Oachira Temple

Oachira Temple, on the Kollam–Alappuzha border beside National Highway 66, is an old pilgrimage centre called Dakshina Kashi, the Kashi of the south. Spread over thirty-six acres, it centres on the Parabrahma temple, devoted to the universal consciousness, with the Vethalamkunnu Parabrahma Temple, where devotees may perform puja directly, regarded as its origin. British surveyors Ward and Conner recorded a very old, ruined temple east of the Padanilam ground and a big reservoir, now the Kallukettuchira, in the early 19th century.

In June the Oachirakali is staged: mock fights in muddy water by traditional martial artists, recalling yearly war exercises once held here by soldiers of the Kayamkulam Raja. At Irupathettam Onam, 28 days after Onam, some 50 huge bull figures of cloth and hay are pulled on great wheels to the temple. The Vrischikam festival falls in December and January.