Kerala: The Land Of Spiritual Consolation

Kerala’s astonishing natural beauty often intoxicates the traveller’s mind. It is the land of backwaters, wild mountains and coastal villages with sun kissed sands. But it is also the land of age-old temples, churches, mosques, Jain and Buddha Vihars, synagogues and all that places that human spiritualism made its sacred abode.

The history of 20th century Kerala cannot be written without giving due recognition to the contributions made by Sri Narayana Guru and Chattampi Swamikal, the two great spiritual teachers of the present century. In the present day thousands visit Vallikkavu, a small coastal village in Kollam district to see and hear Mata Amritanandamayi, who provides spiritual consolation to all those who seek it.

An exploration to this spiritual tradition can conveniently begin with a journey to the innumerable temples, churches and mosques of this land.

The value of these places as historical monuments is already recognised. The tourism industry in the state makes valuable gains out of selling the fascination these monuments are capable of creating in the minds of people, both as places of tourist interest and as places of worship. Every year millions of pilgrims visit Sabarimala, where the pilgrimage season is during the months November-January.

The various temple festivals and church festivals also attract many million. Today, these festivals are the only occasions when the classical, folk and ritual art forms of Kerala come alive. The festival season in Kerala usually begins in the month of November or by the last week of October. Among the Hindu pilgrim centres in Kerala Sabarimala is probably the most popular one.

Situated in the interior of the mountain ranges of the Western Ghats Sahyadri, to reach the temple pilgrims have to negotiate long stretch of thick forests and tall mountains.

If pilgrimage to Sabarimala is a purely spiritual affair, the Pooram festival at Thrissur is both a spiritual and a socio cultural event. This unique festival is famous all over the world now, and is no doubt the most colourful festival of Kerala. Celebrated during April -May every year, Thrissur Pooram consists of a procession of richly caparisoned elephants from various neighbouring temples. Another important temple in Kerala is the Sri Krishna temple at Guruvayur which is popularly known as Dakshina Madura. All major temples in the state celebrate yearly festivals which usually last around nine days. The colourful procession of elephants accompanied by vadyam and melam which are traditional temple percussion music is a usual sight.

If temple festivals are unique due to their ability to fascinate both spiritual pilgrims as well as art lovers, the festivals in the churches stand apart as they proclaim a unique practice of Christianity. Christianity, it is believed, has a history of 2000 years in Kerala as Christ’s disciple St Thomas came here to spread the faith in 52 AD. The saint had built seven churches in the state, which are still considered as the main centre of Christianity in the country. With a good Christian population, Kerala celebrates almost all Christian festivals in grand scale.

Apart from these major festivals, various churches in the state celebrate yearly festivals, which are popularly known as Perunals.

Among the churches in Kerala the church at Niranam, which is dedicated to St Mary holds pride of place. The church celebrates its main festival on August 15 and the birthday of St Mary is celebrated on a grand scale on September 8. The Church also celebrates the feast of St Thomas on July 3. Among Church festivals the Perunal at the Edappally church is the most popular one. The festival begins on April 23.

The most unique phenomenon associated with Christian faith in Kerala is no doubt the Maramon convention. This mega convention is held every year during the month of February on the vast sand bed of the river Pamba, below the Kozhencherry bridge. It is the largest Christian gathering in Asia. Christians from all over the country and abroad assemble here to listen to the word of God as read and expounded by leaders of Christian thought.

Likewise, Islam also has many celebrations in Kerala, like the Prophet’s birthday. Another recent development is the practice of conducting speeches on religious topics.

The spiritual tradition of this land is thus very rich and eclectic. It welcomes everybody with a warm heart and with the finest form of hospitality. The land and the cultural heritage keep the doors open for the season of ultimate spiritual consolation.