bharani draw close.
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The Trees Around The Temple