Padayanivettom Devi temple is a Hindu temple in Kerala. The temple is located at

Vallikunnam Vallikunnam is a village in Mavelikara taluk of Alappuzha district in the Indian state of Kerala. Description It is the southernmost place in Alappuzha, bordering Oachira and Thazhava of Kollam districts. It is an area of paddy and sesame fi ...

Mavelikkara Mavelikkara () is a municipality in the Onattukara Region of Alappuzha district of Kerala, India. It is located south of the district headquarters in Alappuzha and about north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. As per the 2011 ...

taluk of

Alappuzha district Alappuzha district (), is one of the 14 Districts of Kerala, districts in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala. It was formed as Alleppey district on 17 August 1957, the name of the district being changed to ''Alapp ...

in the south Indian state of

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. The temple is situated about 10 km south of

, 9 km east of

Ochira Oachira or Ochira (') is in the Karunagappalli taluk of Kollam district. It includes areas of Kayamkulam in Alappuzha district and Kollam district. Ochira Gram Panchayat came into existence in 1953. Gram panchayats of Ochira, Kulasekharapuram ...

on NH 47.

History

The Vallikunnam Padayanivettom Devi Temple has been around in service for centuries. In the early times, Kalari Deva's worship was common among the rural people. The worships like

Padayani Padayani, also known Padeni (from the Malayalam word for military formations), is a traditional folk dance and a ritual art from the central portion of the Indian state of Kerala. A ceremonial dance involving masks, it is an ancient ritual per ...

, Thottam pattu, Kalamezhuthu pattu were common for achieving Kalari Deva's favour. Once, during Padayani, a group of people saw two

seraph A seraph ( ; pl.: ) is a celestial or heavenly being originating in Ancient Judaism. The term plays a role in subsequent Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Tradition places seraphim in the highest rank in Christian angelology and in the fif ...

ic women in torchlight. This became a common talk among the people. For an explanation of the incident, the people came to the decision for ''Devaprashna''. According to the Devaprashna, it was known that there was presence of Sree Durga Devi and Sree Bhadra Devi in the locality and that the two seraphs were the two devis. It was decided to create temples for the two devis. Since the two seraphs were seen in Padayani's light the place came to be known as ''Padayanivettom''.

References

Hindu temples in Alappuzha district {{hindu-temple-stub