An appeal from Aranmula Heritage Village Trust.

published on July 12, 2014

Sadar namaskar,

                        Bharath has a great Heritage despite its vast geographical area, cultures, climatic conditions, lifestyles and conflicts. Of late, because of the greed of some of the selfish people, our Heritage and Environment are being damaged which has its impact on the change in climatic conditions resulting in El Nino.

Against this back ground, a group of socially conscious   and nature loving persons from different background under the patronage  of Justice V.R Krishna Iyer, a former supreme court judge and a crusader of moral values and ethics, have come forward to establish a charitable trust to protect and preserve our great Heritage for the future generation.  

The trust has chosen Aranmula as its centre of activities. Aranmula Heritage Trust is the organization setup  for the  purpose.

Aranmula is a village which is situated in the Pathanamthitta district of Kerala. The place, though is a remote village, has a tradition of great Heritage associated with it.

On the religious side, Aranmula Parthasathy Temple is one of the oldest Krishna temple in the country. It is believed to be more than 2500 years old. It has unique construction with granite stone and wood as its base. The temple is one of the 108 Vishnu temples in the country which are revered by the devotees. The deity is believed to have been installed by Arjuna on his way to the heavenly abode. Nammalvar, one of the most revered saints of India had visited the Temple in his time over several centuries ago.

On the spiritual side, Shri Vijayananda Gurudev, famously known as Kaviyoor Swamigal, who was a disciple of Chattambi Swamigal has been a spiritual guru to a generation in his time. He had established several schools in the area where Sanskrit is taught along with other subjects. The institutions gave emphasis on moral and ethical values to the students.

On the ecology side, Aranmula is situated on the banks of River Pampa. The river has its tributaries running across over 100 villages in the area providing fertility and facilitating agricultural operations. The place can grow almost any crop from Paddy, Spices, Medicinal Plants, Vegetables to cash crops such as Rubber and Tea.  It is unfortunate that real estate mafia has been making efforts to destroy the unique ecological balance and the local population has been resisting the destruction.

Lord Ayyappa, as a child is believed to have been found on the banks of river Pampa. The river therefore is worshiped as Dakshina Ganga. The pilgrims visiting Sabarimala take a ritualistic dip in the river before and after visiting the Temple.

On the cultural side, Aranmula VALLAMKALI( Snake Boat raise) is a cultural spectacle with its large number of Boats, colour full presentation and rhythmic songs sung by over 100 oarsmen in each boat. VALLAMKALI takes place in Pampa River on the last day of Onam Festival during August / September every year.

On the performing arts, Aranmula is famous for PATAYANI, a martial art and Temple arts such as THEYYAM, KATHAKALI, KOOTHU etc.

The world famous Aranmula KANNADY is a mirror made out of metal. These mirrors are made in a unique process and the knowhow is known to only one family in the world who lives in Aranmula.

Aranmla also has unique Flora and Fauna.

We therefore, consider that Aranmula is the most suited place to set up our Heritage programme. It is our plans to initiate action for protection of Heritage at various centres in India over a period of time.

To begin with we are starting a Heritage School at Aranmula at an estimated cost of Rs 12 Crores. The intention is based on the principle of “catch them young”. Besides the academic subjects, the children will be inculcated with values as described in Chapter 5 of the Project Report. It is our intention to involve famous academicians to guide us in setting up the Heritage School as a worthy proposition.

We now seek your support financially as well as ideologically in making our endeavour a success.

In Service of Motherland.
Kummanam Rajasekharan