Krishna Manalikarai

An Inscription about Taxation was written in a pillar in front of the Manalikkara Alwar Temple during the reign of Venad ruler King Veera Ravi Kerala Varma (1215- 1240 CE). The existence of Manalikkara Azhwar temple, as it used to be called originally, is mentioned in the ‘Manalikkara Inscriptions’ dating back to 1236 CE. The present “Kodimaram” (flag pole) in front of the temple was installed in the last century. Manalikkara Madom is where Brahmin scholars lived and practiced their expertise in tantric rituals, vedas and literature. K V Manalikkara who translated several books from Sanskrit to Malayalam and created the second smallest book in the world called “Rasarasika” (1.5 cms in length and 1 cm in width) containing 5 characters in each line readable only through a lens was from here. Palm leaf manuscript bundles about ancient scientific researches and vedic literature’s were found from Manalikkara Madom that was later shifted to Oriental Research and Manuscript Library at University of Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram. The 13 plays in Sanskrit called Swapnavasavadatta written by the famous playwright and ancient poet Bhasa were unearthed from Manalikkara Madom in 1912 by T.Ganapati Sastri that was believed to be lost till the time. The Sanskrit literature Devi Mahatmyam written in palm leaves fabricated in the shape of a garland was also found in Manalikkara Madom. It consists of a string of fifteen beads, each made of inseparable palm leaves pressed against two ingeniously worked out knots.”Aryamanju Sreemoola Kalpam” a rare work about Buddhism was also found in Manalikkara Madom. The script is in Devanagari, written with special resinous ink. It consists of 307 palm leaves. The “Manalikkara Shasanam” written by Ravi Kerala Varma and the Unnuneeli Sandesam script found by the poet Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer were from the library of Manalikara Madom.