Places · Temple
Lalur Subrahmanya Temple
A temple to Sri Balasubrahmanya in the Mathaipuram Colony at Lalur, the place of worship of the colony's families.
Photo to come
This small temple stands in the Mathaipuram Colony at Lalur. Its deity is Sri Balasubrahmanya, the young form of Subrahmanya (Murugan). Beside it is a community hall.
The colony around it
To reach it, you go north from Lalur Centre along the old Cemetery Road (Savakkotta Road). The colony was set up through the efforts of John Mathai, independent India’s first Railway Minister and later Finance Minister, who had houses built for families who were then excluded from much of public life. The book uses the older word Harijan for them. The colony is named Mathaipuram after him.
The book describes the temple as the place of worship of these families. The colony also has a place in wider history: in 1933 Mahatma Gandhi came to see a school for the colony’s children run by Chakkoru Master.
What we do not know yet
The book gives only a line about the temple itself. We do not know when it was built, its festivals or its timings. We would especially like to hear from the temple committee and from families of the colony, so that this page can tell their story in their own words.
Related
John Mathai
Economist and India's first Railway Minister, later Finance Minister, who made his home at Lalur in Aranattukara.
Chakkoru Master
Teacher, social worker and peacemaker (J.C. Chiramel), who taught Dalit children at Lalur, translated for Gandhiji and worked to heal the parish split.
Temples and Older Faiths
Long before the church bells, Aranattukara had its sacred groves, its kol paddy fields and its temples. This chapter looks at the land's older faiths, the Brahmin settlement of Thrissur, the temples of Lalur and Kizhakkeppuram, and the village healers.