Uravappara Temple is a small temple of Lord Muruga in the form Bala Subrahmania, situated on the top of a 500 Ft rocky hill at Olamattom near Thodupuzha in Idukki District. It is on the way to Moolamattom from Thodupuzha and is around 2 kms from Thodupuzha Town. On reaching Olamattom on the right side you can see an arch from where the rocky path is starting. A stream is there on the side of the road.
The uphill road is sloppy in the initial phase so that you can climb easily and afterwards the rocks are steep so the upward journey becomes harder.
We climbed the rock in the early morning and it took almost one hour to reach the top. It is better to reach the temple before the sun shines hard otherwise climbing the rock would be tiresome. The views from the mid-way and top of the rock are spectacular. Though it was in the month May, there were signs of fog on the uphill. On climbing the last secession of the rocks the temple is visible to you. The legend is that the deity of Subrahmania here is self-manifested.
You will experience a divine silence in and around the temple. There are no crowd of devotees. Only a few like us are there in the temple. One can take ample time for Darshan and all. The priest and temple staff are very sincere.
A tiny stream is flowing down to the bottom of the rock from which the name Uravappara originated. It is believed that the Pavdavas stayed here during some part of their exile years and the tiny pond behind the temple was created by Bheema by applying his foot on the rock when he was in need of water for performing rituals. It is in the shape of his foot! It is now preserved by covering a net and one can see water lilies in the pond.
At the far end of the rock top on the back side of the temple, there are five huge stones believed to be used by Pandavas as Aduppu (Stove base) for cooking. The rocks are ending here and three sides of this part are deep valleys.
The view of the temple from the back side rocks is also marvelous. On one side it is steep rift and one cannot move that way for completing an outside Pradakshina.
Suddenly a man appeared on a bike with his family including a small baby raced past us as a lightning over the top of the rocky hill to the dead end of the rock. We shocked for a moment wondering what is happening over there. To our great relief he stopped the vehicle just a few yards before the visible edge where the rock path vanishes to the sky. Then only we realized it was a speedy family visit to the Pandava stones..! You can spot the bike in the picture below which flew away 100 meters from us by the time of a click.
Returning to the front side of the temple we could find another pathway from the downside and we understood how the bike reached the hilltop.
We started moving down. On both sides of the rock we saw small houses and all types of domestic animals/birds in front of them. As the sun rays became more warm we walked fast to reach the bottom at the earliest. While passing over the plain rocks in some areas we looked back.The Balasubrahmania Temple stood shining afar on the hilltop with all its charms.
Tips for the journey: 1. Plan this trip en-route visiting another tourist place. For eg, Vagamon is around 40 kms from here on the same route. You can visit here early morning and returning to the bottom hills resume the trip to that place. Malankara Dam is also very near, 4kms only from here. 2. Try to reach the downhill latest by 7.00 am or so. The climate would be very good to climb the hill. 3. Park the vehicle on the right side of the road near the arch. 4. Be careful while taking/pausing for snaps on uphill as there are no fencing on boundaries.
The uphill road is sloppy in the initial phase so that you can climb easily and afterwards the rocks are steep so the upward journey becomes harder.
We climbed the rock in the early morning and it took almost one hour to reach the top. It is better to reach the temple before the sun shines hard otherwise climbing the rock would be tiresome. The views from the mid-way and top of the rock are spectacular. Though it was in the month May, there were signs of fog on the uphill. On climbing the last secession of the rocks the temple is visible to you. The legend is that the deity of Subrahmania here is self-manifested.
You will experience a divine silence in and around the temple. There are no crowd of devotees. Only a few like us are there in the temple. One can take ample time for Darshan and all. The priest and temple staff are very sincere.
A tiny stream is flowing down to the bottom of the rock from which the name Uravappara originated. It is believed that the Pavdavas stayed here during some part of their exile years and the tiny pond behind the temple was created by Bheema by applying his foot on the rock when he was in need of water for performing rituals. It is in the shape of his foot! It is now preserved by covering a net and one can see water lilies in the pond.
At the far end of the rock top on the back side of the temple, there are five huge stones believed to be used by Pandavas as Aduppu (Stove base) for cooking. The rocks are ending here and three sides of this part are deep valleys.
The view of the temple from the back side rocks is also marvelous. On one side it is steep rift and one cannot move that way for completing an outside Pradakshina.
Suddenly a man appeared on a bike with his family including a small baby raced past us as a lightning over the top of the rocky hill to the dead end of the rock. We shocked for a moment wondering what is happening over there. To our great relief he stopped the vehicle just a few yards before the visible edge where the rock path vanishes to the sky. Then only we realized it was a speedy family visit to the Pandava stones..! You can spot the bike in the picture below which flew away 100 meters from us by the time of a click.
Returning to the front side of the temple we could find another pathway from the downside and we understood how the bike reached the hilltop.
We started moving down. On both sides of the rock we saw small houses and all types of domestic animals/birds in front of them. As the sun rays became more warm we walked fast to reach the bottom at the earliest. While passing over the plain rocks in some areas we looked back.The Balasubrahmania Temple stood shining afar on the hilltop with all its charms.
Tips for the journey: 1. Plan this trip en-route visiting another tourist place. For eg, Vagamon is around 40 kms from here on the same route. You can visit here early morning and returning to the bottom hills resume the trip to that place. Malankara Dam is also very near, 4kms only from here. 2. Try to reach the downhill latest by 7.00 am or so. The climate would be very good to climb the hill. 3. Park the vehicle on the right side of the road near the arch. 4. Be careful while taking/pausing for snaps on uphill as there are no fencing on boundaries.
