Rayirenelloor Branthachalam Temple: A place to remember Naranathu Branthan
To many he was a madman. The road to Branthachalam Bhagavathy Temple does not announce itself with grandeur as it begins quietly, moving through villages, paddy fields and groves of trees, this is the place to meet the mind of one of Kerala’s most misunderstood sages, Naranathu Branthan . This travel is not merely a climb to a hilltop shrine but it is an ascent into a mythology that questions the meaning of life itself. Naranathu Branthan, the fifth child of the legendary scholar Vararuchi grew up among the Ambalavasi community who are custodians of temple ritual and sacred rhythm. Yet from the beginning he walked a path that no scripture prescribed. Every morning he climbed a hill pushing a massive boulder to the top, in the evening he rolled it down laughing aloud. The villagers watched in bewilderment calling him “Branthan” or lunatic. But the hill today tells a different story as standing here and looking at the massive rocks scattered across ...