Temple wear

Temple wear

In Kerala temples have dress codes .

Generally up to central Kerala pants are allowed for men but no lungi or at times half shorts or jeans one exception being Padmanabhapuram temple in Trivandrum where dhoti or mundu is a must.

In most north Kerala temples dhoti is a must no pants allowed.

Guruvayur is well known for this .

But Thriprayar just 20 km away allows one to wear pants .

Today I wore mundu or dhoti till the Akilanam Siva temple near Pattambi .

But when I reached Dhanvantri temple in Nelluvayi in Thrissur dt pants were fine.

Generally, all temples of Kerala insist men to remove shirts in sanctum sanctorum or inner temples,Guruvayur and Padmanabhan Swamy temples can be entered only with a bare chest .

Women too have dress codes like churidars are not allowed in Padmanabha Swamy temple Guruvayur etc saree or mundu worn by females like a sari.

No head cover is needed unlike in Gurdwaras or mosques.

Of course no slippers or footwear in any temple.

Wearing a dhoti on travel has so many practical issues if one isn't used to it it could slip at inopportune moments which even God won't like to see

But seasoned wearers like me that is hardly the issue, I am long beyond that phase as I can fold unfold retire all with just one hand unless you are running away from a dog and you slip on your dhoti its accident-free with excellent ventilation.

The advantage of pants is its pockets, where one can carry the wallet the handkerchief, comb, and maybe some emergency snacks! Of course mobile in it .

Now I hear dhotis with pockets are available.

The shirtless phase makes one wish for less lard and more muscles

I look more like a lump of butter

Shirts do hide all those grotesque fat globules of the upper half of body.

 

Akilanam Siva Temple

 Akilanam Siva Temple

Aum Trayambakam Yajaamahey Sugandhim Pusti Vardhanam Urvaarukamiva Bandhanaath Mrutyor Muksheeya Maamritaat

Meaning -We worship the fragrant Lord Shiva, who has 3 eyes and who cultivates all beings. May He free me from death, for immortality, as even a cucumber is separated from its bond with the vine.

Akilanam Siva temple is located in a pristine green picture-postcard locale near Pattambi in thirummuttacode one hour drive from Guruvayur.

We went there as part of our recent weekend temple visits from Guruvayur .

We left early in the morning and it was drizzling,

Kerala is beautiful when wet as the green swathe of nature takes over and the smoky atmosphere of a hazy rain added to its visual awesomeness.

There are a lot of places in Kerala waiting to be discovered tucked in remote villages but with good roads reaching them and so many temples waiting to be discovered.

We were told of this temple by a friend, as it had a very unique factor,

It had a swayambhu lingam something that came on its own , that itself is not unique as there are plenty of such idols in India but the fact that the lingam has been growing slowly over many years was definitely unique.

Over the years the linga has grown from a small one to almost the height of the priest but it's very slow and is not visualized, the previous priest they say used to sit and do puja rituals while the present one had to stand and even tiptoe!

Even in his time here, he is sure of it growing steadily,

The temple itself is surrounded by paddy fields,a green pond lovely bright flowering plants, and lamps .its cobblestone paths and its quaint gopuras are all bewitching indeed.

We were told to wait for the dhara or ablution of an idol to see the lingha fully, this was a long puja of about 45 mins but can be seen by all,

the Lingha was almost six feet or four feet with pedestal and a just a stone projection, the Namboothiri priest hailing from Kasaragod entoned his Sanskrit scriptures and the place was filled with vibrations of spirituality and he continued the ablutions,

Another unique quality of the temple is whatever the temple needs it gets from its own properties like milk from its cow's paddy from its fields etc .

Most temples in Kerala were like this but after politicians took them over post-independence, many lands have been taken over and a lot of property was stolen from temples,

many temples have no money for upkeep and have been destroyed,

In the past the kings used to give lands for the upkeep of temples, even now the income from big temples can easily take care of smaller ones but the Dewasom who manages most temples use the money for all wrong purposes, that is the sad part of Kerala temples and most Hindu devotees are not even aware of all this or even if they continue to support the exploiters,

I am sure no other religion will allow such abuse of their places of worship

One of my aims in bringing out rare temples is to highlight how our temples are misused by political parties in Kerala.

We went to a nearby Bhagavathy temple almost a km and more on a narrow road it too was wonderful before we returned via Dhanwantri temple which I had posted already