Kavutheendal ceremony

Kavutheendal ceremony

Part of: GS Prelims and GS-I – Art and Culture

In News: 

• Kavutheendal ceremony, a part of the Meena Bharani festival, was recently performed at Sri Kurumba Bhagavathy Temple in Kerala. 

Key takeaways:

• The ceremony usually sees huge number of devotees. 
• Amidst the coronavirus lockdown, the ceremony was performed by a representative of the Velan community, without the presence of any devotee. 

Important value additions:

Kavutheendal ritual

• It is considered as the largest congregation of oracles in the world. 
• This ritual is based on the notions of purity/impurity inherent in Brahminical Hinduism.

Velan community

• The community belongs to scheduled caste that lives mainly in Kerala. 

Sri Kurumba Bhagavathy Temple

• It is a Hindu temple at Kodungallur of Kerala state in India. 
• It is dedicated to the goddess Bhadrakali, a form of Maha Kali worshipped in Kerala. 

Kavutheendal ceremony

Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodungallur_Bhagavathy_Temple