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One hears of it before he sets foot on its land and once he does its just like  a midsummer night’s dream coming true. And hence begins his love affair with ‘KERALA’.

To many people , kerela is known as God’s won country owing to its remarkable landscape and breath taking beauty. Some of them  call it as  “THE LAND OF SPICES”.Kerela has a distinguishable culture of itself that in its own right is enthralling . kerala ranks one of the top in the list of tourism . The culture of “THEYYAMS. DANCING DEITY , TEMPLE FESTIVALS, SABARIMALA PILGRIMAGE, KALARI(martial art),KATHAKALI”, sessions at temples are one of their kind kerala about its food ,boasts of vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods,. Each region in kerala have their own pecularities  which is the most important factor in attracting tourists.

Bharananganam is the place where saint alphonsa lived and died. it is located 33 km away from kottayam town. Bharananganam is  a sacred place, thousands of  pilgrims are coming every year. The crystalline waters of meenichil river flows through the three sides of bharananganam town.  This place is well known for Christianity .millennium old forane church is well popular all over the world.

St Alphonsa life history

Saint alphonsa was born on 19 th august 1910. the birth place is known as kudamaloor. It is rural village in kottayam district. Alphonsa was the fourth child of mary and joseph. In her childhood she was called as annakutty. Her mother died , when she was very young. She was brought up by her aunt annamma belongs to muricken family, in muttuchira. In her childhood she was inspired by st Theresa of lisieux.  The little alphonsa liked to dedicate his life to Christ. she burn his foot in ash , at the age of 13 to escape from marriage proposal .  Because of her strong prayer , aunt allowed her to join in convent. She joining francisian clarist convent located at bharananganam in 1927. she got her postulant’s veil on 2 august 1928. sister alphonsa spent 20 years in bharananganam. Sister alphonsa suffered serious health problems in her life. But she faced all these problems with prayer finally died on 28 th july 1946. she was buried at church of bharananganam in pala diocese.

After her death , her students starts praying to god with her name and they got favors . after this her tomb became a pilgrimage centre and number of miracles happened. The first officially decalered miracle is that of a  child namely jithin, the child is miraculously cured due to prayers at the alter of saint alphonsa shrine.  In 1985 the miracle was approved. Pope benedict xvi canonized sister alphonsa on 12 october 2008.

Saint alphonsa lived in calrist convent near to st mary’s forane church bharananganam. The tomb of saint alphonsa located in the montuary of chapel. Here you can see a museum near to chapel.

Bharananganam route map

Cochin-ettumanoor-palai-bharananganam

Trivandrom-kottayam-ettumanoor-palai-bharananganam

Airport and rail

Nearest airport is nedumbassery international airport at cochi(3.5 hours journey from airport to bharananganam)

Nearest railway station is at kottayam(2 hours journey from railway station to bharananganam)

Ayurveda in kerala

Ayurveda is an art of living and it is very close to nature, which is very useful to human life. The objectives of ayurveda is the preservation of human health , and protect the human body from various infections. origin of ayurveda  in India about 10000 years back. It is believed that ayurveda is one of the ancient science , that used to cure various diseases. Ayurveda developed numerous therapeutic measures to combat illness. Ayurveda includes the following treatments types.

Kativasthi

For this warm oil is used. This treatment also take 45 minutes . it is very useful for the treatment of various pains in the body..

Kizhi

Medicinal plants leaves and herbal powders are used for this treatment .  The treatment is for speech disorders, bell’s palsy etc.

Nasyam

Medicated oils , herbal juices from medicinal plants are applied through nose. This treatment is very useful  for curing headache.

Abhyangam

It is a type of oil massage , it take 45 minutes , continusly massage body for 14 days. This is very effective in the treatment of obesity, diabetic etc.

Dhanyamala dhara

In this dhara , body is massaged with warm oil. This  is done  for the treatment of himpligia, paralysis, rheumatic diseases etc