Pallippana at Poruvazhy Peruviruthy Malanada Temple

10th May 2011 to 21st May 2011
An eyewitness account by
A. Purushothaman and A. Harindranath

Introduction

Legend of Pallippana

Day 1, Tuesday, 10th May 2011

Day 2, Wednesday, 11th May 2011

Day 3, Thursday, 12th May 2011

Day 4, Friday, 13th May 2011

Day 5, Saturday, 14th May 2011

Day 6, Sunday, 15th May 2011

Day 7, Monday, 16th May 2011

Day 8, Tuesday, 17th May 2011

Day 9, Wednesday, 18th May 2011

Day 10, Thursday, 19th May 2011

Day 11, Friday, 20th May 2011

Day 12, Saturday, 21th May 2011

Introduction

Pallippana is a ritual conducted by Velans in a temple once in 12 years to remove the defects/impurities/weaknesses etc., of the presiding deity and to regain its original splendor. It is possible that mistakes may occur while performing rituals, errors can happen while performing the daily rituals. These mistakes/errors tend to reduce the splendor of the deity. It is believed that the defects/deficiencies of the devotees participating in the ritual as well as those of the land are also removed by conducting Pallippana.

Legend of Pallippana

The legend of Pallippana is related to the story of churning of the milky ocean.

According to a song sung by the velans, Vishnu in the form of Mohini deceived the daityas and gave the amrut (obtained by churning of the milky ocean) to the devas. The daityas complained to their preceptor, Shukra, who cursed Vishnu for deceiving daityas. Due to the curse, Vishnu became weak, sick and inactive. The worried devas consulted Subrahmanya, who checked the position of the planets. He declared that a ritual has to be performed by Velans to revive Vishn . In spite of searching the whole world, devas could not locate Velans. As advised by sage Narada, the devas went to Kailasa and informed Shiva about vishnu's condition. Shiva and Parvati appeared as Velan and Velatti. They performed the first Pallippana with eighteen great rituals and revitalized Vishnu. Shiva created Velans to remove the bad effects of curses from the world by conducting Pallippana.