A TRIP TO JATAYUPARA CHADAYAMANGALAM

Date: 13th September 2009

Among the many mythological structures that are found in Kollam District, Jatayupara near Chadayamangalam stands out of the rest. Jatayupara, as the legend goes is the place where Jatayu fell to the ground after an unsuccessful fight with Ravana.
I had nearly covered all of Kollam and nearby places. Jatayupara and the nearby Kottukal rock cut cave temple were the only two places which had been left unexplored by me in my travels. So on a Sunday (which happened to be the last Sunday before I was transferred to a different district) I found myself planning a trip to these two places. Although later I was able to go to only Jatayupara I had nearly covered all of Kollam.

It was around 12 pm when I caught a bus bound for Kulathupuzha so as to get down at Ayur and catch a bus to Chadayamangalam from there. I reached Ayur by 1:20 pm. I reached Chadayamangalam by 1:28 pm. The Jatayupara rock can be seen from the Bus Station itself. If one moves towards the main road and takes the first right turn and then the next left turn one reaches the base village. I reached the top by 1:50 pm. I saw that similar to Maruthimala there was a Coconut tree at such a height above sea level. It definitely had to be the tallest coconut tree!

I found a group of 4-5 people also exploring the mountain. I enquired with them as to where the Kottukal Rock Cut cave temple was and how could one reach it. A person said that it was nearly 10-13 kilometres away from the base village. Although there are regular buses’ going to Kottukal the temple is open till 10 in the morning and after 5 pm in the evening only. So I was at the wrong time over there and decided to skip the cave temple. I reached the bus station by 2:40 pm and my hostel by around 4:30 pm.

Getting there:

Bus up to Ayur 18.50 Rs per head
Bus up to Chadayamangalam 4.50 Rs per head