ABOUT MY PANDALAM PART1 Dearfriends ,
Therewere a few postings to me to suggesting me to write about my native placePandalam. Some of the information is written after referring Wikipedia Hope anenjoyable reading for Pandalam and nearby native members. To restrict thelength of mail descriptions are minimised. Sincerely, GopalaKrishnan 26-09-09 Edited and reposted on 27-6-2021. R. GopalaKrishnan 1. Introduction Pandalam is in the Pathanamthitta District of Kerala stateafter the formation of the new district about 20 years back. Earlier to that itwas in Alleppy District. WhileI joined telecom department in 1964, I had my medical fitness from DMO Alleppyat that time. I still recollect after medical check-up, I bought Payasam fromAmbalappuzha Krishnaswamy temple. TheCoordinates of Pandalam are Lattitude 9.32°N and Longitude 76.73°E Pandalamis a major Panchayat in Pathanamthitta District now. It is one among thefastest growing towns in Kerala, India. It is a holy town. Pandalam is also awell-known educational and health care centre in central Travancore. The townlies on southern side of river Achankovil. The northern side of the river isKulanada. Valiyakoyikkal where Ayyappa the adopted son of Pandalam king broughtup is on the southern side. Pandalamhosts a lot of educational institutions ranging from reputed schools to PostGraduate, Training, Ayurveda, Medical and Engineering Colleges. TheNSS high school Pandalam was the 2nd model high school afterTrivandrum model school. The Pandalam NSS College was still under constructionwhen I was studying in 1964. Postgraduate courses were introduced in thecollege later by 1966’s. The N SS medical mission is the most renowned hospitalof the place. 2. Legend Accordingto legend, Lord Ayyappan, the presiding deity of Sabarimala had his humansojourn at Pandalam as the son of the King of Pandalam. During Sabarimalapilgrimage season, devotees come to Pandalam in large numbers to worship thedeity of Valiyakoikkal Temple near the Pandalam Palace. This temple is on thebanks of river Achenkovil. Three days prior to the Makaravilakku festival, thesacred ornaments of Lord Ayyappan (known as Thiruvabharanam) are taken in a procession fromPandalam to Sabarimala. Beingadopted son of Pandalam king, if any death happen in royal family, the Ayyappa temple is closed forworship on the days of pula. Apilgrim shelter is available close to temple for the convenience of pilgrims.Now all the palaces are renowned ones leaving very few. 2.1Other famous pilgrim centres Otherfamous pilgrim centres of Pandalam are the Thazath Mahadevar Temple, KurampalaPuthankavil Bhagavathi Temple, Thonnallur Pattupurakkavu Bhagavathi temple,Kaipuzha Sree Krishna Swami Temple, Poozhikkad Sree Dharma Sastha temple,Kadakkad Mayayakshikkavu Sree Krishna Swami Temple, Kulanada Devi templeand Karakkad Sastha temple. Pilgrimcentres of other religions are the centuries old Kadakkad Juma Masjid,Thumpamon Orthodox Cathedral and Kurampala St Thomas Orthodox Church. Kadakkadis having more population of Muslims. These Muslims talk Malayalam and they also know Tamil. When they talk to Iyers most talk in Tamil . Pandalam is a place of totalcommunal harmony. Mymatam was on the western side of Kaipuzha Krishna swamy temple. Being the thirdson born to my parents I was named Gopala Krishnan after the deity. This templewas my resting place during vacations reading Library books in the afternoonsin the cool granite floorings. Itwas told to me by my father a Naga idol was in our home oncegot excavated and placed in the temple, when I was a boy of 10-12. Thisnaga idol is worshipped with oil bath and adorning with turmeric powder onimportant occasions in the family. Normal worship is done as per daily scheduleof the temple. As partof my samskara I have taken my son, to the temple showed the naga idol and itsworship done by us. TheKulanada Devi temple is about one KMaway by the side of Kulanada market. Still I recollect my sister in law went and offered Therali Vazhipad, during theconstruction of my home when hard soil did not come up even after digging 6feet for foundation. After the vazhipad , the next day we found hard soil tostart foundation!!! Thetemple of Thazhathu Mahadevar is a rich temple and the Utsavam there was aharam for all of us in boyhood days. It is told the northern side compound wallwas constructed by Bhoothathan close to river in granite. The work is rough .Achhankovil River current hit the wall and pass. 3.History Itis believed that the Pandya kings of Tamil Nadu fled to Pandalam after losing abattle and settled here in the land they bought from Kaipuzha Thampan, Naduvazhi. The Pandya dynasty had provinces on either side of the Western Ghats. TheKing of Pandalam helped Marthanda Varma to conquer the Kayamkulam province. Inreturn for this help, Marthanda Varma did not attempt to attack and conquerPandalam, during the expansion of his kingdom. The princely state of Pandalam had extended up toThodupuzha in Idukki district once. Pandalam was added to Travancore in1820 and aduthoon system was extended to royal members. Aduthoon was a royalty amount for the attaching of the kingdom to royalmembers for their survival. Thiswas stopped about 50 years back after royal family developments. However itaffected some families at that time. 4.Trade and commerce Thecenturies old Kurunthottayam market, (now known as the Pandalam market) is oneamong the largest agricultural markets in Central Travancore. Situatedin the heart of this township till late 1990s, this market was later shifted toa more convenient place by the Pandalam - Mavelikkara road. Pandalam is now amodern township with adequate facilities, well connected by road to otherplaces . TheKuruthottayam market is currently theprivate bus stand . About half a kilometre from Pandalam junction we are having the KSRTC bus stand now.Just like a memory of Kurunthottayam market we are having three vegetable shopsgiving fresh vegetables all the times. The cucumber, bitter gourd, Keralabrinjal etc from the shops are purchased by many even today totake to other places for their malanadan quality. Themarket is now the private bus stand. At least 50 autos might be available till 9PM near private bus stand. 5. Politics Pandalamis a panchayat and an assembly constituency. The panchayat was once convertedto a municipality and later converted back to a panchayat. Pandalam has strongpresence of all major political parties of Kerala. 6.How to reach TheRoad, Rail and Air distances to Pandalam are listed below: Road 105km to the north of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala .120 km tothe south of Kochi, the state's commercial capital . Rail- 14km from Chengannur railway station .15 km from Mavelikkara railway station . 16km from Kayamkulam railway station Air- 119km from Thiruvananthapuram International Airport 140 km from Kochi International Airport I will continue in next part. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/383371909.3381923.1624774237565%40mail.yahoo.com.
