Witness Chettikulangara Bharani Festival in Kerala 2025
Chettikulangara Bharani is a decorous annual festival held at the Chettikulangara Devi Temple in Alleppey, Kerala. The entire town comes together to honour the goddess Bhagwati Shree Bhadrakali. This post-harvest festival celebrated in late February or at the beginning of March, is organised to thank the goddess for a good harvest and a year full of bounties. The spirit of the Chettikulangara Bharani is lively and joyous, and it stands for upholding India’s rich culture! With giant temple cars, chariots, floats, and mesmerising performances, it is a festival like no other!
Chettikulangara Bharani, also known as Kumbha Bharani, is celebrated in the Malayalam month of Kumbham in the Bharani Nakshatra (constellation), hence the name. Usually falling in the first week of March, the date for the Chettikulangara Bharani Festival is thus determined by the Malayalam calendar. In 2025, the festival will be celebrated on Tuesday, 4th of March.
There is a popular story related to the origin of the Chettikulangara Bharani Festival. It is said that a master craftsman and his workers went to build the Kollam-Chavara canal on the King’s orders. However, due to indefinite delays in construction, they were stranded there, not allowed to return. During this time they witnessed the Kettukazhcha floats at Mulankadakam temple in Kollam.
They vowed to goddess Bhagwati that they would build similar floats in her honour every year if they were allowed to leave. The very next day, King’s orders came and they were allowed to return to their home town. As promised the villagers constructed the Kettukazhchas and took them to the Chettikulangara Devi Temple every year. The festival began then, and has been organised every year since.
More than 50,000 people participate in the festivities of Kumbha Bharani. The dedicated efforts of many devout followers in constructing the intricate and beautiful Kettukazhcha floats results in a vibrant festival. The parades and processions through the streets of Chettikulangara bring the townsfolk together. Being a country with a big agriculture sector, it is no surprise that we have so many of our festivals centred around the harvest season and spring season. The festival honours the goddess for a bountiful harvest, and is a fusion of art, architecture, and culture. Chettikulangara Bharani Festival is also under consideration to be included in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
Kumbha Bharani is also a time to enjoy delectable dishes like Kuthiramoottil Kanji (a kind of porridge prepared on the temple grounds), Konjum Manga (a dish made from prawns and raw mango), and Asthram. People also celebrate by participating in Chettikulangara Bharani Naalil karaoke. Chettikulangara Bharani Naalil was a song from the 1975 Malayalam film Sindhu, in which the speaker describes meeting a beautiful woman at the festival grounds of Kumbha Bharani Festival.
Festivals In March
Kuthiyottam is one of the special highlights of the festival. It is said that to appease the goddess Bhadra Kali, a blood sacrifice was made this year. Over the years, with Buddhist influence, the sacrifice became less bloody, remaining today only in symbolic form. Kuthiyottam is this sacrificial ritual offering. The person who vows to offer Kuthiyottam adopts two or four pre-pubescent boys on the day of Mahashivratri who are symbolically sacrificed. The boys are brought over to the sponsor’s house, a canopy is erected and a shrine is built for the goddess.
The boys are trained in the steps of Kuthiyottam dance. Their abdominal skin is pierced with a golden thread in a ritual called Chooral Muriyal. On the day of the Chettikulangara Kumbha Bharani festival, the boys are taken to the temple, where they perform the dance and songs in praise to the goddess. The threads are then removed from their stomachs and they are considered symbolically dead.