Thiruvaarpu Agraharam Kottayam District and the Krishna temple in the village
Compiled by
P.R.Ramachander
a.The agraharam
This is a village near Kottayam (7 km) and is only 20-30
miles from Monkombu. This village had about 20-30 houses in the eighteenth
century and was on the shores of
Meenachilaru The village was named after
a 1500 year old Sree
Krishna temple in it. The boatman of Vilwamangalath Swamiyar while traveling by
boat in Vembanad Kayal encountered bloodstains in his paddle. The swamiyar
jumped at the spot and recovered a beautiful statue of Krishna placed in a
bronze vessel called Varpu. The statue was placed in the varpu and sent adrift.
This statue along with the Varpu landed in the village and by the grace of God,
there was an already constructed temple ready for prathishta for Sastha in this
village. The villagers requested Vilwamangalath Swamiyar to do the Prathishta.
This happened in the seventh century. Later a temple of Sastha was also built
in the village.
The Famous people
Brahmins of this village
In the eighteenth century a group of iyers from Tanjore
settled down in this village. But as of now there are hardly 10 iyer houses in
the village. Some of the very rich people belonging to the yester era from this
village are Sri. Annadurai Iyer of Vellakattu Madam, Sri.Anantha Iyer of
Champakattu madam, Sri.Subramanya Iyer of Kadakkal Madam, Sri. A Krishna Iyer
of KottarathuMadam and Sri.Subramanya Iyer of Oleshatu Madam. Sri.P.Anantha
Iyer is supposed to have gold plated the pars and Dwaja Stambam of the temple
under no loss and no profit basis. Three of his grand Children attained
greatness in three different spheres. They were Sri.C.P.Krishna Murthy who was
Judge in the high court of Karnataka, DrC..P.Anantha Siva Iyer, who was the
Director of the Central Mango Research Station, Lucknow and DrC..P.Neelakantan
of the Kerala Veterinary college, Trichur.
Another great Luminary of the village was Thiruvarpu
Krishna Bhagavathar, one of the top ranking musicians of yester years. He was
considered as an authority on Muthuswamy Dikshitar Kritis. Sri.K.Subramania
Iyer, popularly known, as M.L.Mani Iyer was a famous lawyer of Madras High
Court and Sri.S.Parameshwaran who was GM, Quality control of BEL also belonged
to this village.
b. detailed note about
the temple
This is one of the famous temples of Krishna in Kerala which is at least 1500 years old. This temple is located in Thiruvarppu, which is 6-8 km from the town of Kottayam on the shores of Meenachil River. (Varppu is the cast used by smiths to make bell metal vessels)
There are several stories about its origin. All of
them talk of recovering the idol of Lord Krishna with 4 hands
which was kept in an Uruli (Flat vessel made of bell metal). Here are some of
the stories:
This temple is connected with Mahabharata. When the
Pandavas lived in the forest, Lord Krishna gave them his statue with
four hands so that they can daily worship it. It seems when Pandavas
finished their sojourn in the forest and wanted to go back, the people of that
area, requested for that idol. This was worshipped by the people of Cherthalai.
But after some time due to reasons beyond their control, they were not able to
continue their worship. So they simply dropped the idol in the sea.
After a long time a great sage (some say it was Vilwamangalam
Samiyar and other say it was Padmapadacharya, the disciple of Adhi Shankara)
was travelling by a boat in these parts. Suddenly his boat became immobile.
When some one got in to the sea to find out the reason, the sea dried at that
spot and they were able to recover this idol. The divine person took the idol
with him. Though he wanted to go west, the boat travelled to the east via
Kunnam and Pallikkara and reached the present spot of the temple.
The divine person got down there along with the idol and
found that a temple of Dharma Sastha was without any idol and hence
he consecrated the idol in that temple.
Another version is that the above divine person got down
from the boat along with the idol but due to inclement weather he was unable to
proceed any further. Hence he kept the idol in an Uruli, which he found near
the tank and went away. Later when he came back, he found that the idol had got
fixed to the Uruli. That Uruli belonged to an individual called Kunnan Kari
Menon. As soon as he heard about this incident, he gave the land for temple
construction and completed the temple with the help of a saint called
Madappurathu Samiyar. Even today special Pushpanjali ( offering of flowers) is
done on behalf of the Asram of Madappurathu Samiyar in this temple.
Another one is that the Pandavas deposited the idol they
were worshipping along with their Akshaya Pathra in the sea, before leaving for
their Agnatha Vasa. Some fishermen fishing in the Vembanad back waters at a
place near Vechur (called Mangalathu Vila) recovered only the idol but not the
vessel. They built a temple in a place called Chara Mangalam and consecrated
the idol there. Soon various calamities occurred in their village and
hence,they returned the idol to the backwaters. This time the idol fell
directly into the original vessel itself. It was then that the divine person
referred to earlier recovered the idol as also the vessel.His boat travelled
via Kunnam and Palikkara and was not able to travel further due to dense
aquatic plants. The people of the area swam in to the water and made way for
the boat to reach the shores. The idol in the vessel was kept in the shore
temporarily in a structure called Valiya Madam. On that day they were able to
offer to the God only tender mango pickles and tender coconut water. Later the
idol was shifted to the present temple. During the Arattu, the idol is taken to
Valiya Madam and Tender mango and tender coconut water is offered to it even
today.
The Lord faces west along with his four hands. The temple
opens very early around 2 AM in the morning. Around 3 AM a special offering
called Usha Payasam is offered to this lord. This is prepared using rice,
jaggery, ghee, kadali banana fruit and dried coconut. When the rice is cooked
well, the melted Jaggery is poured in to it till it stops by itself. This
method of preparation is very peculiar to this temple.
Another peculiarity of this temple is that, the priest is
given an axe as well as the key to open the door in the early morning. People
believe that this God cannot tolerate hunger and so if there is any delay in
opening the door with the key, the priest is permitted to break open the door
with an axe. People believe that Lord Krishna’s idol in the temple is of
the very exhausted Krishna after he killed Kamsa. So after the
Abhishekam is over, the Lord’s head is first dried,, the Naivedyam offered to
him and then only his body is dried.I understand this offering of Usha
Neivedyam is booked for the next five years.
There are five times pooja but the Deeparadhana is only
after the Athazha pooja (last pooja carried out at night 7 PM ).Since people
believe that the statue came from Cherthalai, the priest after the Athazha
pooja asks “Is there any body from Cherthalai here who is hungry?”. It is
believed that no body from Cherthalai in the temple should go hungry.
Another peculiarity of this temple is that even during
eclipse, the temple is not closed. People believe that this God would become
hungry. It seems once, the temple was closed during eclipse. When they reopened
the door they found that the waist belt of the Lord has slipped down.
Vilwamangalam Samiyar who came at that time told that, it was because God
became very hungry. From then on, they stopped closing the temple during
eclipse.
This temple has a very peculiar drum made of bell metal.
It is said that Lord Krishna announced the killing of Kamsa, playing
on this drum. There is a 12 tier brass lamp in this temple gifted by a Christian
devotee.This temple also has a sub temple for Bhoothanatha.All offerings to the
main deity are also offered to him Outside the temple there are temples for
Subramanya, Ganapathy, Yakshi , Shiva and Bhagawathy.
The temple festival is during the first ten days of the
month of Medam.(april-may).On the tenth day there is a race of Elephants like
the one in Guruvayur. During the festival time girl children who are less than
ten years of age dress themselves as Lord Krishna and offer lamps to
the Lord during morning and evening. On the tenth day of the month when the sun
sets, his rays enter inside the sanctum sanctorum and this is referred to as
Pathaam Udayam,
Krishna’s birthday during Ashtami Rohini is celebrated in
this temple. Sundays and Thursdays are special in this temple and attract lot
of devotes.
Another peculiar celebration of this temple is Pullattu
Pooja,. The story is that there was a rich Nair gentleman without children in
the Pullattu house. He wanted to donate all his wealth to the temple and
requested them to observe his death anniversary. When astrologers consulted the
God, his consent was given. On the Thai poosam day, Pullattu Nair came inside
the temple, kept all his wealth including keys to treasures and documents for
all his properties before the Lord. Then he prostrated before the Lord and it
is said that he died then and there. Even today three special poojas one day
before his death and fifteen special poojas on the day of his death are
performed in his name and referred to as Pllattu Pooja.
Milk Payasam, Ghee Payasam, Appam etc are offered to the
Lord usully. There is a special offering called Chathurchathadam also.
5 comments:
Can u post the pictures of this Agraharam
Can u post pictures of this Agraharam
I loved this write up on Thiruvarpu. K. Subramania Iyer of the Madras High Court (mentioned in your write up) was my grandfather. Growing up in North India, I had heard so many wonderful stories of Thiruvarpu and the Krishna temple and the surrounding towns and villages from my father. In 2019, I finally got an opportunity to visit the town and the temple and even got to visit the house where my father grew up. A very very special moment for me.
Thank you for this blog post.
Missed T K Ananthasiva Iyer(T K A Iyer),the eldest grandson of P Anantha Iyer who was first in all public exams, gold medalist in engineering exam,IRSE and held a very senior position in Indian Railways
Sir
We are from champakattumadam
Daughters of P.S.Money
Our Elder Brother is
S.parameswaran
We all visited our Temple on 11--02--2023
Very proud to be from
Tiruvarppu
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