Temples & Legends

The ancient Attukal Bhagavathy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, is popularly described as the Sabarimala of women. The annual Pongala festval, when the women offer the consecrated “pongala” rice to the Mother, is considered to be the largest gathering of women devotees in the world, finding mention even in the Guinness book of world records.

The temple deity is Attukal Bhagavathy Amma, who is believed to be the divinised form of Kannagi, the central character of the tamil epic “Silappadikaram”.

The story of Kannagi

Kannagi was a pious woman. She was married to Kovalan, a prosperous merchant. Kovalan was a good man, but when vices get hold of men, even the wisest of them act like fools. So it happened with Kovalan. He was so infatuated by the beauty and grace of the dancer Madhavi, that he squandered away all his wealth on her. And when she spurned him, and all his so called friends refused to help him out, he came back to his senses. He begged Kannagi for forgiveness, and promised to start afresh from a new beginning.  Kannagi graciously forgave him. She told him, “Let us go to the temple town of Madurai. There, by the grace of Mother, you will be able to restart your business. You can sell some of my jewellery, and that will give you capital to start your business.” Kovalan gratefully thanked her, “Thank you dear, for standing with me when everyone else turned their backs on me. Now I realise how fortunate I am to have you as my wife.”

Together, they set out for Madurai, with their hearts full of hope. In Madurai, Kannagi handed one of her anklets to Kovalan and told him, “You can sell this. This will give you enough money to start business.” Kovalan set out with Kannagi’s anklet. He went into a jewellery shop. The jeweller looked at the anklet closely. It resembled the queen’s stolen anklet for which the king had declared an enormous reward. He felt excited. Now he would hand over the thief and the anklet to the king’s guards. He would earn a huge reward and fame. Greed blinded him so much, that it did not occur to him that he might be making a mistake. He asked Kovalan to wait, and he quietly summoned the King’s guards. 

Kovalan wondered that the jeweller was taking an unusually long time, but then he was lost in thoughts about Kannagi. Suddenly he was surrounded by the king’s guards. The chief guard spoke roughly to him, “Come with me. Be quick. Don’t try to run away, you thief!” Kovalan was too surprised to move. He was handcuffed, his mouth was gagged and he was dragged to the king’s court. He tried to ask what his mistake was, but no one listened to him. 

The king was so angry with the audacity of this man for stealing his queen’s anklet that he ordered that the thief should be beheaded immediately. Kovalan was not even given a chance to speak before he was mercilessly beheaded.

The news reached Kannagi. She was so infuriated, that she stormed straight past the king’s guards right into the middle of the court. With blazing eyes, she reprimanded the king, “How dare you!! How dare you kill an innocent man without even verifying if he really is a thief! I can very well prove his innocence to you!” She asked the queen, “What does your anklet contain?” She replied, “Pearls!” “Well, mine contains rubies!” She broke the other anklet she had brought and rubies were scattered on the floor. “Now break the other anklet and see what it contains!”. The king broke the anklet and to his dismay, rubies fell out. He realised how terrible a mistake he had committed. He had punished an innocent man without even giving him a chance to speak. He fell at Kannagi’s feet begging forgiveness. But nothing could pacify her. She stormed out of the palace. She cursed the town, “Let this entire town which was a mute spectator when my innocent husband was beheaded,  be burned down to cinders!” Kannagi, being a pious woman, her words bore fruit, and immediately the entire town started burning. 

But still she would not be pacified. Then Devi Meenakshi appeared before her. Seeing Mother’s beautiful compassionate face, Kannagi broke down. She asked Mother,”Why did it happen? Why did my innocent husband have to die?” Mother told her, “That is because he had sinned in his previous birth. He had sentenced an innocent man to death. So he had to pay for his Karma. Now don’t let other innocent people suffer. You alone can stop this raging fire. ” 

Now Kannagi calmed down. She brought down a cool rain which drenched out the fire. She sought Mother’s blessings and  later attained salvation. 

It is believed that when Kannagi left Madurai and went to Kodungallur via Kanyakumari, she stopped at Attukal. There she took the form of a little girl. An old man was sitting on the banks of a river. The girl went to him and asked him whether he could help her cross it. Surprised to find the young girl alone, he took her home. After a while she disappeared. She came back in his sleep and asked him to build a temple where he found 3 golden lines in his grove. He went ahead and did the same, and it is said that this is at the location of the present Attukal.

Another story says that ‘Attukal devi’ is Bhadrakali, born from the third eye of lord Shiva to kill the demon king Daruka. ‘Bhadra’ means good and ‘Kali’ means goddess of time. So Bhadrakali is often referred as the goddess of prosperity, time and salvation.

The temple

Anyone visiting the Attukal temple is first struck by the beauty and charm of the temple architecture. The temple structure is a harmonious conglomeration of both Kerala and Tamil styles of architecture. The beautifully carved figures of Mahishasura Mardhini, Goddess Kali, Rajarajeswari, Sree Parvathy with Lord Shiva and various other depictions of the Goddess in and around the temple are undoubtedly the work of a gifted artist. Equally well presented around the corridors surrounding the temple, are the depiction of various other Gods and the epic stories of the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu the “Dasavathara”. On either side of the elegant front gopura – are the icons based on the story of Goddess Kannagi. On the southern Gopura, the puranic story of “Dakshayaga” is depicted in sculptures. The decorated gate at the entrance of the temple is by itself an excellent example of architectural beauty.

There are two idols of the Goddess in the sanctum sanctorum. The original idol is preserved in all its pristine beauty covered in ornamental gold embedded with installed stones.

The second idol of the Goddess is installed besides the original one. Within the temple corridors are also installed carvings and sculptures of Lord Ganesha, the serpent God and Lord Shiva. At the centre of the Sanctum within the Sreekovil, at a consecrated spot is installed the idol of the Goddess Attukal Bhagavathy emanating light and lustre to all.

This year, the Pongala festival is on March 7th..! Do watch out…! and may Mother bless your life with prosperity and abundance ☺️🙏🙏