Kollam: Cross-dressing is generally not received well, but at the Kottankulangara Devi temple at Chavara near here, it's different -- hundreds of men cutting across religions dress up like women as part of a traditional ritual to please the deity and get their wishes fulfilled.
Previously only the locals would take part in this ritual at the temple located about 80 km from state capital Thiruvananthapuram but things have changed now. On Saturday night, it was not just Keralites but men from outside the state and even foreigners from New Zealand and London who joined the festival.
In the 19-day-long temple festival, it is on the last two days that this ritual named "Kottankulangara Chamayavilakku" takes place..
There are several stories about the origin of the festival but the most popular version says a group of boys who used to herd cows would playfully dress up as girls and offer flowers and a coconut dish called "kottan" to a stone.
Folklore has it that the goddess appeared before one of the boys, and subsequently a temple came up and the ritual of cross-dressing to offer prayers to the goddess got under way.
This stone has now come to be regarded as the temple's deity, and some say the stone has been growing in size over the years.
Thirty-year-old Deepu Yashodharan, who works in the Middle East and came only to take part in the festival, told IANS that this is the third time that he dressed up as a woman.
"After I took part on two previous occasions, all my wishes came true. Personally for me, I feel the deity here is very powerful. For 30 days, I don't take any non-vegetarian food," said Yashodharan.
Incidentally, this is the only temple in Kerala which has no roof over the sanctum-sanctorum.
full article in the link below
Posted by: Ravi Narasimhan <ravi.narasimhan.in@gmail.com>
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