The Kerala High Court has ruled that devotees should be allowed in the Kannagi temple just as they were allowed in the Sabarimala Iyappan temple.
The Mangaladevi Kannaki Temple is located at Vinnetripparai in the Western Ghats on the Tamil Nadu border. The temple is located at a distance of 9 km from Paliyankudi near Kudalur and 14 km from Kumuli in Kerala. The path to this temple is through Kerala, for which the Kerala state forest department has imposed strict restrictions. It is customary for devotees to be admitted only once a year during the month of Chithirai. The ceremony did not take place last year due to the Corona curfew. Permission has not yet been obtained to hold the festival this year. However, devotees were allowed to worship at the Sabarimala Iyappan Temple for Makara Jyoti adhering to pandemic restrictions.
Spiritual and historical activists continue to demand that devotees be allowed to visit the Kannagi temple as well. BS Nehru from Gudalur has filed a case in the Kerala High Court in this regard. Senior Advocate at the Kerala High Court, Kalkuva, appeared in the case. The case came up for hearing on Friday.
In the petition, it was described that devotees can visit the Kannaki temple only once a year. The ceremony did not take place last year either. So the Kambam Mangala Devi Kannaki Trust petitioned directly to the Idukki and Theni District Collectors to allow devotees for this year’s Chitra Pournami Festival. But there was no response from the district administration of both the districts.
In light of the same, the Chitra Pournami festival is coming on April 27. The judge ruled that the temple has been shrouded in shrubbery for the last two years and that devotees can only go inside the temple if it is fixed.
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