The heritage village Kalpathy
Hello Readers,
My previous blog was about the Vadakkanthara temple and the area around it. Mentioned about my grandpa and promised to write about Kalpathy in my next blog. So here I am back.
Kalpathy is the first village to be declared as a heritage village by Govt of Kerala. Kalpathy is older than 1425 A.D as that was the year in which the famous Kalpathy Viswanatha Swamy temple built. Kalpathy is an Agraharam. The name "Agraharam" originates from the fact that the agraharams have lines of houses on either side of the road and the temple to the village god at the centre, thus resembling a garland around the temple. According to the traditional Hindu practice of architecture and town-planning, an agraharam is held to be two rows of houses running north–south on either side of a road at one end of which would be a temple to Shiva and at the other end, a temple to Vishnu.
The story is that some where in 1425 A.D. the Palakkad Brahmins refused to offer ritualistic services to the then rulers of Palakkad. So the rulers invited Tamil Brahmins to Kerala and gifted them land to settle down. The migrations were from two different centers of Tamil Nadu – Tirunelveli and Tanjore. Thus 18 Agraharams were established in Palakkad. Kalpathy is the oldest and most prominent. It can be regarded as a typical agraharam. The two old agraharams of Old and New Kalpathy are separated by the Viswanatha Swamy Temple in the east and the Lakshmi Narayana Temple in the west meeting the definition that I mentioned earlier. The legend associated with the temple is that a tamil brahmin widow has gone to Kashi and brought a lingam from there and installed it in the present site. The temple is said to be 700 + years old. As per the saying Kashiyil pakuthi Kalpathi (Half of Kashi is in Kalpathi)
These villages were carefully laid out to enable the residents of all the houses to get a `darshan' of the temples at the end of their respective streets . The villages were also built along the river . The agraharams were constructed according to its own principles of architecture. Each house opened out into the street.
For me the first memories of Kalpathy is associated with my grandpa of course. There is a tradition with the Nairs in Palakkad (as I know) during the month of Karkadakam (Carpedium or equivalent to Shravan in Northern India) people visits most of the temples that they could. My grandpa used to follow this. Kalpathy temple visit was a part of the "Karkadaka temple visits". With him it was fun as he used to explain the stories associated with the temple, point out to the architecture of the area, other special thing which normally several people fail to see in spite of the same visible to them. The temple is some 2-3 kms from his ancestral home. He has told us about his visits to the temple during his young age and also how the temple used to look then.
Second memory is from the visits during "Kalpathy Theru" or the Kaplathy Chariot festival. The God is taken in huge chariot made of wood and decorated with flowers across the Agraharam. This is one of the most prominent festivals in Palakkad and happens in the month of November. It lasts for 10 days with last 3 days as most important days when the chariots will be on the streets. The chariots are pulled by several hundreds of devotees and the Chariots are pulled through the streets of Kalpathy. Each chariot belongs to one of the God installed at one end of the village and they travel in the chariots, during the festival, blessing the devotees and meeting each other. During the time lot of way side vendors occupy the streets of Kalpathy. You can buy different types of candies, toys, balloons, pori (puffed rice) etc. There were two major attractions for me when I was a small boy. First one was steam boat which used to go round and round on a basin of water, I never got any during my childhood, and second was called as cheeni panthu (china ball) another version of yo-yo. Every year we used to buy cheeni panthu, pori and some sweets. That was the time of year when you can hear lots of vedic hymns being recited by the priests in unison. During the chariot festival the non residents of Kalpathy who are residing at various parts of the world as a part of their job come back only to attend Kalpathy Theru.
Once the rush of the Kelpathy Theru is over, then kalpathy is a silent sleepy village during day time. If the Palakkadan heat is not there then taking a walk through the streets of Kalpathy is a treat to your sensory organs. You will get the beautiful aroma of coffee coming out from homes and then there is a shop which sells coffee powder near the Kundambalam. They have got stock of some 3-4 varieties of coffee, you need to tell them which one you want, they will powder it in a mill and give to you. Similarly you can find varieties of pickles. Lime, tender mango, cut mango and several types of vegetable pickles. Remembering that sensorial delight itself is making me nostalgic.
These are some very small contributors for the overall sensory experience. Main contributors are the evening snacks like bajjis, vadas and bondas. You can find lot of shops selling mulagu bajji (chilli pakoda), parippu vada (dal vada), uzhunnuvada (medu vada), vazhakka bhajji (raw banana pakoda) etc. They taste awesome with the chilli chutney that is given. Normally these are served in banana leaves, which makes it even more tastier. There will be one or two persons normally making these foods on a continuous basis till their batter is over. Normally in 2-3 hours their batter gets over but still there will be some customers waiting to be served. I always observed any food when packed in banana leaves, in hot condition, becomes even more tastier. I being a gourmet any travel or any trip is incomplete unless there is food involved. The picture is that of Aishwarya home mess in Kalpathy. Its my favorite place when ever I go home. They make bajjis, bondas etc. in evening starting from 3 pm and it mostly finishes by 6-7 pm. Rest of the times there are several snacks and staples available for you to buy from there. When ever I go home I visit Aishwarya on the very first evening to get lot of mulagu bajji (chilli pakoda) bonda (a varient of vada of vada pav), then parippu vada (dal vada) with lot of chutney. I prepare by having a light lunch on the day when I am going to Aishwarya home mess, so that I can accommodate as much of these snacks as possible. I have some more such places in Palakkad to satisfy the cravings for these type of snacks but Aishwarya home mess is the best for dal vadas and mulagu bajjis as per me. I have one more ritualistic trip to Aishwarya home mess that normally happens two days before my return when I start packing. Then I go and get lot of murukku (chakli), thamara valayam kondattom, payar kondattom and kayappakka kondattom (frymes made of lotus stems, long beans and bitter gourd). These kondattoms are the typical accompaniments for having typical, simplest, Palakkadan lunch consisting of rice with curd and salt plus a piece of salted tender mango with green chilli crushed and mixed with it.
I think I wrote a bit too much about food as now my mouth is watering like anything. So let me have a Palakkadan lunch without the pickle.... I will be back with more about Kalpathy and my Palakkad.
My previous blog was about the Vadakkanthara temple and the area around it. Mentioned about my grandpa and promised to write about Kalpathy in my next blog. So here I am back.
Kalpathy is the first village to be declared as a heritage village by Govt of Kerala. Kalpathy is older than 1425 A.D as that was the year in which the famous Kalpathy Viswanatha Swamy temple built. Kalpathy is an Agraharam. The name "Agraharam" originates from the fact that the agraharams have lines of houses on either side of the road and the temple to the village god at the centre, thus resembling a garland around the temple. According to the traditional Hindu practice of architecture and town-planning, an agraharam is held to be two rows of houses running north–south on either side of a road at one end of which would be a temple to Shiva and at the other end, a temple to Vishnu.
The story is that some where in 1425 A.D. the Palakkad Brahmins refused to offer ritualistic services to the then rulers of Palakkad. So the rulers invited Tamil Brahmins to Kerala and gifted them land to settle down. The migrations were from two different centers of Tamil Nadu – Tirunelveli and Tanjore. Thus 18 Agraharams were established in Palakkad. Kalpathy is the oldest and most prominent. It can be regarded as a typical agraharam. The two old agraharams of Old and New Kalpathy are separated by the Viswanatha Swamy Temple in the east and the Lakshmi Narayana Temple in the west meeting the definition that I mentioned earlier. The legend associated with the temple is that a tamil brahmin widow has gone to Kashi and brought a lingam from there and installed it in the present site. The temple is said to be 700 + years old. As per the saying Kashiyil pakuthi Kalpathi (Half of Kashi is in Kalpathi)
These villages were carefully laid out to enable the residents of all the houses to get a `darshan' of the temples at the end of their respective streets . The villages were also built along the river . The agraharams were constructed according to its own principles of architecture. Each house opened out into the street.
For me the first memories of Kalpathy is associated with my grandpa of course. There is a tradition with the Nairs in Palakkad (as I know) during the month of Karkadakam (Carpedium or equivalent to Shravan in Northern India) people visits most of the temples that they could. My grandpa used to follow this. Kalpathy temple visit was a part of the "Karkadaka temple visits". With him it was fun as he used to explain the stories associated with the temple, point out to the architecture of the area, other special thing which normally several people fail to see in spite of the same visible to them. The temple is some 2-3 kms from his ancestral home. He has told us about his visits to the temple during his young age and also how the temple used to look then.
Second memory is from the visits during "Kalpathy Theru" or the Kaplathy Chariot festival. The God is taken in huge chariot made of wood and decorated with flowers across the Agraharam. This is one of the most prominent festivals in Palakkad and happens in the month of November. It lasts for 10 days with last 3 days as most important days when the chariots will be on the streets. The chariots are pulled by several hundreds of devotees and the Chariots are pulled through the streets of Kalpathy. Each chariot belongs to one of the God installed at one end of the village and they travel in the chariots, during the festival, blessing the devotees and meeting each other. During the time lot of way side vendors occupy the streets of Kalpathy. You can buy different types of candies, toys, balloons, pori (puffed rice) etc. There were two major attractions for me when I was a small boy. First one was steam boat which used to go round and round on a basin of water, I never got any during my childhood, and second was called as cheeni panthu (china ball) another version of yo-yo. Every year we used to buy cheeni panthu, pori and some sweets. That was the time of year when you can hear lots of vedic hymns being recited by the priests in unison. During the chariot festival the non residents of Kalpathy who are residing at various parts of the world as a part of their job come back only to attend Kalpathy Theru.
These are some very small contributors for the overall sensory experience. Main contributors are the evening snacks like bajjis, vadas and bondas. You can find lot of shops selling mulagu bajji (chilli pakoda), parippu vada (dal vada), uzhunnuvada (medu vada), vazhakka bhajji (raw banana pakoda) etc. They taste awesome with the chilli chutney that is given. Normally these are served in banana leaves, which makes it even more tastier. There will be one or two persons normally making these foods on a continuous basis till their batter is over. Normally in 2-3 hours their batter gets over but still there will be some customers waiting to be served. I always observed any food when packed in banana leaves, in hot condition, becomes even more tastier. I being a gourmet any travel or any trip is incomplete unless there is food involved. The picture is that of Aishwarya home mess in Kalpathy. Its my favorite place when ever I go home. They make bajjis, bondas etc. in evening starting from 3 pm and it mostly finishes by 6-7 pm. Rest of the times there are several snacks and staples available for you to buy from there. When ever I go home I visit Aishwarya on the very first evening to get lot of mulagu bajji (chilli pakoda) bonda (a varient of vada of vada pav), then parippu vada (dal vada) with lot of chutney. I prepare by having a light lunch on the day when I am going to Aishwarya home mess, so that I can accommodate as much of these snacks as possible. I have some more such places in Palakkad to satisfy the cravings for these type of snacks but Aishwarya home mess is the best for dal vadas and mulagu bajjis as per me. I have one more ritualistic trip to Aishwarya home mess that normally happens two days before my return when I start packing. Then I go and get lot of murukku (chakli), thamara valayam kondattom, payar kondattom and kayappakka kondattom (frymes made of lotus stems, long beans and bitter gourd). These kondattoms are the typical accompaniments for having typical, simplest, Palakkadan lunch consisting of rice with curd and salt plus a piece of salted tender mango with green chilli crushed and mixed with it. I think I wrote a bit too much about food as now my mouth is watering like anything. So let me have a Palakkadan lunch without the pickle.... I will be back with more about Kalpathy and my Palakkad.
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