At _Certele_, a town of considerable note, inhabited only by Pagans, is a celebrated temple dedicated to _Bhagavadi_, that is, the fortunate woman, the spouse of the god _Shiva_. In the month of March 1777 I had an opportunity of seeing the image of this deity during the celebration of her festival. It was exhibited to the populace, amidst the sound of various musical instruments, by a Brahman, who sat upon an elephant, and held an umbrella over it. Some Indian dancing girls preceded the statue; and the procession was closed by an immense multitude of people, who seemed frantic with joy, and who sung all kinds of indecent songs on the subject of generation, which they say is effected by the influence of this female deity, combined with that of her husband _Shiva_, or the sun. The statue was at last carried to a sacred pond, where it was washed and purified by the Brahmans; who, during the ceremony, repeated a great many prayers. The Pagans worship this deity as the ruler of all fluids, from which every earthly thing was produced by means of heat. Women in labour are under her protection; and the small-pox are the consequence of her pernicious influence. For these and such like reasons the above solemnity was instituted to her honour. A cock is sacrificed before the gate of her temple, and the door-posts are besprinkled with the blood. In the second book of this work, I shall give a more particular account of this divinity. She has several names, such as _Parvàdi_, _Kàli_, _Umà_, and _Ishvari_. An image of her, made of bronze, is preserved in the Borgian Museum at Velitri. _Vaikam_, or _Vaikatta_, is also a _Gràmam_, or district belonging to the Brahmans, who are generally accustomed to establish themselves at a distance from the other casts. There is here likewise a celebrated temple of _Shiva_, together with a Brahman school or academy. The revenue of this temple is very considerable, and arises from rice fields, which are let, without any distinction, to Mahometans and Christians. One of the king’s civil officers resides here. In the years 1788 and 1789, when the cruel Tippoo Sultan Bahader, son of Hayder Aly Khan, persecuted the Brahmans, and caused them either to be unmercifully beat, or circumcised according to the Mahometan manner, a great many of them fled to _Vaikatta_, where they received every kind of protection possible from the king of Travancor. _Udiamper_ is the place where the celebrated synod was held, on the 26th of June 1599, at the conclusion of which the Christians of St. Thomas, who had before been Nestorians, returned to the bosom of the Romish Church[65]. The inhabitants of this town, which lies on a river, are at present exceedingly poor.