70 chapter
A distinctive characteristic of large Hindu temples is that, unlike churches
or mosques, they are not single structures. A Hindu temple is often a complex
of buildings or a campus that can encompass several acres. Th e main complex
at Chottanikkara includes a number of shrines, a dormitory and offi ce build-
ing for the temple staff , and a main shrine containing a sanctum sanctorum
where the principal idol of Amma-Narayana is located. Th e main shrine is
surrounded by a large, open, gravel-strewn area and a stone walkway that goes
around the main shrine. Near the western wall of the main complex stand
shrines to Shiva and a snake deity. Th e western gate of the main complex
faces the main road where buses drop visitors from the nearby city of Cochin.
Th e eastern gate of the main complex faces several merchant stands that sell
cassettes, books and refreshments and a stone staircase that descends to the
temple’s water tank where devotees bathe. Further eastward, beyond the tank
lies the kizhakke kavu (literally, “eastern sacred grove”), which is essentially a
smaller temple within the Chottanikkara temple complex and an abode of
Kali, a tough, aggressive incarnation of the goddess who intimidates the spirits
possessing the affl icted and helps drive them away. (Figure 1 provides a view of
the main complex from the eastern gate of Chottanikkara temple.)
Figure 1. Th e main shrine at Chottanikkara temple, viewed through the
eastern entrance of the main complex. (Th e people shown here are not among
the possessed or ill.)