KOCHI: The Covid period was one of the harshest periods for mankind. With troubles all around, some turned to the digital world as an avenue to keep in touch with the outside world. That’s how Ranjini Vinod from Thrissur started her YouTube channel — ‘Ranjini Vinod Vlogs’ — with the encouragement of her sister. At first, the channel contained cooking videos. Now, it deals with a unique subject — the temples of Kerala.
Cooking was Ranjini’s passion and that is why she started the channel just after Onam in 2020. However, there were many cooking channels already on YouTube. So within months, she decided to make videos on the history of places and temples she visited.
“The first temple vlog happened accidentally. During the lockdown days, I got a chance to visit Trikkur Mahadeva Temple, a rock-cut temple near Thrissur. While I went there, my husband took some videos of me narrating the history of the temple. And when we reached back home, we decided to upload it,” she explains.
“It got good feedback, especially from the aged people who couldn’t go to temples because of the restrictions.” Those positive comments made her shift her content in a new direction. She also uses shlokas or chants associated with each temple. The information provided includes the history of the place, the connection of the temple with the place name, if any, the uniqueness or peculiarities, old folklore etc.
“The main goal is that each video should be simple and should contain important facts, not speculations. I do not care about its reach or the business angle, but I demand the contents to be true and should provide the right information,” she says.
Ranjini credits her childhood for her unending curiosity about mythology. “It is like refreshing my childhood memories and unleashing the story bundle. Hearing new tales from the local people, who have lived near the temple is exciting. It’s like re-reading ‘Aithihyamala’ by Kottarathil Shankunni, which is a never-ending reservoir of such tales,” she adds.
Most of the temple vlogs are shot on Sunday. She also believes that disseminating proper knowledge about the temple to the public will surely elevate their mind and will make their visit interesting. Knowing the history, unique practises, details about architecture, etc, will make the visit memorable.
“For example, in the Rappal Sreekrishna Temple, children are treated as gods. Once every year, a special offering called ‘Dadhyannam’ is provided where kids are fed with specially prepared curd rice, said to be the food prepared for Krishna and Pandavas during the Kurukshetra war,” she says.
Another interesting lore she found was about Thiruvanchikulam Mahadeva Temple near Kodungallur. “Here, one can see Cheraman Perumal and Sundaramoorthi Nayanar in the same sanctum sanctorum. The temple also contains the highest number of ‘upa devathas’. Also, Palliyara Pooja is not seen in any other Kerala temple. It’s for youngsters who wish to get married,” she laughs.
Ranjini, while handling her career in the software field, has also authored a book ‘Kshetra Nadakaliloode’ which comprises information about 50 temples. The book was released last year. “My regular viewers encouraged me to turn my content into a book so that it can be preserved for a long time,” she says.