Stone Cross
According to legend, in order to install a huge stone cross in the church, the devotees went to ask for help from an elephant owner who was staying in Puthupally some 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) distant. Since the elephant was resting and receiving treatment, the owner refused the request. The devotees returned in desperation and to their surprise saw the stone cross had been erected. It was properly installed and before the cross stood the elephant.
The traditional lamps lit around this cross by devotees are a peculiarity of the church. Devotees used to move around the cross on their knees after bathing in a pond. Psychiatric patients and chronically diseased patients praying beneath the cross for the restoration of their health is a common phenomena.
Read more about this topic: Manarcad Church
Famous quotes containing the words stone and/or cross:
“The subject of the novel is reality liberated from soul. The reader in complete independence presented with a structured process: let him evaluate it, not the author. The façade of the novel cannot be other than stone or steel, flashing electrically or dark, but silent.”
—Alfred Döblin (18781957)
“She remembered home as a place where there were always too many children, a cross man and work piling up around a sick woman.”
—Willa Cather (18731947)