KOCHI: Sister temples of Tiruvirakkatt Bhagavati in Madayi, Kannur and Tiruvirattukkavu Bhagavati in Attingal, Thiruvananthapuram, are separated in time and distance, yet connected in spirit.“The 700-year-old temple has been witness to crucial milestones in the history of two of Kerala’s prominent royal families – Travancore and Kolathiri,” says Ramachandran, the host and a vocal proponent of the restoration of the Attingal Tiruvirattukkavu Bhagavati temple.
The custom of adoption between the Kolathiri and Travancore royal families to appreciate the presence of the sister-temple of Madayi Tiruvirakatt Bhagavati (north Kerala) in Attingal must be understood. The first adoption happened in the 14th century between the Kolathiri Dynasty and the Kupaka kingdom (as Travancore was known before Martanda Varma consolidated the empire). The Kupaka kingdom was under the rule of then King Ravi Varma Sangramadheera and it was he who initiated the adoption and installation of two Kolathiri princesses as his successors.
However, Kupaka and its people were Tamil-leaning in their ways and their culture was different from the more-Malayali Kolathiris. This was the Kolathiri Rajah’s primary reservation in sending his sisters down south. But several negotiations later, he relented and sought a promise from the Kupaka king that a temple would be built for their family deity.
As they departed from Kolathunad to settle in a distant land, the princesses carried with them a microcosm of their universe. This included what was dearest to the Kolathiris – Tiruvirakatt Bhagavathi – their clan deity. To this effect, as per ‘tantravidhi’, the goddess was invoked into a divine sword and brought to Attingal, where it was temporarily placed in a room in the palace and till date, this room has been preserved as a sacred space. Two years later, in 1305, a temple was built and the idol was consecrated.
The first thing that struck me when I visited Attingal was that the local people were addressing the deity with a different name -- Tiruvirakkatt Bhagavati and Tiruvirattukkavu Bhagavati.The goddess at Madayi derives her name from the legend of how the shrine came to be. The story goes that the Kolathiri Rajah had a rather strange dream.
Goddess Bhadrakali appeared before him and expressed her displeasure with the nature of worship at Perinchellur (now Taliparamba), where her shrine was alongside that of Lord Shiva’s. The next morning when the king was immersed in prayer, the temple oracle went into a trance, picked up a piece of firewood and proclaimed that where the wood fell is where the new shrine must be built. “The goddess at Attingal is referred to as Tiruvirattukkavu Bhagavati, where ‘tiruvar’ refers to Shiva and ‘aaratt’, the ritual of carrying the idol to the river, a festival that happens every once a year for nine days,” he added.