Kerala: Ernakulathappan temple festival concludes with traditional police guard of honour

The Ernakulathappan Temple annual festival culminated on January 31 with the arattu of the Bhagwan Siva deity. Arattu is the ceremonial bath of the Bhagwan in the temple pond. The Kerala Police’s guard of honour, offered as a mark of respect, is a major part of the arattu ceremony in the temple pond.

‘Ernakulathappan’ is the widely used colloquial name for Bhagwan Siva worshipped at the Ernakulam Temple, where He is revered as the ‘protector of Ernakulam city’. Ernakulam serves as the headquarters of Ernakulam district, and since the establishment of the Kochi Corporation in 1969, Ernakulam town and its surrounding areas have been collectively known as Kochi.

The guard of honour for the deity during the festival arattu has been a tradition since the days of Kochi royal rule.

The temple is under the control of the Kochi Devaswom Board, which is manned by political leaders belonging to the ruling front at the helm of the state. Kerala has a peculiar system of alternating ruling fronts, namely the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), governing the state every five years.

A guard of honour also takes place during the arattu of the Padmanabha Swamy Temple, Thiruvananthapuram.

This tradition too dates back to the royal era. However, since 2024, temple authorities have been required to bear the expenses pertaining to the guard of honour.

There is an interesting legend behind the Ernakulathappan Temple. It centres on a Swayambhoo (self-manifested) Sivalinga. Arjuna fought with Bhagwan Siva, who appeared as a tribal hunter (Kirata), to obtain possession of the powerful weapon Pasupatastra. Pleased with Arjuna, Siva revealed his identity, blessed him, and disappeared. Arjuna then created a Sivalinga out of mud and began to worship it.

Later, during the Vanvas, Arjuna left the place and the murti remained lost in the forest for a long period. After several centuries, Devala, the cursed sage who had been transformed into a snake due to a curse, happened to see the murti in the forest near a pond. He performed intense penance and bathed in the pond, known as Rishi Nagakulam (kulam means pond in Malayalam). The sage was then cured of his curse.

The temple is considered one of the 108 Siva temples consecrated by Parasurama. The present structure was reconstructed around 1846 by the then Diwan Edakkunni Sankara Warrier. The temple faces west towards the Ernakulam backwaters and the Arabian Sea and served as the royal shrine of the Kochi Maharajas.

The temple stands in the heart of Kochi city and is a centre of the city’s cultural and spiritual heritage. The main sanctum sanctorum houses the Sivalinga, and the shrine on the northern side is dedicated to the Kirata Moorthy form worshipped by Arjuna.