The very famous Kalpathy Ratholsavam or the chariot festival will be held this year from November 7 to 17. The festival is at the Sri Visalakshi Sametha Sri Viswanatha Swamy temple where the deities are Lord Siva (Lord Viswanatha) and his consort Visalakshi, another name for Parvati.
Vedic recitals and cultural programmes are held in the temple during the first four days of the festival. This is believed to be over 700 years old. On the last three days, thousands of devotees gather together to draw decorated temple chariots through the streets.
Kalpathy Viswanatha Swamy temple is the oldest Shiva temple in Malabar. It was built around 1425 AD.by Kombi Achan, the then Raja of Palakkad. According to history a Brahmin widow named Lakshmiammal went to Banaras (now Varanasi) and brought Lingam and installed in the present site on the Southern bank of river Neela Bhagirathi. The location of the temple and steps leading to the river reminds a visitor the Banaras Temples on the bank of Ganges. Hence this temple is called “Kasiyil Pakuthi Kalpathy” (Half Banaras).
In the chariot festival, 6 chariots (rathas) from 4 temples of Kalpathy come together and circumvent streets of the villages in a grand procession. The 4+2 as follows: main chariot carrying Lord Shiva and additional 2 small chariots for his sons, Ganapathy and Murugan; chariots from the other 3 villages namely New Kalpathy with Lord Ganapathy, Old Kalpathy with Lord Krishna and Chathapuram with Lord Ganapathy. This is known as ‘devarathasamgamam’.