The Kadampuzha phenomenon

 MALAPPURAM: If you need to offer ‘Muttarukkal vazhipadu’, one of the main offerings at the Sree Parvathi Temple at Kadampuzha in Malappuram, popularly known as Kadampuzha Bhagavathi Temple, you have to stand in queue for at least five hours in the morning.

And for ‘Poomodal’ (flower offerings), another major revenue source of the temple, even the VVIPs are in queue as this special pooja is already booked for another 40 years!

 According to a temple official, around 30,000 ‘Muttarukkal’ offerings are being held daily in the temple. And the devaswom earns around Rs 2 crore from this ritual alone a year. It is believed that by making the ‘Muttarakkal vazhipadu’, the devotees can fulfil their wishes. Other offerings such as ‘Dehamuttu’, ‘Udyogamuttu’, ‘Vivahamuttu’,

‘Vidhyamuttu’ etc. are also very popular, and thousands of devotees from across the country visit the temple daily. The total average revenue of temple from various counters average Rs 8 crore per year.

Like Kadambuzha, temples relatively smaller to giants such as Guruvayur temple have become popular over the last few decades.

The Paramekkavu Temple in Thrissur district, which has assets worth Rs 45 crore and is one of the two devaswoms conducting the famous Thrissur Pooram, has seen a huge spurt in devotees on a daily basis. Same is the case with Thiruvambady Sri Krishna Temple in Thrissur, another participant in the ‘pooram’.

The Sri Muthappan Temple, run by Parassini Madappura family, in Kannur district is yet another temple whose popularity is growing by the day. “The temple is managed by Parassini Madappura family. Nearly 80% of the income we get from the temple is spent on visitors coming here for food and refreshments,” said Vinod Kumar N P, from the Madappura family.

“Unlike other temples, we don’t get gold and jewels as offerings,” he said, but declined to divulge the details of the revenue collected. On an average, around 20,000 devotees visit the temple daily.

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