While cross-dressing is generally not received well, at the Kottankulangara Devi temple at Chavara in Kerala there is a tradition where hundreds of saree-clad men visit the temple to appease the deity and get their wishes fulfilled.
Earlier only the locals would take part in this ritual at the temple located about 80 km from state capital Thiruvananthapuram but things have changed now.
In the 19-day-long temple festival, it is on the last two days that this ritual named “Kottankulangara Chamayavilakku” takes place, according to the president of the temple committee G. Hari Kumar, who told media that this time over 5,000 people — both men and boys — turned up dressed as women or girls for the prayers. Around the same number of people came to watch the fest.
There are several stories about the origin of the festival but the most popular version says a group of boys who used to herd cows would playfully dress up as girls and offer flowers and a coconut dish called “kottan” to a stone.
Folklore has it that the goddess appeared before one of the boys, and subsequently a temple came up and the ritual of cross-dressing to offer prayers to the goddess got under way.
This stone has now come to be regarded as the temple’s deity, and some say the stone has been growing in size over the years.
While some of the devotees are dressed up by their female family members, there are now a good number of beauticians and makeup artists around the temple who charge between Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 for decking up the faithful.
Agencies