Kerala temples' Kashmir connection

The snow-clad Kashmir valley and the verdant Kerala are too distant and diverse to maintain an active cultural interaction.

Surprisingly, temples in Onattukara, spreading across Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta and Kollam districts in South Kerala,  depends on Kashmir silk and wool to decorate “Jeevitha,” a palanquin  used to carry idols outside the temple.

Velu Pillai, an exponent in the art of making Jeevitha, said the art was perfected under the Kayamkulam kingdom, between 15th and early 18th century. Earlier, Kashmiri merchants used to travel to this part with silk and wool for sale.  Now,  textile shops in central Kerala order the goods from Kashmir especially for making “Jeevitha,” Pillai said.

A piece of red silk, known as “Chakalas” is draped over an wooden frame. Artworks of gold are carefully stitched or fixed on it, he added. “Jeevitha,” Pillai said, symbolises the sanctum sanctorum of temples. It resembles a palanquin with a hood  rested on two poles. A small replica of the temple idol is placed inside the “Jeevitha.”

Two temple priests carry it on their shoulders, to homes of devotees between January and March, the period of paddy harvesting.  The paddy is then offered to god.

There are two types of “Jeevithas.” One is fully covered with red Kashmiri silk with gold embroideries. Currently there are only four such “Jeevithas,” one at Pillai’s ancestral temple Kannampallil North temple. Such a “Jeevitha” costs Rs 15 lakh.