Planters Kerala Home Stay
Bharananganam is a famous pilgrimage
center near Pala in Kerala, India. It is now nicknamed the
Lisieux of India. It is situated along the banks of Meenachil
river in Kottayam district. Hardly 5 km from Palai, the place is
on Ettumanoor Poonjar state highway. Bharananganam received
worldwide attention when Pope Benedict XVI canonised the first
saint from an Indian Rite, Saint Alphonsa, on October 12, 2008.
The mortal remains of Saint Alphonsa are situated here.
Bharananganam is also known as
Dakshina Guruvayoor (Guruvayoor of South) because of the
presence of Sree Krishna Swami Temple. The place name is closely
associated with this temple. During their vanavasa (exile)
Pandavas and Panchali stayed here for some days. On those days
Yudhishtira performed Vishnu Pooja here. Yudhishtira decided to
perform Dwadasi Pooja on Shukla Paksha Dwadasi day in the
Malayalm month of Kumbham. But he had no idols of Lord Krishna
to worship. Understanding the difficulty of His devotee, Lord
Krishna gave a beautiful idol of Lord Vishnu to Vedavyasa Muni
and Narada Muni and asked them to perform the pooja for
Yudhishtira. Narada Muni and Vyasa Muni reached the place on the
bank of holy Gauna (now Meenachil) river and installed the idol
of Lord Vishnu in a suitable place and performed Vishnu pooja
for Yudhishtira.
The sages performed abhishekam with Gauna river water. Pandavas
and Panchali conducted the Paranaveedal ritual to end their
vratha. They stayed there for some more days and later left to
another place. While leaving that place they appointed a local
Brahmin to conduct daily poojas and gave him the wealth to
construct a temple. On that occasion there were not enough water
in the river to conduct daily poojas. So Bhima digged a well
near to the Lord's idol using his Gada. Later this place became
famous as Paranaaranyam means forest where Paranaveedal was
conducted. Paranakananam is the equivalent Malayalam word and
later became Paranamkanam and after hundreds of years it became
Bharananganam. Since the first abhishekam was conducted using
Gauna river water, even today the first abhishekam in the early
morning is conducted with river water and later with well water.
Major Attractions
Saint Alphonsa's Tomb
Saint Alphonsa is the first woman saint from India. She lived
and died in Bharananganam. The mortal remains of Saint Alphonsa
are kept in a chapel next to St. Mary's Church. Pilgrims from
different parts of South India, especially Kerala and Tamilnadu,
visit the tomb for blessings. The death anniversary of Saint
Alphonsa, which falls on the 28th July is an important day for
the devotees. Every year on this day, thousands of devotees
visit this holy shrine, next to the church where the mortal
remains of the saint is preserved, to pray and seek her
blessings.
Sree Krishna Swami Temple
Along with Saint Alphonsa's Church, Bharananaganam is well known
for Hindu pilgrimage too. Temple of Sree Krishna in the banks of
river Meenachil is one of the major temple of south Kerala. The
east facing Sree Krishna Swami temple is located 1.3 km away
from Bharanaganam junction in Ettumanoor - Poonjar State Highway
Education
Bharananganam is famous for its elite schools. Alphonsa
Residential School (ARS) is one of the best ICSE syllabus
schools in Kerala. In 1991, just the 8th batch of ICSE at
Alphonsa Residential School produced the first ranker in the
State of Kerala, Arul Mathew, who in 1993 was ranked 10th in the
Kerala Engineering Entrance Exam and gained admission (top 0.5%
in the country) to the prestigious Indian Institute of
Technology in Chennai. Another alumnus of Alphonsa Residential
School, Suman Ann Thomas (1992 ICSE batch), graduated from the
prestigious Indian Institute of Management. Many other students
from ARS have become high profile professionals making their
impact in reputed companies and institutions all around the
world. St.Joseph's College of Engineering and Technology is
located just 3 km from Bharananganam. Sacred Heart Girls High
School and St.Mary's Boys High School are also famous schools in
the region.
Other Details
Bharananganam is well known for other things too. Renowned film
actress (late)miss kumari belonged to this town. Assisi asramam
run by OFM cap missionaries also situated here. They are
publishing a malayalam magazine named "assisi" every month
through their publishing house "Jeevan Books".
Accesibility, Nearest Cities and
Towns
Nearest Airport - Cochin
Nearest Railway Station- Kottayam
Distance to Cochin/Ernakulam - 75 km
Distance to Kottayam - 32 km
Distance to Pala - 5 km
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Palli Front view |
alphonsa church
copy |
