Help required to fetch manuscripts

A manuscript made in palm leaf "panayola" existed giving the history of the Kalampukattu family. Unfortunately the manuscript was lost. If anyone viewing this site can give a lead on this, please help us fetch the same.

Ettumanoor Temple

This temple is of importance to the Kalampukattu family. The deity here is Lord Shiva.Many functions like marriages, choroonu etc take place at this temple. The Ettumanoor temple is famous for its murals and the Ezharaponnana(idols of seven big elephants and one calf made of gold).Legend has it that Khara (of the Khara Dhooshana demon duo) of Ramayana worshipped Shiva at Chidambaram and obtained from him three Shivalingams and journeyed holding one shivalingam on each hand and one in his mouth. He came to Vaikom, and set the shivalingam on the ground and realized that it had got rooted to the ground. Kharan therefore installed the other two shivalingams at Ettumanur and Kaduthuruthy. It is believed that visiting these triad of temples in a single day is of great significance.

Mannanam

Mannanam is a small and scenic village in kottayam District. It is now well known for the Kuriakose Elias Church, The Kuriakose Elias College and the Kalampukattu family! It is a religious tourist spot to visit the church of Blessed Fr.Kuriakose Elias born on 10th Feb 1805. Most of the members of the Kalampukattu family did their college education in the K E College. Schooling was done in St Ephrem's School or the Girls High School at Villooni. The land for building the church, school and the KE college was offered by the benevolent forefathers of the Kalampukattu family in order to bring about overall development of Mannanam. Now when we see the new Mannanam it looks like their dreams have come true!

People

It would be difficult to list all the members of the Kalampukattu family as a family tree is not available. First we pay homage to all who left us but continue to shower their blessings on the family

Pappanammavan, Kochukuttanammavan,Vaikathammavan, Velliyammachi,Gowriamma(Ammooma), Raghavan Pillai(Appooppan), Panicker(Imbappachan), Ramakrishna Menon(Menon Kochachan), Ammini(Ammini chitta) and .......

Gandharvan Pattu

This family has a tradition of organising a festival called 'Gandharvan pattu' every year. There is no record on for how many years this event has been going on. All the family members get together in the ancestral home in Mannanam,Kottayam to organise this function. This ceremony is organised to invoke Gandharvan(God of prosperity) for the prosperity of the family. In fact the name "Kalampukattu" is said to have come from 'kalam' (meaning drawing) and 'paattu' (means song). The festival is generally held for three days and all the family members congregate at the 'tharavaadu' for the three days. The rituals start right from the morning with 'poojas'. People who know to conduct the ceremony (kaniyaanmaars) are invited. They sing traditional songs to invoke the 'Gandharvan'. The main event takes place after midnight. A 'kalam' is prepared on the floor of the 'pandal' using natural dyes,colour powders, leaves, etc. An ammooma (eldest lady) in the family sits in the pandal facing the 'kalam'.The kaniyaanmaars sing the songs to invoke the Gandharvan. After a lengthy spell of singing the lady gets into a trance. She later gets up as the tempo of the songs get faster and the ammoomma gets up and dances. She goes round the pandal and starts sweeping the 'kalam' with a 'pookula'(flower of coconut tree). At the end of the ceremony the whole 'kalam' is swept and all the floral arrangements etc are thrown. This is followed for all the three days. At the end of the third day the 'peethom' (seat of the God Gandharvan) is taken by the ammooma and kept on the ceiling of the house. This is a symbolic representation of the Gandharva being re-instated back in the 'tharavaad'. This will remain there till the next function in the subsequent year.