Valliyamkavu Devi Temple

Valliyamkavu Devi Temple is an old Durga shrine in the hills and forest of Peerumedu taluk, Idukki district, near the Travancore Rubber and Tea Company estate and about 23 km from Mundakkayam. Buses run to it from Mundakkayam.

Legend says the Pandavas and Draupadi, while in exile, stayed long at nearby Panchalimedu and, on leaving, gave the local tribal chief an image of Durga to worship. Following their own rites, the tribal people turned the goddess into the fiercer Bhadra, and she is said to have travelled through the forest by way of its hanging ropes to this spot, giving it the name Valliyadikkavu, later Valliyamkavu. A Vanchipuzha Thamburan later allowed the Adivasi chief to worship here, and 22 acres were given for building a temple. After a court case over sacrifices, the Travancore Devaswom Board took over the temple in 1993.