Manarcad

History

St. Mary's Church

The desire of forefathers for a holy place to pray and perform religious ceremonies for the Pilgrim Christians was the root cause of construction of the church. They fasted and prayed for this purpose. On the 8th day of their prayer, they all had a vision. Holy fathers compared Virgin Mary with The 'Sakshipettakam' which was created by Mossaih according to the order of God. The circumference of this 'Sakhshipettakam' was 8 muzhams (around 12 feet). The number connected with the salvation secrets of Virgin Mary and her son Jesus Christ was also considered to be 8). The vision was to build the church in the forest where a calf and cow were lying down, where the fish and deer could be caught and Acacia Instia and canes were scattered around. (Acasia Redhirama, the wood which used to fabricate the 'Sakshipettakam' and Acasia Instra which was the Holy Fathers dreamt of were of the same species.

The stone inscriptions found at the church reveal that the church was built more than a 1000 years ago. Archeologists have found out that these stone inscriptions were memorial stones set up at the tombs in 910 A.D. and 920 A.D. and the writing on them are in Malayalam and Tamil scripts prevalent 600 years ago. Afterwards, on several occasions, the church was rebuilt and renewed. In the 16th century there was not a single church in the land which was not re-built in the Portuguese style. It is believed that the Manarcad church also was re-built at that time in the model of the Kottayam Cheriya Pally.

Manarcad Sri Bhagavathy Temple

The mythological belief associated with Manarcad Sri Bhagavathy Temple is: There lived a pious Brahmin in Thanniyil Ellam in Elambanakkadu. He was a great devotee of Kodugalloor Amma, and visited Kodugalloor Temple often. Due to his old age and failing health, he prayed to continue his devotion towards kodugalloor amma”.That day night Amma told him in a dream “When you wake up, you will find a Kuda (traditional umbrella) near you.I will be with that Kuda. You will never again need to come to Kodugalloor to worship me. he found it as directed. When he reached near Elambanakkadu, he broke his journey to take some rest placing the Kuda on the ground. But after taking rest, he was not able to lift the Kuda. He met the local ruler and informed the matter. An Astrologer was summoned and he detected the holy presence of Kodugalloor Amma.He again got Amma’s direction in his dream – to build a Bhagavathy Temple in the nearby Choorakkadu (bamboo forest) which was the abode of a Nagarajan (Snake God). Thus the Temple was built with popular support. During that time, a Yakshi (Demon) named Elambi was creating problems in that area. It is believed that Amma killed Elambi and her cronies. Elambi’s Mani (bell) was thrown southwards in the area. Since the Mani was thrown, Elambanakkadu came to be known as the forest where the bell was thrown, which worded Maniyerkadu – later became Manarcad.