The Malayalathamma temple in Kalpetta, Wayanad. ManoramaKalpetta: At a time when calls for preservation of native languages and cultures are getting louder all over the world, here's a temple with its deity named after Malayalam, the mother tongue of Kerala.
The goddess of the temple on Rattakolli road near Kalpetta bypass is named Malayalathamma or Mother Malayalam. There are several stories doing the rounds as to how the goddess got her curious name.
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It is believed that Malayalathamma saved the people of Wayanad, a northern district sharing border with Tamil Nadu, from being wiped out due to spread of small pox.
As per local legends, the deity blesses women who are worried over delay in marriage if a thali is offered to her.
The temple was run by a people's committee earlier. Now it's under the Kalpetta Ayyappa Kshetram Trust. After the installation of lord Shiva's idol, the temple came to be known as Shiva-Bhadrakali temple.
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During his special address to the assembly on the occasion of state formation day, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had flayed the nonchalant attitude of people towards the state's language - Malayalam.
"This is probably the only state in Kerala, where one can get the graduation degree without studying the mother tongue," he said on Tuesday.
