Cherthala Karthyayani temple situated north of Alappuzha town, isconsidered as the abode of Karthyayani who is behind the prosperity and wealth of Cherthala and nearby places. The sub deities worshipped here are Vishnu, Shiva, Ganapathy, Kavudayan, Nagaraja and Yakshi. According to the legends, once Vilwamangalam Swamiyar was on a journey through the land of Cherthala. He accidentally saw seven virgins taking their bath. Swamiyar who had the power to sense the divinity soon came to know that they are no ordinary women. When Swamiyar came near they started running. Swamiyar gave chase to the speeding women. One after the other they soon jumped into the nearby seven ponds. Swamiyar, without wasting a moment, leaped into the first, taken the first virgin by force and laid her down on the land. He repeated the same adventure on other five. Apart from others, the last virgin plunged into a muddy pool. When Swamiyar tried to bring her to the land, she resisted severely.
So, forcefully, he caught hold of her begrimed hair and commanded in a vociferous tone uttering 'Yedi chettilthalayayole...Ivide Iri'(with an obscene slang in Malayalam) to make her seated. Thenceforth she is called as Cherthala Karthyayani. The seven ponds to which virgins dived are Kalikulam, Cherakulam, Kelankulam, Pullankulam, Pallikkulam, Kuruppankulam and Thrippurakulam. In another version of the legend, Vilwamangalam saw a lady relaxing on a swing rather luringly when he happened to go by the side of a pond in Cherthala. Swamiyar recognized her true identity and took off to capture her. It was none other than the devi herself who started running when she saw the approaching Vilwamangalam. The pursual which lasted for seven days, turned into a wild-goose chase, as Vilwamangalam Swamiyar couldn't catch her at all. Whenever he attempted, Devi jumped into a pond and hid beneath the surface. After a week-long chase, they came back to the pond from where Devi started her run. This time around, Vilwamangalam caught her and consecrated devi in the pond itself which was full of mud. Hence the idol of the devi can be seen much below the ground level and indeed is a very rare sight. The name of the seven ponds to which devi had jumped are the same as that of in the first story.
The festival, known widely as cherthala pooram, is in the month of Meenam. There is a peculiar tradition (aka Kalluthullal) of circumventing the temple by the devotees carrying toddy pots, soddening themselves and singing filthy songs to praise the deity in rememberance of her consecration.
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