The monograph on Temples of Keraļa which was published earlier covered the general aspects on temples in Keraļa like history of temples over the last two thousand years, mode of worship, architectural features, iconography of idols, deva-praśnam, temple rites, priesthood, temple customs, offerings, temple administration, ritualistic and performing arts, carvings and paintings etc. This volume, the fourth in the series of district monographs, is an addendum to the monograph on Temples of Kerala and it attempts to cover an account of the temples of Malappuram district.
The background of taking up this exhaustive study needs little elaboration. The Census Organization of India undertook a study on Temples of Madras State as an ancillary study of the 1961 census. This study evoked keen interest among scholars, the Government and statutory bodies of Kerala etc. Late sree R. Vasudeva Poduval a renowned Archaeologist, requested the Registrar General, India (late sree A. Chandrasekhar) as early as 1969 to launch a study on temples of Kerala similar to the one that was conducted in Madras state and the latter readily agreed to this suggestion. But the study could not be taken up due to heavy pressure of work in connection with the 1971 census. In 1973, the Travancore Devaswarm Board also came up with a similar request but the backlog of census work of 1971 census stood in the way in launching the study. In 1979 the Advisor to the Government of Kerala on Temples and Traditional Arts again requested the Director of Census Operations to commence the study. But again some unforeseen circumstances prevented the organization from taking up the study. However, in May 1990, the Government of Kerala again requested the Census Directorate to take up a detailed survey on Temples of Kerala and the Registrar General (Sree A.R. Nanda L.A.S.) directed to commence the survey in June 1991.
For canvassing the data a schedule was designed in consultation with thanthris, silpis etc., besides incorporating the valuable suggestions given by sree A.R. Nanda, I.A.S. (former Registrar General, India), late Dr. K. P. Ittaman (former Deputy Registrar General, India) and late sree K.C. Nārāyana Kurup (former Deputy Director of Census Operations, Madras). The schedules were printed in September 1991 and the work commenced.
Originally it was decided to collect data of temples by mailing the schedules to temple authorities of statutory bodies and collecting details by deputing trained field staff to temples exclusively managed by private individuals and institutions. But this procedure did not work well as the response from the statutory bodies was found defective as the filled-in schedules had both content and coverage errors. Therefore in March 1992 it was decided to engage a small team of trained staff (of the Directorate of Census Operations, Kerala) for the field-study. The survey covered all temples which are open to public, irrespective of whether they are owned by statutory bodies, private institutions, families or individuals.
The procedure for the collection of data for the survey deserves special mention. The staff deputed for this study was directed to visit all panchaayathths, village offices and note down the names and location of all temples. They were then directed to visit all such temples located in every nook and corner of the panchaayathth, some of which situated even in dense forests and in areas inaccessible by roads, apart from making local enquiries on any possible omissions. These visits and enquiries helped them to prepare a Directory (presented as Section 3) of all temples open to public and collect data regarding the name, location, principal deity, antiquity, structural type of main śreekövil, time of worship and poojas, uthsavam/festival besides details on ownership/management.
Further based on certain criteria ie., all the temples having swayambhoo (self-revealed) idols and other important temples depending on number of praakaaras, architectural excellence, number of poojas, antiquity and number of worshippers were selected for detailed study. It may be said that great care has been taken to include almost all important temples based on these criteria and the data so collected through a separate detailed schedule are presented in Section 2 (Salient features of important temples) of this monograph. This does not mean that other temples are unimportant. But the more prominent ones based on the above mentioned specified criteria were given due weightage. Section 1 gives an overall review and analysis on temples of Malappuram district with a backdrop on geographical setting, historical and other aspects.
It is worthwhile to mention here the limitations of the data. The informants, mainly temple authorities, were generally co-operative. However, some of them were reluctant to provide details fearing that their private temples might be taken over by the Government and they took the stand that those temples were exclusively used by family members and not open to public. On the other hand some insisted on having their temples enumerated hoping to get some financial assistance for their family temples at a later stage. Another difficulty encountered by the field staff was that very often they had to go to the same temple several times to collect details as the temples were kept open only for specified hours (either morning or noon or evening) or on specified days besides non-availability of reliable informants. Similarly it was difficult to verify the claim of informants on the data of antiquity and myths associated with those temples. In spite of these limitations every effort was made to collect detailed data.
The field-survey of Malappuram district was done during 1993-98 and, therefore, subsequent changes on structures, idols etc. have not been incorporated in this monograph except in few cases where re-visits were done. The data thus collected through the field-survey is published in this monograph. The earlier proposed title of the monograph, ie., Temple Directory (mentioned in the first monograph Temples of Kerala), had to be changed.
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