Sree Chemattiya Bhagavathy Temple, Kaliingal, Palakkad

http://chemattiyabhagavathytemple.in/

Sree Chemattiya Bhagavathy Temple is situated at  Kallingal,a tranquil village off Palakkad- chittur Road, about 5 kms from Palakkad Town. This is an ancient temple dedicated to Goddess Durga. Consecration at this temple has a legend associated with Sage Parasurama,who had found the divine presence of Goddess at the luscious forests here. The name "Chemattiya Kavu" was drawn from "Parasurama Chavittiya Kavu" or the forest stepped in by Sri Parasurama.

Legend of the temple:

Sri parasurama, after finishing the consecration of the 108 durga Temples, happened to come to a beautiful forest on the banks of Shokanashini river.Inside this forest, he had the divine darshan of Goddess as the "Vana durga". Astounded by the beauty of the powerfull Goddess, sage parasurama started singing praises of Devi and worshipped Her with poojas and offerings. Devi was pleased with his devotion. Upon turning back, Parasuma encountered a pious Brahmin, called Makaramattathu Nambothiri who had followed him. With instructions of building a Durga temple at that place, Parasurama donated that forest land to the brahmin. Then Parasurama gave his sacred "Parasu or Mazhu" to the Makaramattathu Namboothiri and disappeared through a big pond. The pious brahmin, shocked with surprise and fear, threw the sacred weapon of parasurama to the same pond and went away. This pond can be seen now also at the west side of the present temple, and it seems to have a well at the middle which is closed with a big boulder.It is believed that having the darshan of devi after a dip in this divine pond, will cure one of his fears and diseases.

The brahmin family moved away from that place before beginning the consecration of the temple. and the place remained to be a thick forest for long. Once a tribal man,called Kori, came to this forest for cutting bamboo trees. while he was sharpening his knife on a stone, the stone began to bleed profusely. He ran away from there with fear, and informed people about the incident. Then the elder of the Makaramattathu family, who owned the forest land was summoned and "Ashtamangalya Prasna"was done And Goddess Durga's presence awas established. Thus the present Chemattiya Bhagavathy Temple was built at that place, after clearing the forest land.

Significance of the Idol:

The Devi idol here is Vanadurga form, having four hands and vaishnava bhava .Parashuram’s worship and poojas are believed to have given her the vaishanava shakthi.The Devi has axe on her right hand, shanghu on her left hand and the hands below are in the blessing mode . The idol is facing East. Mondays and Thursdays are the important days in this temple unlike Tuesdays and Fridays in other Devi temples. It is believed that the Devi idol is growing gradually. Hence the idol is not fixed on seat and is immersed onto an opening in the sree moolasthana.

The Devi idol is believed to have an immense energy, hence no other upadevatha idols are in the main temple compound.The doors of the main temple are made of copper plates. Above the entrance door there are two figurines holding bow and arrow carved in wood. The water used for poojas is taken from the well situated inside the temple itself.

offerings:

Trimadhuram made with double sweetness,raktha pushpanjali,trikala pooja are some of the main poojas done here.Archana,chorron,niramala,panappayasam,vivaham etc are also done in this temple.

Upadevathas:

• Chemmalakkori:

The kori (harijan) who sharpened his tool on Devi’s idol,got ill after seeing the blood and died after twenty one days. He was erected and worshipped on the north east side, outside the temple. As he came from the southern hill side to cut the bamboos, he is called chemmalakkori. There are no poojaris to do the pooja for kori.People themselves do the pooja for removing their worries and other difficulties of life. ‘Iravuri” neivedyam is the main offering for the kori. As the Devi is a calm goddess, people pray to kori to get rid of bad omens and to take revenge on their enemies. People believe that, if they satisfy chemmalakkori, Devi would bless them.

• Kaalabhairavan:

Kaalabhairava is placed on the south east of the temple. The poojas done for the chemmalakkori are done for bhairava also.People do the poojas directly which is done mainly for the welfare of pet animals.

• Komaram:

Velichappadu is considered as the incarnation of Devi. The last velichappadu of this temple was Thiruvalathur Madhavan Nair after which, till now, there are no komarams for the temple.Velichappadu is believed to give the orders of devi directly to the people and so the people in this area are hoping to get a komaram soon.The komaram starts from the Puthoor house in kodumbu.

• Pungala pushkaran:

In the south-east corner of the temple, there is a Sastha temple, wherein  Sreesastha is worshipped with his consorts Poorna and pushkala.

• Sarpa vigrahangal:

Near to the Sastha temples, the Sarpa idols are worshipped and in the Aayilyam star of Kanni month special sarpa poojas are performed.

• Shankara maman:

He was a pious man who lived near the premises of the temple and was an extreme devotee of Devi.He had predicted many things which came out to be true. He is believed to have passed away inside the temple itself while meditating, so he is supposed to have been erected on stone under the banyan tree on the north side of the temple.People believe that if they tie a raksha after praying him,they will get rid of all their troubles and difficulties.

Festivals:

• Vela Festival:

The Vela Festival is celebrated on the first Thursday of the Malayalam month Meenam every year.  The Vela Festival which had not been observed for a long time, had been restarted from 1996 and it is getting bigger and prominent with each year. On the Vela day caparisoned elephant procession with percussion Panchavadya is a treat to the eyes. On that day cultural festivals and temple art forms are performed at the temple premises. There is a special "vedikkettu"on Vela Day.

The most important offering to Devi, Kathina Vedi Vazhipadu is done on Vela Day.

• Prathishta Dinam:

On the Makayiram Day of Month Medam, the day of consecration of the idol is observed as Prathishta Dinam. Special Poojas and Kathina Vazhipadu is done on this day.