Thonnallur Pattupurakkavu Bhagavathi temple ( ml, തോന്നല്ലൂര് പാട്ടുപുരക്കാവ് ഭഗവതി ക്ഷേത്രം) is a famous

Hindu temple A Hindu temple, or ''mandir'' or ''koil'' in Indian languages, is a house, seat and body of divinity for Hindus. It is a structure designed to bring human beings and gods together through worship, sacrifice, and devotion.; Quote: "The Hind ...

Pandalam Pandalam is a municipal town in Pathanamthitta district Kerala, India. Pandalam is considered a holy town due to its connection with Lord Ayyappa and Sabarimala. Rightly recognised to be the ''educational and cultural capital of Central Travan ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is located one kilometer to the north of Pandalam junction, by the

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

Angamaly Angamaly (''Aṅkamāli''), , Malayalam : അങ്കമാലി Situated about north of the city centre, the town lies at the intersection of Main Central Road (MC Road) and National Highway 544. MC Road, which starts from Thiruvananthapu ...

MC Road The Main Central Road, better known as MC Road is the arterial State Highway starting from Kesavadasapuram in Thiruvananthapuram, Trivandrum city and ends at Angamaly, a suburb of Greater Cochin, Kochi city in Ernakulam district, Ernakulam Dist ...

. The temple hosted the first ever Devi Bhagavatha Sathram in Kerala, from 28 April – 7 May 2010. The main

deity A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...

of the temple is

Bhadrakali Bhadrakali (IAST: Bhadrakālī; ), also known as Mahakali and Kali, is a Hindu goddess. According to Shaktism, she is one of the fierce forms of the Supreme Goddess Shakti, or Adi Parashakti, mentioned in the Devi Mahatmyam. In Vaishnavism, ...

. The temple also has shrines of other deities such as

Ganapathi Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is found throughout India. Hindu de ...

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

, Udayan,

Brahmarakshas ''Brahmarakshas '' is an Indian Hindi-language supernatural thriller television series broadcast on Zee TV and digitally available on ZEE5. Spanning two seasons, it is a franchise produced by Ekta Kapoor under her studio Balaji Telefilms. Th ...

Yakshi ''Yakshinis'' or ''yakshis'' (यक्षिणी sa, yakṣiṇī or ''yakṣī''; pi, yakkhiṇī or ''yakkhī'') are a class of female nature spirits in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain religious mythologies that are different from devas and ...

Nāga The Nagas (IAST: ''nāga''; Devanāgarī: नाग) are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. ...

, Subrahmanyan,

Navagraha Navagraha are nine heavenly bodies and deities that influence human life on Earth according to Hinduism and Hindu astrology. The term is derived from ''nava'' ( sa, नव "nine") and ''graha'' ( sa, ग्रह "planet, seizing, laying hold of, ...

, and Anamarutha. The temple complex also includes an ''Anakkottil'' (platform for elephants during the rite ''Seva''), a holy pond, office room, and a few

banyan tree A banyan, also spelled "banian", is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adventitious prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as a ...

s. The temple has arrangements for

Hindu wedding A Hindu wedding, also known as Vivaha (Devanagari: विवाह; Kannada script: ವಿವಾಹ; ''Vivaaha'') (), Lagna (लग्न), or Kalyanam (Devanagari: कल्याणम्; Kannada script: ಕಲ್ಯಾಣಮ್; ta, கல ...

, including feast hall and change rooms. It also has a stage to conduct cultural events. The temple has a ''

Navratri Navaratri is an annual Hindu festival observed in the honour of the goddess Durga. It spans over nine nights (and ten days), first in the month of Chaitra (March/April of the Gregorian calendar), and again in the month of Sharada. It is ob ...

mandapam'' annexe situated near

central junction. The deity in the annexe temple is

Saraswati Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati. The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a go ...

, the goddess of knowledge, music and the arts.

Festivals and major occasions

The annual temple festival is conducted on the ''Aswathy'' day in the Malayalam month of

Meenam The Malayalam Calendar is a sidereal solar calendar used in Kerala. The origin of the calendar has been dated to 825 CE, the beginning of the Kollam Era. There are many theories regarding the origin of the era, but according to recent schola ...

. Special poojas are performed on that day. Traditional temple art forms and cultural programmes are also conducted. In addition to the festival programmes, the temple also hosts ''Devi Bhagavath Sathram''s, ''Sapthaham''s, and ''Navaham''s frequently. These include renditions and lectures based on

Hindu epic Mahākāvya (lit. great kāvya, court epic), also known as ''sargabandha'', is a genre of Indian epic poetry in Classical Sanskrit. The genre is characterised by ornate and elaborate descriptions of scenery, love, battles and so on — in short, ev ...

s and

purana Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...

s. The idol erection day is celebrated at the temple in June every year.

is also of great significance to this temple. Special poojas, Carnatic concerts and cultural programmes are performed at the ''Navratri Mandapam'' annexe. Apart from

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

s, the organising committee for the Navratri festival includes people from other religions also, including

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

s and

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

. This symbolises the religious and cultural harmony of Pandalam. The ''Navratri Mandapam'' has facility to initiate Vidyarambham at the completion of Navratri celebrations.

External links

Official website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pattupurakkavu Bhagavathi Temple Hindu temples in Pathanamthitta district Bhagavathi temples in Kerala