The Land, the Chariot, and the Promise I Must Keep !

on
Valiyakulangara Devi Temple !
The Ashwathy Festival around Mahashivrathri.

It is a traditional chariot-making competition, where each shore builds its own chariot, and the chariots are ceremonially taken through the backwaters before arriving at the Valiyakulangara Devi temple.
Aswathy festival is the festival of pulling the chariots through back waters.
The chariot houses deity Badrakali. 






Set in the heart of Kerala's backwaters, where rivers, canals, and paddy fields shape everyday life, the journey to the temple is unlike anything else. During the festival, the ceremonial chariots and temple offerings make their way through the waterways before reaching the temple, a reminder that in this land, water is not an obstacle but a pathway.

For people born in Kuttanad - Karthikapally below sea level region, living with water has always meant living with uncertainty. Floods, heavy monsoons, overflowing rivers, and changing tides are part of life. 

The shore where my land is located is called Puthukundam. 
The Puthukundam Kara Chariot. 
Kara means shore.

That is the chariot of our shore built on my land.




I will most likely complete my formalities with my present employer next week. If I don't find a job within 3 months, I may have to sell my ancestral land.

But this land is more than property—it is where the tallest sacred chariot for the Valiyakulangara Devi Ashwathy festival is built every year.





DEI Enthu - I have already won the moment If I accept this challenge. It gives me the opportunity to protect a 200-year-old legacy—the ancestral land where the tallest Badrakali chariot is built every year before its ceremonial journey through the backwaters to Nangyarkulangara.

That legacy is how my family has been known and remembered in my native place for generations.

Next year, I hope to join in pulling the sacred chariot from my ancestral land to the Valiyakulangara Devi Temple. When that day comes, my only prayer is that the land is still in my name.



The song featured in the video captures this beautifully. This is my native place. The tallest chariot you see in the video is built on my land premises.

They are my people from my village.

The song speaks of a people who celebrate with abundance even when nature tests them repeatedly. Their joy is not born from the absence of hardship but from the conviction that hope is stronger than adversity. Every procession across the water becomes a declaration that life continues, faith endures, and the community will always find a way forward.




Many people with families willingly face discomfort because they are driven by the responsibility of protecting the people they love.

I may not have a family of my own, so I have often chosen to avoid unnecessary discomfort. But I do have a purpose. If not a family to protect, I have a legacy to preserve—and that purpose gives me every reason to embrace this challenge.

The moment I accept this challenge, I will already be won. 
I will have the blessings of the Goddess, 
A purpose greater than discomfort. 
Those are strengths no privilege or luxury can replace.




The Journey that begins at my place.

As the decorated chariots and offerings travel across the back waters toward Valiyakulangara Devi temple, they symbolize a community that keeps moving forward despite every challenge. The journey is not simply a religious procession; it reflects generations of resilience, cooperation, and unwavering faith.





I may not have influential people on my side or the support of society that always takes the side of power, I may not have inherited wealth from parents, or a husband's alimony, or children to carry my legacy. By many measures, it may seem that I have very little or rather nothing.

But I will have the Goddess on my side.





The only person I have been drawn to since 2022 has remained a mystery for the past four years. 
Yet, despite all the uncertainties, Now there is a chance to win. Is that a Blessing !

Love gives the heart a reason to endure. Purpose gives the soul a reason to continue. Together, they make discomfort bearable.




Cheers !



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