If people of Krishnapuram of Kayamkulam (Alappuzha district) lost some valuable thing, the first thing they do is to go to Kurakkavu temple. Offering betel leaves known as ‘Vettila parathu’ is the main ritual of Kayamkulam Kappilmekku Kurakkavu Devi. It’s believed that if you fly betel leaves in front of Kurakkavilamma, you will get back your lost property.

Offering with betel leaves is a part of Vishnu rituals. Yet, rituals with the name ‘Vettila parathu’ are not common in Kerala. ‘Vetta’ literally means betel leaf. You can do this ritual with the advice of an astrologer or without it and most commonly done if you lose valuable property like money, gold, documents etc.  If you are doing the ritual with the advice of an astrologer (jyothi sastram – astrology principles), number of betel leaves is significant, otherwise not. Just you need to take a wide guess of a number in your mind and offer exactly that number of betel leaves to the temple.

It’s believed that years back a big temple was located here. It may be a folk tale or not, told by old people. But most of old people only remember a ‘Kavu’ here. Kavu is a type of small temples of Kerala without any constructed building and the shrine may be placed beneath a tree and temple premises surrounded with abundant trees. ‘Vettila parathu’ is the main offering from old days. It’s believed that this Kavu is blessed by the presence of ‘Giri Devatha’ – a form of Lord Siva. Bhadrakali before ‘Dharaka vadam (killing of Dharaka) and Parama siva in the form Kiratha Murthy are the main shrines here. Peculiarity of this Kavu is that you should equally divide the offerings and give them both – either it’s pushpanjali or oil. Offerings to both the deities should be equal.

This temple is famous for ‘Kaarya Sidhi pooja’. This pooja is conducted on all 2^nd and last Sundays of all Malayalam months in between 10 am and 11 am. About 30k believers reach here on every ‘Kaarya Sidhi pooja’ day. It’s believed that if you attend 21 ‘Kaarya Sidhi pooja’ without any break and witness pooja and abhishekam, you will get solution to all your sorrows for sure. Peculiarity of ‘Kaarya Sidhi pooja’ is social recitation of mantras/poems. Once should first fly betel leaves and reach for chanting slokas. After Kalasabhishekam, devotees will be given ‘prasad’ and coins. Once rituals are completed devotees should participate in ‘Anna danam’ (food from temple) before they return back.

Annual celebrations are conducted during Thiruvathira and Punartham days of Dhanu month. Thousands participate in Thiruvathira Pongal (pongala). Also on all Atham star days, there will be lemon lamp pooja and Devi Bhagavatha parayanam (reading Devi Bhagavatham).   

Article Posted By : Sandhya Rani  On July 01, 2013lView All Articles

Really an amazing ritual

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Keywords :
Kurakkavu temple rituals , Kurakkavilamma