Koodalmanikyam Bharatha Temple, Irinjalakuda – Festivals

Koodalmanikyam Bharatha Temple, Irinjalakuda – Festivals

Annual Festival:

The annual festival of this temple is celebrated for ten days during the Malayalam month of Medam (Apr-May). The first day of the festival is calculated by the appearance of the Uthram asterism and signified by hoisting a ceremonial flag (the start day falls one day after the famous Thrissur Pooram festival in nearby Thrissur). Each day of the festival, a Seeveli (procession of caparisoned temple elephants) is held twice, once in the morning and once at night accompanied by panchari melam (sacred music).

Seventeen elephants takes part in the procession. Two features of the Seeveli are unique to this temple. The first is that two baby elephants are included in the procession, one standing on each side of the elephant carrying the deity and the second is the headdresses (netti pattam in Malayalam) of seven elephants are made of pure gold & the rest are made of pure silver. The last two days of the festival feature panchavadyam (sacred music from an orchestra of five instruments), and the festival ends at the Thiruvonam asterism.

Thriputhari:

Thriputhari is celebrated on the Thiruvonam day in the Malayalam month of Thulam (Oct-Nov) in this temple. It is a day of feasting when the newly harvested rice is first cooked and offered to deity and then is partaken of by the devotees. The day after the feast, there is a special offering called Mukkudi, which is considered to be a divine medicine for all ailments. Mukkudi is an Ayurvedic mixture, the formula of which being prescribed by Kuttancherry Mooss, one of the Ashtavaidyas.

Other Festivals:

Annual prathishta dinam during Kumba month, Ayyankavu Thalappoli during Meenam month, Thrikettu Vechu Namaskaram during Edava month, Illam Nira during Karkidaka month and Maha Shivaratri are the other festivals celebrated here.