Salted Mango Pickle !

The story of pickle and Kothazham is very interesting. The main temple in Kothazham is that of Lord Shiva, the destroyer in Hindu pantheon. The imposing temple atop a small hillock, with 39 steps has a sprawling complex with a huge pond mainly for devotees to take a dip before entering the temple precincts and the priests to bathe before beginning the pujas.

In olden days when the village had a large number of jackfruit and mango trees, people used to preserve it for non-seasonal use. And for making pickle, they used to dump the mangos into the pond, which had salty water those days. (There is some incongruity in the belief of salt water in the pond at a place on the Eastern Ghats. This story could have taken place, if at all it did, at some place near the seashore. But by fate accompli befell on Kothazham).


Now after a couple of months or so when the pickle was ready, the villagers gathered around the pond to collect every person's share. First one villager tied a big Chinese earthen pot used to preserve pickles onto his neck and jumped into the pond. As he did not come up as expected after some time, other got panicky, not for the safety of the first jumper, but the very thought that he might be collecting the whole pickle. So they all followed suit, one by one and jumped into the pond with the big earthen pot tied onto their neck.

And in no time, a large number of able-bodied men in Kothazham went down the pond, never to return with the pickle they were supposed to fetch!

(courtsey - N.B.Nair - ANI Delhi )