As soon as any person form Kerala hears the name Kalpathi, he is reminded of the annual car festival. Over the years, Kalpathi and Theru (the Malayalam equivalent for chariot) have become synonyms for each other. So much so , the daughters of Kalpathi used to envy the daughters -in-law of that village because the latter were fortunate enough to witness the festival while the former, though born in Kalpathi were not able to do so since they were married off else where.

But it is an irony of fate that though the initial 'K' in my name refers simultaneously to Kerala, Kalpathi and Krishna Iyer (my father), I have not been fortunate enough to participate in the Car Festival. God willing, I intend to do so in 2003. Whatever little I know about Kalpathi, is gathered from my parents and uncles. The annual magazines released by new kalpathy grama jana samooham also give an insight regarding the history of the village.

As per the sovenier 2000 published during the Kumbhabhishekam

Of Sree maha ganapathy temple. The possible reasons for the migration of Tamil Brahmins to Palghat district of Kerala are as follows:

The famous pandian ruler Maravarman died in 1310 AD. Ambitious Muslim invaders started subjugating one area after another in Tamil Nadu. Feeling insecure and fearing persecution, the Brahmins started migrating via Palakkad pass, Dindigul and Pollachi. Continuous drought over many years in Kaveri delta area also triggered migration of Tamil Brahmins to Kerala. Palakkad kings welcomed and settled these Brahmins in their area. Tamil Brahmins who came from Tanjore, Trichy, Vaitheeswarankoil, Needamangalam, Kandarmanickam, Mangudi, Sathyamangalam and other areas, established a number of agraharams which gradually grew to about 96 in all. The temples in these agraharams follow the aagamma sastra of worship.

My father's subsect is Kandramanikkam brihatcharanam while my mother's is Mangudi brihatcharanam.

There are numerous temples in Palakkad one attached to each of the 20 gramams in the town. The chief and most richly endowed is in Kalpathy dedicated to Lord Shiva, a low quadrangular temple on the banks of Kalpathy River. The Car Festival held in November in this temple is the biggest in the taluk and collects more than 20,000 people. The primacy of Sree Viswanatha Swamy Temple in Palakkad town is proved from the fact that the deities of all the temples of the town are taken in procession to the Viswanath a Swamy Temple on Mamankam day held once in 12 years.

One Lakshmy Amma , a widow of Sekhari Puram came back from Kashi and gave the prince Itikombi Achan 1320 gold coins in 1424-25 AD and requested him to build the temple of Siva. Hence the saying " Kasiyil Pathi Kalpathy. " i.e. half of Kashi is Kalpathy.

On the eastern side of Sree Viswanatha Swamy temple lies the new Kalpathy village which consists homes mostly built of thatched roofing. Harassed by frequent fire, loss of life and property the villagers constructed a temple dedicated to Lord Maha Ganapathy to ward off Sivadrishty. The idol of Mahaganapathy resting under a Banyan tree near a tank lying on the eastern side of this village manthakkara was installed facing Lord Shiva. The residents of this village were well known scholars of Vedas and Shastr as and Purohits wel-versed in their profession. Most of the surrounding villagers of Palakkad town used to depend on them for the conduct of Vedic Rituals. This village sent the largest contingent of delegates of Veda scholars to attend the all India Sanathana dharma conference held at Kasi during 1932-33.

These men of learning never cared for riches or material comforts. For this reason, the Ganpathy temple had no properties worth mentioning. The poojas and festivals used to be conducted on adhoc basis. When once the poojari deserted the temple in disgust, the great vedic scholar, Brahmashri Sangameshwara Vadhayar, my grand father used to offer naivedyam to Lord Maha Ganpaathy from his house. He went on fast for 3 days to draw the attention of the villagers towards this problem. Finally Shri M.K.Ven kateswara Iyer, K.D.Subramanya Iyer and Magistrate Swaminatha Iyer raised funds and brought some agricultural lands and created a Trust for Nitya Nalvedyam for this temple. Shri M.N.Ramaswamy Iyer also created a Trust for the conduct of the Car Festival.

In 1934 February a Maha Kumbhabhishekam was performed. Shri Chidambara Iyer made arrangements to have Ganapathy homam performed every day and started the big event of conducting Maha Ganapathy homam on Vinayaka Chaturthi day using 1024 coconuts and proportionate other Ashta Dravyams. This form of ritual is known to be conducted only at this temple and it continues even today.

The next Maha Kumbhabhishekam was conducted at this temple on 12-05-1967.

The land reforms Act 1967 snatched away the little landed properties the temple had without any compensation and once again there were no funds to conduct even the regular poojas of the Temple. To solve this problem, during 1972, the new Kalpathy grama jana samooha was activated. They floated the popular Nitya-Naivedya fund within a few years. The finances improved and the latest Kumbhabhishekam was conducted on 24-05-2000 in a Grand manner.

This in nutshell is the history of my native village Kalpathy.