Visit to Kavasseri Pooram

One has just returned after a close encounter with nature at Kavasseri village in Kerala State. Kavasseri is
a 60 minute drive away from Palakkad Town. Kavasseri is more famously known as the home of Parakkat
Devi Temple, which has an annual festival every April (during the Kerala New Year), featuring nine temple
elephants and divine music (panchavadyam). The deity is carried on elephant back accompanied to the
sound of drums and music from its present abode to its ancient abode (the original Parakkat Devi temple
is just a kilometer away from the present temple.

Here at the old temple, a panchavadyam (five musical instruments played in tandem) performance goes
on for five hours as the mother goddess is worshipped with a thousand coconut oil lamps. The nine
elephants, covered in gold headgear and colourful umbrellas, rest under the giant trees that surround this
temple enjoying a snack of bananas and coconut leaves. The elephant procession moves in an orderly line
followed by hundreds of locals, visitors and tourists on foot. It is indeed a pleasure seeing the elephants
line up before the parade and then slowly move in a procession to the main temple to return the mother
goddess to her sanctuary.

The whole village of Kavasseri is decorated with colourful flowers, plantain leaves, coconut leaves and
brass lamps. Every house celebrates Kavasseri Pooram by setting up impromptu roadside stalls which sell
everything from fresh lime juice to watermelon salads to idlis and doshas. The devotees enjoy eating in
the outdoors under the shade of trees around which these stalls are set up. One can also buy kathakali
masks, coir footwear, Kerala brass lamps, cold pressed coconut oil and traditional handicrafts at the
pooram stalls at Kavasseri. The pooram is a one day event and starts at 11:00 a.m. and concludes at 7:00
p.m. The music performance goes on from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is incredibly addictive with the sound of
the trumpets, flutes, cymbals and drums

panchavadyam in Malayalam means "five instruments". It is a form of ritual temple music that
accompanies elephant parades during temple festivals and is performed by several musicians playing five
different kinds of musical instruments. The music is played to wake the mother goddess so that the deity
would bless the ensuing festivities. Four percussion instruments including the timila, maddalam, ilathalam
and idakka — is accompanied by the soothing sound of , the kombu, is a wind instrument. The rhythmic
beats of the music puts one into a trance as the music follows a binaural beat pattern. Binaural beat music
is used by NLP therapists to put patients into a light trance before starting creative visualization exercises.
Thus, the main role of the panchavadyam music was to distress the devotees by putting them into a mild
trance, by the use of binaural beats. The community spirit festered by the occasion and the celebration of
the festival by the entire village in unison also created an aura of calmness, peace, gaiety and greenery
which was relaxing for the body, mind and soul.

Kavasseri is a small village located in the interiors of Palakkad District, away from the hustle and bustle of
modern life. One wakes up in the morning to the sweet songs of the hundrerds of colourful birds that are
perched on the giant trees that surround your heavenly abode. The shrill cries of peacocks can be heard at
sunset as they search the forest for fallen fruits. At late nights its not uncommon to hear the shrill
howling of the packs of jackals that roam the outskirts of the forests. There are several uninhabited hills
that surround the rice fields of Palakkad.

Kavasseri, in Kerala situated in the border with Tamil Nadu is a sanctuary for the Malabar Hornbill and
several other colourful birds. This extraordinary area gets partly inundated by about 2 feet of water in the
monsoon months (July-September). Once below sea level, this area was raised by earth movements which
cut it off from the Eastern Ghats. It was broken up by later earth movements into flat farmlands (where
people can be seen growing rice) and higher grounds with sandy, salt-free soil. The Hornbill depends on
the thorny scrub of the higher ground area for its feed. The other wildlife sighted at Palakkad includes
blue bull, elephants, foxes, jackals, wild-cats, and caracals.

How to get there?

Kavasseri is 30 km. away from Palakkad Town. The non-stop drive from Palakkad to Kavasseri should not
exceed sixty minutes.
By road:
Visitors traveling by road have to drive from Palakkad to Kavasseri which is approximately 30 km.

By air:
The nearest airport to reach Palakkad is at Coimbatore. Coimbatore is connected by direct flights from
most Indian cities.

By train:
Palakkad Railway Station is the nearest railhead to reach Kavasseri. From Palakkad private buses ply to
Kavasseri via Alathur.
All trains going to Kochi and Thiruvanthapuram via Coimbatore stop at Palakkad.

Where to stay?
The Fort Palace Hotel is the most convenient place to stay during one’s visit to Palakkad. This Resort
arranges jeeps for the jungle safari. The resort charges Rs. 1500/- for an air-conditioned double room
with an attached bathroom.

Homestays are the only option for tourists who want to visit Kavasseri. A family of four can avail a
homestay at Rs. 2000/- per night, exclusive of food. Breakfast, lunch and dinner which includes traditional
Kerala delicacies like idlis, doshas, injipuli (ginger with tamarind) , rice and elisseri (pumpkin) can be home
delivered from the small eateries at Kavasseri.

Where to eat?

Lots of small restaurants serving Malayali vegetarian cuisine dot Palakkad. Freshly steamed vegetables
with spices, cooked in coconut milk, with hot freshly steamed idlis are available at most roadside dhabas.
The food at the high profile hotels is only for the gastronomically adventurous who like greasy food.
Vegans can opt for fresh tropical fruits including water-melons, papayas, tender coconuts and bananas
which are available at the local market.

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Murli Menon, is a travel writer, stress management consultant and author based at
Ahmedabad, India. He is the author of "ZeNLP-Learning through stories" published by
The Written Word Publications, "ZeNLP-the power to succeed" published by Sage
publications and “ZeNLP-the power to relax” by New Dawn Press. He can be reached at
ceo@tips4ceos.com
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Murli Menon
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Phone:079-25600269
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High resolution digital photographs attached with caption.

The following article and photographs are copyrighted and all rights are reserved. No
part of this article or the accompanying photographs may be reproduced or utilised in
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or by any information storage or retrieval system without written permission from the
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________________________________________________________________________
Courier payments/published magazine author copies to:
Murli Menon
E/503, Borsali Apt;
Khanpur
Ahmedabad-380001
Phone:079-25600269
________________________________________________________________________

High resolution digital photographs attached with caption.

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Elephants enjoying a snack

Panchavadyam in full progress

Devotees seek blessings of the divine elephants

One of the elephants in the procession

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