This famous temple is at Chavara, in Kollam District. Goddess Durga considered as Aadi Paraashakthi is consecrated here. Legend says that the place where the temple stands now was once a forest. On the north west corner of the forest there was a pond known as the Bhoothaklam which was considered to be the shelter for poisonous snakes. There was another huge pond on the eastern side which would get filled during the rain and flow out through a channel to irrigate and make the fields fertile for cultivation. People used to bring their cattle there to feed on the greenery. Once a group of boys more who were tending their cattle there got a coconut. They tried to de-husk it by banging it on a stone on the southern part of the Bhoothakulam. But blood started oozing out of the stone and the boys informed the elders about it. The astrologers found the presence of Vanadurga in the stone and suggested building a temple immediately and starting pujas. The boys and elders constructed a temporary temple using poles, leaves and the tender leaves of the coconut palm. It was the custom to have the small girls light the lamps and make the garlands and flowers for the puja in the family temples. So, the boys, dressed up in the clothes of girls, offered puja there. They extracted the milk from the coconut, boiled it to make the medicinal oil and the solid substance that was left was offered as Naivedyam to the goddess. Even today for the festival in the temple the model of the first temple is built every year. The temple made near the pond (kulam) where kottan (solid part of the coconut left after the oil is taken) was offered as Naivedyam came to be known as Kottankulangara. During the festival men dress up as women and carry the lamps in remembrance of the first puja performed by the boys.