The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) will implement in a time-bound manner the decisions taken at a recent meeting convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in connection with the renovation of the Mangaladevi temple in Idukki, board president A. Padmakumar has said.
Mr. Padmakumar said the TDB had given an official letter to the Archaeology Department for starting the work after conducting tantric rites in connection with it.
He said the board would install a new idol of goddess Kannagi in place of the damaged idol at the temple. Tantri Suryakalady Jayan Namboodiripad will lead the idol installation ceremony, he said. The TDB would celebrate the Navaratri festival, Thrikkarthika, Maha Sivaratri, Pathamudayam, and Chitrapournami at the temple.
Located at 4,000 ft above the mean sea level, the temple now opens only for the Chitrapournami festival every year. A large number of devotees from Tamil Nadu and Kerala throng the hill shrine to worship the goddess on the Chitrapournami day in the Malayalam month of Medom.
The temple that houses shrines dedicated to Kannagi, Siva, Parvathi, and Ganapati has references in ancient texts like Chilappathikarom.
The Kerala government has declared the Mangaladevi temple a protected monument under the Kerala Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act. Earlier, the High Court had also directed the Archaeology Department to renovate the temple.
The Directorate of State Archaeology and the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests were entrusted with the task of supporting the renovation work, the TDB chief said.
