Aranmula, in Pathanamthitta district, is famous
as one of the five temple towns like Guruvayur. Other major temples associated
with the worship of Lord Krishna are those of Trichambaram, Tiruvarppu and Ambalappuzha.
Lord Parthasarathy is the presiding deity of the Aranmula temple. There are
five ancient shrines around Chengannur, sanctified by the Pandavas. They are
at Aranmula (Arjuna), Chengannur (Yuddhishtra), Tiruppuliyur (Bheema), Tiruvanmandur
(Nakula) and Tirukkadittaanam (Sahadeva). The Tamil hymns of Nammalwar of the
1st millennium CE glorify this legend.
Apart from the beautiful mirror made out of polished bell metal, familiarly known as Aranmula Kannadi, this village is well known for Aranmulayuttu, a feast given for children, as an offering to the deity ofAranmula, Uthrattathi boat race, Thiruvona sadya (an elaborate feast after the water carnival). Varuttha erusseri distributed at this very famous Valla sadya is a special curry for this feast with sixty various items. The variety of condiments has made it a very costly one. In the month of Chingam, of the boat races held on five days starting with Tiruvonam, the most famous is the one held on Uthrattathi day. The other famous vallam kali is the one held in this temple on Ashtami Rohini day.
According to legend, Arjuna built this temple at Nilackal near Sabarimalai. Later the image was brought to Aranmula on a raft made out of six (aaru) bamboos (mula) and the name of the village came to be known as Aranmula. Arjuna was believed to have installed the image of Krishna, as Parthasarathy.
Legend says that a Brahmin devotee, as per a vision of Krishna , offered 51 measures of rice to the Aranmula temple, carried in a boat. On one such occasion, the rival men from another village intercepted this boat. But the snake boats of this village raced to his rescue. In commemoration of this event a boat race is held along the tropical river Pampa,every August.
