It was the first Sunday of the much awaited monsoon month of Kerala. We started our journey early in the morning - watching the fading darkness over the purple horizon and the pinch of the tender chill of the south-west monsoon breeze.
On a rusty RX-100 and a modest Splendour, we drove along the Kodungallur-Thrissur state highway - diverse, dense and deceptive traffic being its norm. Travelling down 25km, before reaching Thrissur town, we took a diversion to a sub-road towards East. Within no time, the weary feel of the fast traffic abruptly disappeared and we were catapulted to the slow humming rhythm of a vintage village.
Yes. We were at Peruvanam – the birth place of Kerala’s percussion art form – the ‘Panchari Melam’.
As we drove down through its narrow lanes in the early morning monsoon drizzle, we were feeling the comfort of the soothing halo of this simple village. By keeping a reasonable distance from the fallacies of city life, this village seems to have so far managed to preserve its vintage quality.
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Peruvanam Village
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Peruvanam is however known to the outside world through its connoisseurs in traditional percussion art form (Melam) – Peruvanam Kuttan Marar being the present maestro. Right in the middle of this village is the majestic Peruvanam Siva Temple which stands as the guardian of its rich tradition.
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Peruvanam Mahadeva Temple - Another View
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Supposedly built in 11th -12th Century A.D this temple has similarities with Thrissur Vadakkumnathan and Triprayar Srirama temple in its architecture. The 6 acres of temple compound is rich in greenery and sprawling trees. In such a magnificent atmosphere, other than the sound of light drizzle and the chirp of birds, the only other thing we heard was the distant rhythmic beats of the percussion students. Few natives offering the prayers in their traditional attire reflected the intrinsic quality of this village.
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Peruvanam Mahadeva Temple Compound
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If from outside it is magnificent, from inside it is mind blowing. The intricate wooden embellishments, the grand architectural tri-tala vimana of Madathilappan and the surroundings rich in serenity simply swept us away. “Where were we till now? How we missed this village even being so close to it?” – After the prayers, as we strolled around watching everything in great awe, we three were going through the same emotion - as though we have just excavated out an architectural wonder!
After spending around an hour in the temple, enjoying the drizzle and relaxing under a banyan tree we roamed around the village. Close to the temple is the modest home of percussion maestro Peruvanam Kuttan Marar. On the West there is the large pond and a paddy field. All around the temple there are numerous brick red lanes – which could be found nowadays in very few Kerala villages.
In one such narrow lane, we came across the entrance to Anushtaana Kala Abhyasana Kendram (Temple Arts Training Centre) which trains the students in various temple art forms. Interestingly even being Sunday, it was open. However, more interestingly, there was no one inside or outside the building. The building as such is a traditional naalu-kettu (two storied traditional home of Kerala). We went in to explore its naalu-kettu architecture. The wooden pillars, the cobweb filled walls, the center compound (nadu-muttam) with the glow from natural sunlight, corridors in semi-darkness, and the altar for the students - all being yet another refreshing experience for us.
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| Inside the Anushtaana Kala Abhyasana Kendram |
After all our explorations in this splendid village and enjoying its soothing surroundings, we slowly started our journey back – painting ourselves as the great Indiana Jones archaeologists of Kerala.
Foot Note:
Yes - There is Thrissur Pooram, There is Aaraatupuzha Pooram, There is Tripunithura Utsavam - all famous for its Panchari, Pandi or Panchavaadyam - Yet what is never to be missed, and especially if you are a native of Thrissur District is the Peruvanam Pooram which usually comes in the month of March (Meenam) every year. Here the percussion art form reaches its quintessential best - Be there to feel and soak in that rich experience for the words here are forced to take a back seat.
Details of festival dates can be found at temple site.
Peruvanam Mahadeva TempleFoot Note:
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| Peruvanam Pooram |
Details of festival dates can be found at temple site.
Cherpu Village, Thrissur Taluk
Thrissur District, Kerala
Timings - 5 am to 10:30 am, 5 pm to 7:30 pm
Thanks for the writeup. Heard about this temple recently and was curious. This article has inspired me to visit the temple not far from today.
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