Nalppathenneeswaram Sree Mahadeva Temple is a shiva temple located in Nalppathenneswaram, in the village of Cheravala taluk, Panavally, Alleppy District, Kerala State. This place is 20 kilometers from Cherthala and 11 kilometers from Aroor on the Cherthala Arookutty bus line.
Here, Lord Siva is in Kiratha Bhava. He is considered number 48 of Saint Khara, who founded the temple Ettumanur and the temple Kaduthuruthi. The temple is artistically built in a quiet and typical village. The festival in this temple is celebrated in the month of Kumbham from February to March, uthrittathi-kodiyettu, thiruvathira-aarattu and lasts 7 days. All these days are important days according to the traditional rituals (Utsavabali, Koodi ezhunnallathu, Bharani, Karthika, araattu). People refer to God in this temple as “Nalppathenneswarathappan”.
Other Deities in Cherthala Nalpathenneeshwaram Mahadeva Temple:
1) Lord Ganapathi
2) Varaha Moorthy
3) Durga Devi
4) Rakshassu
5) Chovva Bhagavathi
6) Nagaraja
7) Nagayakshi
8) Ayyappa
This temple has a twin temple called Oorali Parambathu Sastha Temple, located northwest of the temple. The recently realized devaprasana, led by late legend Sri Chorodu Narayanappanicker and his team, discovered that the temple was over 1000 years old, that the deity loves artistic performance, annadanam, etc.
The temple is under the administration of three ancient Kaimal families called Kozhisseril, Payippattu, Mullakkeril. It is one of the oldest temples still under Raja Sassana Chepped. The main offering to the deity is Kathakali. For this reason, the temple is famous for kathakali. Much of the history surrounded by the temple’s facilities, according to the ancients, was known as Pandavar Veli, later Panavally. Nevertheless, there are four large stones that have been preserved 1 km east of the temple. People believe that these stones were used by pandavas during vanavasam to heat milk.
