Category:Kottankulangara Devi Temple

Kottankulangara Devi Temple, Chavara 

A Durga Hindu temple in Kerala
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Instance of	temple
Location	Chavara, Kollam district, Kerala, India
official website
8° 58′ 47″ N, 76° 32′ 06″ E
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The Kottankulangara Devi Temple is a pre-15th century Durga temple in Chavara village, Kollam. It is known for its annual Chamayavilakku festival in March where thousands of men wear silk sarees and jasmine garlands, then carry the Hindu temple lamp around the temple as a form of respect for the goddess and women in general. The wives, mothers and sisters of the family help the teenagers and men in the family to dress up. This march occurs over two days.

The Kottankulangara Devi temple festivities are similar to Koovagam festival at the Koothandavar Thiruvizha temple in Tamil Nadu where men dress up like women before performing the goddess Durga rituals. Shops and make up artists outside the temple offer their services. These festivals were first documented during the colonial era by Christian missionaries who considered these as another example of bizarre Hindu pagan rituals. Since mid 2010s, local media has reported it as a transgender festival.