Ambalapuzha is a town near Alapuzha in kerala its well known for a krishna temple .
Ambalapuzha temple
Its more known for its main offering or nivedhiyam its paal payasam otherwise known as milk kheer
The payasam which one gets as prasadham here for which there is great demand is the most tastiest
Many of its namboodhiri brahmin priest cooks have been taken up by other temples and they know the technique well but the taste was never as good as in Ambalapuzha
I had tasted it too
In fact once i travelled from Cochin to Ambalapuzha a distance of 100 km in a KSRTC transport bus just to collect the prasadam we booked in the morning .
Its making is meticulous from collection of pure milk in morning in accurate measurements , using temple well water to dilute it and allowing it to concentrate for four hours to thicken
Then the sugar is added
The priests call out vasudeva before the sugar is brought as a tradition .
The brown rice is put 3/4 an hour before and a big bowl is taken to the lord as offering
At that time an eagle is seen on the sky every day
Once offering is made and puja over the prasadam is ditributed as per booking
How did this offering come into vogue ?
Lord krishna once appeared as a sage to the king ruling Ambalapuzha and asked him to play a game of chess
The king agreed and asked the sage what should be the prize for the winner
The sage told him it should be one grain of rice in first sqaure of chessboard and its double in next and so on
The king was amused as he was willing to give costly prizes
The sage won naturally
The rice grains were attempted to be kept but to the kings surprise he knew the whole granary of his kingdom could not give the trillions of grains needed by end of last sqaure
Lord Krishna revealed himself and told him to seve paal payasam in the temple every day to pilgrims till the day he gives all grains promised and that he would come every day to take same .
The temple was built by champakassery pooradam thirunal Devanarayanan thampuran in 15 to 17 century and lord vishnu is in form of parthasarathi with a conch in one hand and a whip in other hand .
During Tipu sultans raids and mayhem in north malabar Guruvayoor temple idol was brought here for safekeeping for twelve years.
Once on way back from sabarimala one of my friends knew the veliya thirumeni or chief priest and we went to thier mana or huge mansion of a joint family and were served one of the most tastiest vegetarian lunch i had ever tasted and in the end we had the famous Ambalapuzha payasam from the house of the chief priest himself as a portion of the prasadham comes to his house every day .
Ambalapuzha temple
Its more known for its main offering or nivedhiyam its paal payasam otherwise known as milk kheer
The payasam which one gets as prasadham here for which there is great demand is the most tastiest
Many of its namboodhiri brahmin priest cooks have been taken up by other temples and they know the technique well but the taste was never as good as in Ambalapuzha
I had tasted it too
In fact once i travelled from Cochin to Ambalapuzha a distance of 100 km in a KSRTC transport bus just to collect the prasadam we booked in the morning .
Its making is meticulous from collection of pure milk in morning in accurate measurements , using temple well water to dilute it and allowing it to concentrate for four hours to thicken
Then the sugar is added
The priests call out vasudeva before the sugar is brought as a tradition .
The brown rice is put 3/4 an hour before and a big bowl is taken to the lord as offering
At that time an eagle is seen on the sky every day
Once offering is made and puja over the prasadam is ditributed as per booking
How did this offering come into vogue ?
Lord krishna once appeared as a sage to the king ruling Ambalapuzha and asked him to play a game of chess
The king agreed and asked the sage what should be the prize for the winner
The sage told him it should be one grain of rice in first sqaure of chessboard and its double in next and so on
The king was amused as he was willing to give costly prizes
The sage won naturally
The rice grains were attempted to be kept but to the kings surprise he knew the whole granary of his kingdom could not give the trillions of grains needed by end of last sqaure
Lord Krishna revealed himself and told him to seve paal payasam in the temple every day to pilgrims till the day he gives all grains promised and that he would come every day to take same .
The temple was built by champakassery pooradam thirunal Devanarayanan thampuran in 15 to 17 century and lord vishnu is in form of parthasarathi with a conch in one hand and a whip in other hand .
During Tipu sultans raids and mayhem in north malabar Guruvayoor temple idol was brought here for safekeeping for twelve years.
Once on way back from sabarimala one of my friends knew the veliya thirumeni or chief priest and we went to thier mana or huge mansion of a joint family and were served one of the most tastiest vegetarian lunch i had ever tasted and in the end we had the famous Ambalapuzha payasam from the house of the chief priest himself as a portion of the prasadham comes to his house every day .
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