Poonithura Agraharam, Cochin

Poonithura Agraharam

(I have taken this write up   from Keralaiyers dot com web site. Long long back I wrote   about several  Tamil Brahmin agraharams in Kerala , )

Poonithura is a small village in Tripunithura. The nearest railway station is Tripunithura and railway junction is Ernakulam. The nearest bus stops are Petta and Gandhi mukku. from where you can get a bus to travel to any other part of Kerala. Even State Transport Buses stop at Petta on request.

Some of the families are Cherukottaram, Bhagavathar, Mattathu, Alappattu, Matathil parambu, Mangalappalli Alunchuvattil, Koyumma, Kuruvikkad and Chandrappalli,. Though it is a small place its people have contributed to the country in the fields of art, music, films, etc.

Those famous in the field of Carnatic music are Bhagavathar Viswanatha Iyer, his son T.V.Gopalakrishnan, Tripoonithura Radhakrishnan, T.V.Vasan, T.V.Ramani. They belong to the family of Appadurai Bhagavathar of Bhagavathar House. Also from this house hail the world famous T.N.Krishnan and T.N.Rajam. Then, the film producer late Sri C.V.Hariharan of Cherukottara Madhom who created a kolilakkam with his film KOLILAKKAM, the film in which matinee idol Jayan lost his life in a crash scene retake. Actors like M.S.Tripoonithura and Gomathy Mahadevan, Asianet compere Savitha also hail from this place. Mattathu madhom Rama Iyer was the Tripoonithura Samooham president. Another veteran Shri Sankara Iyer was honoured with Ponnadai by the People’s Urban Cooperative Bank of Tripunithura — which completed 80 years — as he was the first person to have a running account with that bank from Day One. His son distinguished himself miles away in distant Ghatkopar, a suburb of Mumbai. Shri Subramaniam was closely connected with the North Welfare School, a South Indian School. He served this institution with distinction in several capacities, as Secretary, Treasurer etc. Late Sri R.Vaithikutty Iyer was the Dewaswom Kariakkar and a teacher of Mangayil High School.

There is a small temple in the middle of the village. The village is an Ottamadhom village and not a gramam. The deity of the temple is Lord Krishna. Gokulashtamy is celebrated on a grand scale in this temple even today. The youth of the village who are interested in music conduct bhajans every Thursday night regularly. There is another temple adjacent to this temple, where there is no idol. The legend is that Lord Poornathrayeesa when he came to Tripunithura first sat in this particular temple and afterwards shifted to the main temple. So every year during the PARA UTSAVAM when the Lord comes to this village the deity is kept in this temple and a special pooja is done. The Devaswom employees are given a feast and then only the Lord leaves this village. The main idol in the Poornathrayeesa temple of Tripunithura is in a sitting position. It is said that when Maha Vishnu came to Kerala, He stood in Guruvayoor, so the Lord is in standing position there. When He reached Tripunithura He sat, hence the sitting posture here and when He reached the southern most end of Kerala,i.e., Thiruvananthapuram He lay down, so Lord Padmanabha is seen in a reclining position. Another important feature of the Poornathrayeesa temple is that though the main Utsavam is conducted in the month of Vrischikam for 9 days there are no fireworks in this temple as the God is afraid of fireworks. There is another one day utsavam known as Onpatham Theythi utsvam or theepiticha utsavam on Tulam 9th. Years back on Thulam 9th the temple was engulfed in fire and in memory of that every year on that day the temple’s surrounding is lit with camphor. The uthrathappam that is the neyyappam made on uthram days as prasadam is famous. There are many sarppa- kavus, the main being the Yakshi kavu.

Every year on the 10th of Medam Pathamudayam is celebrated here. There is a pond near the Kavu and one near the temple also. Most of the houses were having sarpa kavus. But now the sarpams are being slowly shifted to a place near the temple. It is said that in Kerala utsavams start with Tripunithura utsavam and end with Trichur pooram. Recently a hall has been constructed near the temple where regular religious discourses are conducted. This hall is named as Bhagavatha Mandiram. As now most of the families have disintegrated many new houses have come up. Many people after retirement from various cities have settled here because of its nearness to Ernakulam.

Pooni means the "containment for arrows ", "Thura means Parking place " . The belief is that in Mahabaratha Arjuna dropped his "puni" before lord krishna  after the  battle in this place.