The big bang devotion at Cherthala

You see the tear-laden eyes of a mother crying her heart out for her son. She is banging her head so the Gods can hear her woes...and as if on cue and an answer to her prayers, the bells start chiming wildly in the background. Remember this oft repeated scene in many a movie? From decades now, bells are considered sacred in our temples and churches. And ringing the bell while entering or leaving the precincts is a ritual followed by all followers. To understand the auspiciousness of bells, Srimath Muttom Thirumala Devaswom at Cherthala, as part of its 250th Prathishta Anniversary, installed a jumbo bell last Sunday. Ask P G Govindan Kammath, the convener of the temple committee the reason for installing the bell and he says, “Bell is an inseparable part of our temples. As part of the 250 years celebration we renovated the ‘gajamandapam’. So it was pre-decided to make a bell that will suit the mandapam.”

It was R Rajendran, a traditional artist from Naamakal in Tamil Nadu who crafted this bronze bell which costs about ` 10 lakh. The bell weighs about 1100 kg and is 4.8 ft long and 5 ft high. “Rajendran is a well-known bell maker who casted this bell in Naamakal within four months. Later the bell was brought to Thirumala temple in a truck,” explains Kammath. The main deity of the temple is Venkatachalapathy. “The fruition of this whole gajamandapam and bell is also because of the generous donation of V Seshagiri Pai and his wife Vimala Bai, ardent devotees of Venkatachalapathy,” adds Kammath.

Srimath Muttom Thirumala Devaswom temple which is owned by the Gowda Saraswath Brahmins is situated in the heart of the Municipal town in Cherthala. “There are approximately around 2000 worshipers of the temple. Earlier we had a small bell but now the sonorous sound of the new one creates a spiritual wave in the air itself,” says Kammath regarding the sacred bell. Temple committee says that it is one of the biggest bells found in South India.