Chokkanathapuram

Chokkanathapuram
—  village  —
Chokkanathapuram Location of Chokkanathapuram in Kerala
Coordinates	10°47′0″N 76°39′0″E / 10.783333°N 76.65°E / 10.783333; 76.65Coordinates: 10°47′0″N 76°39′0″E / 10.783333°N 76.65°E / 10.783333; 76.65
Country	India
State	Kerala
District(s)	Palakkad
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Codes • Vehicle • KL-

Chokkanathapuram is a village with 30 houses in Palakkad district in the state of Kerala in India.

Location

It is surrounded by Lakshminarayana puram to the south and Kumarapuram to the west. To the North is Valiyapadam beyond which the “Bharatha puzha” flows as its tributary, Kalpathy River. The village is adorned by the grand Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple on the west and Santhana Gopalakrishna Swamy Temple on the east.

History

Chokkanathapuram is one of the ancient villages to which Tamil Brahmins migrated. As per the studies of some scholars^[1] it is believed that Brahmins from Pandya desa (Madurai) migrated to Chokkanathapuram. The Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple is testimony to this theory. The Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple is believed to have been constructed around 1865.^{[citation needed]} The temple is more than 400 years old.^{[citation needed]}

The village has kept pace with times where thatched roofs and tiles houses with “randhals” and “kerosene chimneys” have transformed to RC^{[clarification needed]} building structures, but still keeps an old world charm.^{[citation needed]}

Temples

The presiding deities of this temple^[which?] are Meenakshi Amman and Sunderaswarar - another name of Lord Shiva. Other deities around are Maha Ganapathy, Sri. Murugan - represented by Nagars, Lord Dhakshinamoorthy (another form of Lord Shiva) for Lord Nataraja (Lord Shiva in dancing pose), Chandikeswaran, Kalabhairava (sub-deities), besides Navagrahas (Sun, Moon, Mars, Budha, Brahaspathi, Brigu, Saturn, Rahu & Kethu). This is one of the few temples which has a car festival associated with “Thiruvathirai”, the day of “Ardra Darshanam. Other major festivals are Sivarathri and Navarathri. There is a Pradosha Pooja for Lord Shiva, shashti for Muruga, “kadala malai” for Dakshinamoorthy on Thursdays (especially for students), Sanishwara Pooja on Saturdays. This temple along with Kalpathy Viswanatha swamy temple, are under the administration of Palakkad Rajas (Akathethara amsam). A Siva sakti trust administers the temple.

The Santhana Gopalakrishna Swamy Temple is situated on the eastern side. There is a story behind the existence of the temple. Child deaths rose alarmingly, putting the future of the village in question. There was a deva prashnam done which found that this was because Sundareswarar facing the village directly. So to reduce the intensity of such a cosmic power, either a pond should be dug in front of the temple or a temple of Santhana gopalakrishnan should be constructed in direct view of Sundareswarar. The villagers chose the latter. The temple conducts special pooja on Thiruvonam day of every month and many childless couple have been blessed. The temple has a new look after a Kumbabishekam conducted on May, 2008. The first anniversary of the Kumbabishekam fell on 27 April 2009, and it had been decided to conduct the same with Pravachanam by Brahmashri Nochur Venkitaraman, Radha Kalyanam and Pandimelam.

Education

The LN Puram primary school is located in front of Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple and was the school were all the children attended. This situation has changed with the advent of convent schools. The ground in front of the temple was a Sunday cricket ground and picnic spot. The two giant banyan trees on the ground act as a shield from scorching sun.

References

1. ^ DR.E.S.Narayanan, Brahmins of India, Phd Thesis submitted in Arizona university