Avittathur Mahadeva Temple, Thrissur Dist, Kerala

Avittathur Mahadeva Temple – view from East

An idyllic village, one of the 64 traditional gramams (Vedic Villages), situated amongst the evergreen hills with Sage Agastya performing penance at one of its peak – The geography of Avittathur might have been so around 2000 years back.

Avittathur is just 6 km from Irinjalakuda along the Kodungallur-Thrissur state highway. We took the diversion along the Irinjalakuda Market Road to reach Pullur. From there a 2 km ride along a pot-hole road took us to Avittathur. This entire stretch is flanked by houses – few old, many new and several under construction. There are no hills  as we wildly imagined. A patch of green field in between came as a pleasant surprise. Yes, time has taken its toll and now this village is slowly protruding into a little town. 

On way to Avittathur

Soon after we entered the Perur Grama Panchayath, a steep ride up took us in front of Avittathur Siva Temple. The disillusion gathered all along the way suddenly got wiped out. There we were in front of the historic temple with all its traditional glory.

As soon as we got down, the first thing we saw was a large pit outside the Western entrance with two small temples of Sage Agastya adjacent to it. It is believed Sage Agastya performed his penance at this place. A spacious compound of 3.5 acres with peepal trees is what welcomed us inside. Sans any modern constructions this temple seems to have been spared by the tide of time. The extensive Nadapandal has real huge pillars as its support while the valia-balikkal near the inner entrance is large enough to hide the direct view of the sanctum.

But it was in fact as we stepped inside the inner prakara we felt the rich antique vibes of this temple. The temple structure has srikovil, namaskaramandapa, chuttambalam, vilakkumadam and other related structures of ancient architecture. The whole surrounding area of Srikovil is stone paved. The vatta (round) srikovil is two-storied and the Siva Linga is placed in an elevated sanctum emanating divine feel. The namaskara-mandapam is one of the unique features of this temple. With 16 pillars (4 big and 12 small), it has thickly carved wooden sculptures and architecture. The Kirata story and Palazhimadhanam carvings in it are stated as notable. However in its dilapidated form we were not able to identify them. Most of these carvings have lost its original hue – showcasing our Archaeology Department in its customary bad taste! The Nandi idol is relatively small. The well with the wooden pulley also has the stamp of tradition with it.

“There is that rich feel inside here which could be felt only in very old temples preserved in their original form” – tells Ra

As followed in most of our journeys to the temples, we avoided photography of the inner prakara respecting its sanctity.

"The real feel of this temple (or any temple to say) should be and can be felt only by visiting it in an unhurried pace – possibly in the early morning (around 6 am) or during monsoon days." - Di

Avittathur Mahadeva Temple – East Gopuram

Lord Shiva is facing towards West in this temple.  It is believed that the idol here was consecrated by Sage Agastya. However, this temple is listed as one of the 108 Siva Temples of Pracheena Kerala (which is related to Sage Parasurama).  The consecration here is done with three sankalpas - in the morning, Lord Shiva bless as Kiratamurthy, in the noon as Dakshinamoorthy and in the evening as Parvathi Parama Sivan. The temple has inscription in Vattezhuthu on either side of entrance of the Srikovil (we were not able to see this). It is believed to be of Chera dynasty (937 AD). This inscription alone makes this temple more than 1000 years old – but it should be much older than that.

Pradhikshana Route

The temple management is now handled by 10 families (it was with 40 families before). There is a registered committee “Sivakshethra Samithi” which manages the daily activities. The festival of this temple is celebrated in the month of January. In the past the festival was of 28 days. Now this is reduced to 10 days. The temple remains open from 5 to 10 in the morning and then from 5:30 to 7:30 in the evening.

“After visiting a series of temples with post-modern styles, this one has come as a big relief – we have not lost all!” – tells Abhi smiling

But many times our little villages are not just about temples. There are many other things as well which bring us cheer.

Plavu Jayan

The painting on the wall

On our journey back, at a junction close to Avittathur Church, we stopped.

“Where is the home of Jayan?” – Divs asked the auto drivers standing there.

“Which Jayan are you looking for? Do you know his family name?” – asked an old man coming closer to us.

“No. But he is known as Plavu Jayan”

“Oh Plavu Jayan!” – the old man beamed and pointing to a school said  – “Just go along the wall of this LP School and where it ends take the left. Go straight and you will find a Panchayath Road. The second house there.”

The panchayath road as we expected was just a brick red lane.  A short ride through it and we were in front of an unassuming home – sans any fences. The name board read “Kaippilly Madam”. On a wall adjacent to it we saw the painting of jackfruits and a human face.

“We have come to meet Jayan chettan.” – Di told the lady who came out.

“Oh ok. Please sit. I will call him”

In another two minutes, a clean shaved, middle aged man with bald head and a disarming smile came greeting us – “Please sit.”

“Jayan chetta, we are coming from Kodungallur and wanted to meet you. We have heard about you. Just wished to talk to you and see your home and jack fruit trees.”

“Oh sure! – this is my small home...” – Then tapping on his three-wheeler carry auto parked there he continued – “...and this is my living. I sell grocery products by carrying them to remote places. Now, I am also helping my brother in his shop.”

Then looking at a jackfruit tree planted close to his house he said – “And that is my life.” - “I have only this small plot of land. But I have planted 15 jack fruit trees in this.”

Plavu Jayan

Yes, it is this love for jackfruit tree which has transformed Kaippilly Raman Jayan into Plavu Jayan as he is fondly known as.

Born in a poor family with eight siblings, it was a jackfruit tree which helped them from starving. From then onwards his emotional bond with the jackfruit tree started. He began to plant the jackfruit saplings from his school days. By the time he was in his seventh year in school he received his fond name – Plavu Jayan. He claims to have already planted 10,000 jackfruit saplings. His dream is to plant 1 lakh jackfruit trees.

“I am not in a hurry to plant 1 lakh saplings. I make sure that each sapling grows up well.”

“I germinate the seeds at my home using organic method till then grow up. Then as I travel in my auto, I plant them on the flanks of the road or wherever I feel it is possible. I do a follow up by watering them when I travel again. Most of the time people co-operate with me. But I do not do this for any monetary benefits.”

As we were talking, Jayan chettan’s wife brought peppered jaggery tea and a photo album. He showed us the pictures of the different varieties of jackfruit trees and gave us a short description of them. In fact, he has two books written in Malayalam just on jackfruit tree (“Plavu” which is now in its 3^rd edition and another is "Plavum Njanum")

In his book, on a personal note he states – “My day starts looking at the honey jackfruit tree (theinvarikka) through my window in the early morning. When I feel depressed or have any worries I go and sit in its shade. I feel them talking to me and in sometime I will be back to my good energy.”

His devoted passion for jackfruit trees has brought him several laurels – The Civil Society National Award – 2011 and State Environment Award – 2001 being the notable ones. Poet Sugathakumari has written the preface for his book and he has received a nostalgic letter from Poet Vishnu Narayanan Namboothiri. And now, he has been approached to create a “Plavu Gramam” (Jackfruit Tree Village) near Shoranur.

Yet for the whole time we were with him, this man seemed truly modest and unbelievably down to earth. For him his love for jackfruit is beyond all these material gains.

After our short discussion, it was time for him to leave. - “I have to start now to reach the shop. You can watch these. I will have to leave now.”

The Man and his Machine

 As he took his auto and drove out, we were reading out the lines from his book –

"I have told by children to setup my grave under the jackfruit tree (theinvarikka) behind my home. I cannot imagine a life without jackfruit trees. My world is of jackfruit trees.”