Aranmula Parthasarathy is a famous ancient Sree Krishna temple in South Kerala .
It's near to Chenganur and can be reached by road or Rail.
From Ernakulam one can go via Kottayam in MC Road or via NH 66 via Ambalapuzha Thakazhi in Kuttanad ,Chakalathu kaavu and Chenganur .
Aranmula temple lies adjacent to river Pampa .
The area has so many small villages nearby and in earlier times the river was main transport as no roads existed and it was thick forests .
The locals used long slender snake boats or valloms..Chundan valloms .
These were long slender smooth and had a rising edge on one side .
The oarsmen either stood or sat on it to row and sang songs in unison to help thier rowing .
The temple itself is said to be more than 5000 years back built during Mahabharatha days .
There are many stories behind it .
The Pandavas after Mahabharatha war and winning it appoints one of thier children to rule thier kingdom and travel south .
Each of them build temples nearby .
Arjuna chose the idol of Vishnu as Parthasarathy the divine charioteer to install but it was near Nilackal a thickly forested region hence a raft made of six bamboo poles is used to bring it to this spot hence called Aru Mula or six bamboo raft .
Another story says Arjuna during Mahabharata war was assuaged by Bismapithamahas steady volley of highly powerful arrows.
Krishna who was driving chariot for Arjuna gets angry and leaves his whip in chariot getting down and raising his Vishnu Chakra to finish off Bhisma , but Arjuana cautions God his friend ,and tells him that he Krishna had vowed he would not fight in this war but only drive the chariot and hence had to keep up his word .
Krishna agrees .
This place is said to be where it all happened and Lord Vishnu as Parthasarathy is the idol here is all glory but without a whip .
Aranmula has three things which make it different from other temples .
Aranmula valla sadya
Aranmulla kannadi or mirror
And
Aranmula Vallamkalli or boat race .
We had come to Aranmula in 2020 september once .
Aranmulla kannada and vallamkalli I shall write later .
Aranmula sadya or feast goes on for more than a month in time with Astami Rohini or Krishnas birthday .
It starts end of July goes on till september .
Every day three or more people give sadya as an offering to God .
At present the price is 65000 Rs for one offering and more than 300 bookings are on now .
There is a story behind it again .
Once upon a time there was a Namboodiri called Bhatathiri near Aranmula who served delectable sadyas or feasts ( vegetarian ) to many every day .
One day no one turned up and he was very sad .
A very handsome youth came in a snake boat rowing and said he wanted sadya .
Bhatathiri served him with so much happiness and love and youth too relished the sadya .
At its end Bhatathiri requested the youth to come every day to partake the sadya .
The youth laughed and said ha ha Iam busy you bring it to me to my temple and disappeared .
Knowing it was Lord Krishna himself who came to eat from him Bhatathiri started habit of serving sadyas to nearby villages and they would come to temple in thier snake boats .
They were recieved by bhatathiris people with great love and honour and they too would come up steps of temple ghat to go into temple where they were honoured with dhakshina and then go to lunch hall for lunch .
A minimum 64 items to 80 items was a must in the plantain leaf sadya .
And the boatsmen would sing in praise of sree Krishna and later while eating food would demand items of food to be brought to them all in verse and songs .
Whatever was asked should be given to them with a smile .
The inner meaning is Lord Krishna would be amongst the common boat people and one never knows who it is ,so all are seen as Krishna and served with love and hospitality .
The message is regardless of who it is see all living beings as God and serve with love to spread happiness and joy .
What a great message !!
After the sadya they would sing to bless the family sponsoring thier sadya and show thier delight in partaking it .
Our friend Asokh told us about another mutual friend Suresh whose family was offering sadya today and invited us as guests .
We had heard about it but we were delighted at this divine oppurtunity.
So Asokh , myself. premila ,our dear friends Raviettan and Ratna chechi drove in our Hyundai Creta to Aranmula .
We reached around 10.30 am .
Saw the para or offerings to Lord in temple by the family and went to ghat with them to recieve the boat men who were from a particular nearby village .
Nowadays they just row symbolically only all coming in bikes etc .
The river too has lot of sandbanks and without rain is shallow .
The welcoming is akin to welcoming a Bhaarath in a north Indian wedding .
The boisterous singing of the youth rented the air and we all saw them being honoured with dakshina and later went into hall nearby .
We were given a token to enter and managed to get in with the main invitees as Suresh saw to it we were seated comfortably .
Because more than having sumptuous food its the divine ambience and the songs that we could witness .
Each of us had in front of us a plantain leaf with many items served already .
The preparation would have begun previous night and it had lots of regulations on items etc .
The caterers also knew that the main guests could ask for anything during feast and it was like Lord Krishna himself asking it and family had to serve with a smile .
The young men would break into songs on vegetable curry or Sambhar or pappadom or butter they needed or ask the family to grace them with hand held fans !!
It was all fun and symbolic and there were smiles laced with love and divinity .
It was a very vibrant ambience there and the food was delicious ,warm, tasty and one of the best I have had .
There were all items in a Kerala sadya .
There were different fried upperis like Kaya varathathu ,chena varathathu ,Sarkar upperi mango ,lime pickles, one big and two small pappadam Pazham ,pansaara and so many side dishes before hot red unhusked rice was served with dhal and ghee , later Sambhar Rasam ,mor kootaan,Avial varatha aracha elisseri ,ollan , four types of Payasams .
We could hear the boatsmen demanding certain items to be brought and the family scurrying to obey .
It was a once in a life time experience to partake a sadya in his divine presence which was felt there and our hearts glowed with happiness and gratitude at being given a chance to do so .
It was a most memorable day indeed .
