Massive fire breaks out at Chottanikkara Devi Temple, tragedy averted

KOCHI: A fire broke out in the revered Chottanikkara Devi Temple on Monday creating panic among devotees and temple officials. A big tragedy was averted after the officials and locals successfully extinguished the fire in no time. Since Monday was a holiday, there was a big rush in the temple more than what was observed on normal days.

At around 6:30 in the morning, the fire ignited from the stove placed inside a room used for preparing offerings for the Pantheeradi pooja. The fire soon morphed into a bigger one and spread to the roof. It is assumed that the roof suffered major damages in the fire accident. In the coming days, it is expected of the temple priests to conduct Pariharakriya (resolutions) to ward off evil.

The room for preparing the offerings is exclusive for the priests as it holds similar importance to the sacred sanctum where the idol is placed. In this room, the offerings are prepared using wood and no gas cylinders are used. When the fire broke out, the priests and other devotees quickly acted by spraying water on the room. The fire was thus doused within 10 minutes.

Since it was Pantheeradi pooja, only a few devotees were inside the Nalambalam area. After the incident, the darshan was stopped for a while. It was only after re-preparing the offerings that the darshan resumed, this time only through one side of the temple. Later, the Vedic head Tantri arrived at the temple and performed a Punyaham (cleansing ritual). After this, the restrictions were lifted.