Chendamangalam

Location: About 42 km from Ernakulam

Highlights: A Hindu temple, a church, a mosque and the remains of a Jewish synagogue

How to Reach: The nearest railway station from here is Ernakulam, located about 42 km away. The nearest airport is Cochin International Airport, situated 20 km away. Chendamangalam is also well connected by road.

Comprising of three rivers, seven inlets, hillocks and green pastures, Chendamangalam is an amazing little town. It is located in Paravur Taluk of the Ernakulam district of Kerala. Tourists touring Cochin also explore Chenda Mangalam to see the magnificent Paliam Palace. The palace is a sheer architectural splendor and was once used as the residence of the Paliath Achans, who were the hereditary prime ministers to the former Maharajas of the erstwhile state of Kochi.

Paliath Palace is more than 450 years old and still holds an array of historic documents and relics. Anybody visiting Chendamangalam is also sure to visit the hillock at Kottayil Kovilakom. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it acts as a common site for a Hindu temple, a church, a mosque and the remains of a Jewish synagogue. Infact, all these edifices are located within one km of each other. The Jewish synagogue was built in 1614 AD and the courtyard behind this synagogue has old Jewish graves, including that of a Jewish woman dated 1264 A.D.

It is said that the Jews came to Chenda Mangalam in Kerala after the final destruction of Jerusalem in 69 AD and founded a colony here. They later moved to Fort Kochi located in the Kochi city of Kerala in 1341 AD, after the great flood. Remains of Jewish existence can still be seen around Chendamangalam in the Chendamangalam synagogue, which is adorned with traditional architectural features. You will also find remains of the Vypeenakotta Seminary built by the Portuguese during the 16th century.

Adjacent to this seminary is an old Syrian Catholic Church, built in the year 1201. The famous Hindu temple, Sree Venugopala Krishna Swami Dewasthan, was established at Chendamangalam in 1900 AD. Earlier, this temple was known as Jayantha Mangalam. The main deity of the temple is Venugopalakrishna Swami. The temple celebrates six-days long annual festival in the month of Vaisakh. Sree Venugopala Krishna Swami Dewasthan temple of Chendamangalam is a huge attraction for both locals as well as tourists.

Two days before the start of SAP TechEd Bangalore '07 we set out to visit Cochin in Kerla. From my scant knowledge of the history of this coastal town, we would find an amalgam of culture; Cochin having been home during various periods of history to Chinese settlers, the Portuguese, Dutch and English. We went to the bay to see the Chinese fishing nets and fisherman, learned from them of the inability to make a living from this activity beyond being a tourist attraction, visited a spice factory, tried unsuccessfully to book a homestay in the house where Vasco DaGama ended his days and took a cab out to the nearby village of Chendamangalam, which we had heard was home to four major houses of worship and disparate communities living side by side.

"The hillocks at Kottayil Kovilakom are unique as the site of a Hindu temple, a Christian church, a mosque and the remains of a Jewish synagogue, all within 1 km of each other." (Wikipedia)

"A popular account goes that the town of Chennamangalam was planned ... by a liberal and tolerant Maharajah who wished to have four major religious faiths equally represented in town. He designated a site on each of the cardinal points for the construction of a Jewish synagogue, a Christian church, a Hindu temple, and a Muslim mosque. At the crossing of the axis, so the tale continues, was the palace for his minister set on a hill."

Truth or fiction aside, we visited 3 of these sites and were warmly greeted by parishioners in two of the places where we found activity: the mosque and the Hindu temple. The synagogue was recently reconstructed but its worshipers were long departed and unfortunately we did not see the church.

I was particularly uplifted by the fact that these communities had for all intents and purposes, managed to exist side by side despite the religious strife and discord found in many other places in the world at the exact time that these house of worship were erected.

A ray of hope for the possiblity of peaceful co-existence...