Meenachil River

Meenachil River

The Meenachil (malayalam: മീനച്ചിലാര്) river flows through the heart of Kottayam district of Kerala state, India. The river, 78 km long, flows through Poonjar, Teekoy, Erattupetta, Palai, Ettumanoor and Kottayam before emptying itself into the Vembanad Lake at Kumarakom, the famous tourist place of Kerala.

The Meenachil river is formed by several streams originating from the Western Ghats. The general elevation ranges from 77 m to 1156 m in the high lands and less than 2 m in the lowlands and 8 to 68 m in the midlands. The Meenachil has a watershed area of 1208.11 km². The river has a total annual yield of 2,349 million cubic metre and an annual utilizable yield of 1110 million cubic metre. The river has 38 tributaries including major and minor ones. The river has 47 sub watersheds and 114 micro watersheds.

==Legends==

The 78 kilometer long Meenachil river is the holy river in Kottayam district. It is also called Gauna Nadi, Kavanar and Valanjar. The name Meenachil comes from Goddess Meenakshi of Madurai, the deity of the ruling Karthas of Meenachil. Meenakshi became Meenachi and later Meenachil. According to legends this river starts from the Kamandalu of great sage Gauna Maharshi like the river Kaveri from Agasthya Maharshi's Kamandalu. Hence this river got the name Gauna Nadi. Gauna Maharshi filled his Kamandalu with Sapthanadi Theertham (water from the 7 holy rivers -Ganga,Yamuna, Saraswathy,Sindhu, Narmmada,Godavari and Kaveri). A beautiful idol of Lord Subrahmanya was also kept in his kamandalu. He was eagerly waiting for the Darshan of Lord Sree Rama in his return journey to Ayodhya after killing Ravana. Sree Rama was accompanied by large number of devotees like Vibhishana, Sugreeva and Angada in the Pushpaka Vimana.So Maharshi Gauna could not see Lord Sri Rama and Sita Devi properly. So the angry Gauna threw the kamandalu away and the idol of Subrahmanya Swami came out. These incidents occurred on a hill and since then the hill is known as Kudamuruttimala. This flow of water became a river and thus the present Gauna nadi was formed. Along with the flow of the water, the idol was carried away to the Vishnu kshetram in Kidangoor and was later installed in a new sreekovil. This is the present Kidangoor Subrahmanya Swami Temple. So the water in Gauna river is as holy as the Sapthanadi Teertham. Later Sree Rama and Sitha Devi gave darshan to Gauna Maharshi. Rama advised Gauna Maharshi to continue his Tapas. Gauna Maharsi then started his journey along the river bank and atlast reached a beautiful village and decided to stay there. He started worshipping Lord Shiva there and attained moksha. After that this place became a great forest. This place is now famous as Kadappattor and the idol of Shiva worshipped by Gauna Maharshi is now famous as Lord Kadappattoorappa.

Narada Maharshi, Veda Vyasa Maharshi, Parasurama, Pancha Pandavas and Panchali were also associated with this river. Kavanar is the Malayalam equivalent for Gauna nadi. Arattu of many temples in Kottayam district is being carried out in this river. Some of these temples are Bharananganam, Lalam, Puliyannoor, Kadappattoor, Kidangoor, Amayannoor, Ettumanoor and Kumaranalloor. It flows through the Kidangoor, Ettumanoor and Kumaranalloor Brahmin gramams and through the taluks of Meenachil, Vaikom and Kottayam. Another legend associated with Meenachil river is that those who get Neelakkoduveli from this river in the month of Karkkidakam will become wealthy.Only the Brahmins staying on the northern side of the Meenachil river were allowed to attend the Murajapam in Sree Padmanabha Swami Temple, Trivandrum