Marriage stopped because 'bride' became menstruous; there is a temple in Kerala where fragrance and red flowers are not allowed

KOCHI: Fragrant flowers and sandalwood are prohibited for Cheranalloor Sree Karthyayani Devi. Women are not allowed to enter the temple wearing fragrant flowers like jasmine and Spanish jasmine. No marriage ceremony is held in the temple. Even before the Devaswom Board banned arali flowers in temples, it was banned in the Sree Karthyayani Devi temple.

Male elephants are not allowed in the temple premises. The procession is done on top of female elephants. There are no male deities as sub-deities. Only lotus, thetti and tulsi are mainly used for worship. Nandyarvattam and Shankhpushpi can be used. Red Hibiscus is not used for worship since the Goddess is in a sattvic state. Sandalwood and camphor are of no value. Legend has it that when the goddess, adorned with all her ornaments, set out to marry the Lord, she encountered obstacles in her path and returned disappointed.

Set out to garland Shri Vaidyanathan

The goddess set out to Cheranallur Marapparambu Shri Vaidyanathan Temple to offer her wedding garland to the Lord. The journey was interrupted as the goddess became menstruous when she reached the place with a banyan tree and a bridge in the Palakkal area, where the container road now passes. The goddess abandoned her wedding attire and returned. After resting in the 16kal mandapam that night, the goddess entered the sanctum sanctorum at 6:00 am the next morning after arattu. This procession to and from Marapparambu is performed as a ritual every year for the festival. The Cheranallur Bhagavathy is considered the sister of Kumaranallur Karthiyaani. The temple is under the Cochin Devaswom Board.

"Karthyayini Devi resides in the form of a girl in the morning, in the form of a teenager in the afternoon and in the form of a youth in the evening."

O. Chandrasekaran,

Former President of the Temple Advisory Committee