Nurungukal…2…contd…

        The Kottayum Raja who was the ruler of Pozhuthana and adjacent areas was fond of hunting wild animals. He used to make periodical visits to the forest which had an abundant wealth of many animals, especially tigers,bears, elephants etc.. He used to camp here for days with his retinue of servants and soldiers. During such hunting sprees it was his custom to take an Idol of his favourite Goddess, shree Porkali Bhagavathy for conducting his daily poojas. He used to camp at the same locations  which were the most suitable for worshipping. One such place was at the foot hills of a hillock in Pozhuthana , which is known as Anomkunnu. The location  known as Anoth was ideal, serene, isolated and near to a river and blessed with a perennial water fall.The Idol was housed in a thatched shed popularly called as Kovilakam.

      There is a very interesting story told by a leader [Moopan] of an adhivasi community about what prompted the king to select this place as his base camp. It goes like this….

       During one of his hunting episodes the king got isolated from his retinue and lost the way. Those days the area was a thick rain forest intertwined by a river and marshy lands. He wandered for hours and hours and was tired. The sound of the water flow in the river prompted him to take a dip to get rid of the tiredness and quench the thirst. As he was resting on the banks happened to see an unusually long human hair floating in the water. He was sure that it was that of a lady and he guessed that she would be very pretty. Once again he tried to gain the direction and then he met with a young village damsel who was carrying a bamboo container full of honey. After introducing him,  politely requested her to part with a small portion of the honey to get rid of his tiredness. The young lady hesitated but succumbed to the repeated appeal. After taking the sweet honey he wanted to know about her and knew that she belonged to an adhivasi family living near by. As the king was infatuated in her he accompanied her to the hamlet. This tribe found their livelihood in agriculture and paddy cultivation. The king spent a few days with her. As a mark of gratitude he assigned a vast land to the family.It was during this sojourn he set up the Kovilakam for stay and praying during his future trips and as time passed this place attained the status of a place exclusively for worshipping by a prominent Nair family in the vicinity…..contd…