Aroor Sri Karthyayani temple

Aroor Sri Karthyayani temple

Compiled by

P.R.Ramachander

Aroor is a  big village in   the  border  of  the kingdom of Travancore and Cocin of the olden stays situated near NH 47. It is about  22 km away from Alappuzha town.  There is a belief its earlier name was Athiroor(The village near the border). It is believed   that Vilavangalthu Samiyar was returning from   Trivandrum to Guruvayur and happened to take rest below a huge tree. Suddenly he could see the presence of Goddess  there .By his wisdom he understood that   it was Karthyayani devi and built a temple for her. It  seems he stayed there for some time   worshipping the Goddess  and later entrusted the management of that  temple  to various Nambudiri families. There is also a mention that  it was one of the 108 devi temples which was consecrated by Parasurama   all over Kerala and this place was called “Kattil Pisharam”

    During the march of Tippu Sultan   through Kerala people believe that   he broke  the stattue of Goddess  Karthyayani  ,Later the temple fell in to disuse    for several years. It is believed   that  seven Nayar families  settled here ,They are believed to have  repaired the temple   and  got made a new idol of Karthyayani and consecrated  her here. In those families there was a  very great man called  Kannam kulangara  kaimal .  A thought occurred to him that  the power of this great temple was getting reduced and he felt because of the prosperity  of  the families of the families who have settled in the village   also would diminish.One day he happened to see  the goddess in person  looking very famished and tired .Kaimal  realized that  it was the Goddess. He told her to take rest and promised her , he would bring a tender coconut for her. He requested her to wait till then . He then went  to his home and committed suicide by hanging. ThE goddess  remembering his words waited for him for some time and  later   went in to the sanctorum. The Soul of   Kaimal  who committed  became a spirit   and started wandering here   and there and at that  time the prosperity of the temple further   reduced. The Soul of Kaimal stated living in a Palmyra tree    to the south of the Aroor temple.People  started liking this spirit and started calling him “Aru kola Ammavan (Uncle who faced bad death).”   As they found  the spirit was helping them a lot.Later this temple management was taken over by the Travacore  kings. Thorough repair was done to the temple by Ayilyam Thirunal king who lived between 1860-1880. And today it is one of the  important temple under Travancore DEvaswam board.. The temple is a small one and faces east..The idol of the Goddess is made  using black stone and has four hands.Statutes of Lord Shiva, Lord Ganapathi , Naga devathas  and  Arukola(the spirit of the Kaimal who committed suicide)  are found in side this small temple .Below a Branyan tree  a Brahma Rakshas and Yakshi have also been consecrated, . The templke does not have any carvings or paintings .

YThe temple has a grand festival for eight days in the  month of Meenam   ending in Uthram  star. The Last three days of the Mandala time is celebrated as Thalapoli. Several  devotees have felt the greatness of the Goddess  as she used  to solve  their problems without fail..Let her also bless   all those who read  this compilation.