| Changa Bhadrakali temple, Uzhamalakkal, Nedumangad-Shorlakkode Road, Thiruvananthapuram |
There are no guards here. Nor thieves. For the past 40 years, the lamps offered by devotees of Changa Bhadrakali temple, Uzhamalakkal on Nedumangad-Shorlakkode Road, Thiruvananthapuram, are kept in the open in front of the donation box.
From very small ones to lamps weighing 10kg are kept in rows in front of the ‘Kanikkavanchi’. And these are lit on festival days.
During these 40 years, only once was a lamp stolen. It was a day of mourning for the village. Although effort to unravel the loss proved futile, the repentant culprit made amends by offering a bigger lamp within two days.
Mentally unsound vagabonds have inflicted damages on nearby temples and their donation boxes, but even such persons somehow keep away from the Changa Bhadrakali temple.
Faith, devotion and fear have combined to produce a symbol of ethical value for the people of the locality.
Courtesy:
Mathrubhumi, April , 2006
Contributed by: Administrator
