Parayi Petta Panthirukulam, is a popular folktale in Kerala. According to this folktale, Vararuchi, one of the nine wise men of Emperor Vikramaditya’s court married a girl belonging to Paraya, a lower caste. The couple set out a long pilgrimage. On the way, they were blessed with 12 children. Upon each delivery, Vararuchi enquired whether the baby had a mouth. If the wife said "yes", he would say, "God will appease the one with mouth" and would ask the wife to abandon the baby then and there and proceed. Eleven children were deserted, since they had a mouth. The tale goes that after the 12th birth, when Vararuchi asked whether the child had a mouth, the wife said he didn't have a mouth in the hope that she may get to raise at least that child. But when she looked at child after saying that, the child indeed was seen to have born without a mouth. Vararuchi consecrated the 12th child as a deity on top of a hill, and they proceeded on the pilgrimage. The 11 abandoned children were adopted and brought up by 11 different families, varying from the aristocratic upper caste to very low caste. Following are the name of the families who are believed to have adopted the children, with their caste affiliation in parenthesis:
Vayillakkunnilappan, the 12th child was born without a mouth. Vararuchi consecrated this child on a hill in Palakkad district of Kerala, which is now known as "Vaayillaakkunnilappan temple".
People with the family names and caste affiliations accounted in the folktale, who are believed to be the descendants of Vararuchi, live in Shoranur, Pattambi and Thrithala of Palakkad district of Kerala state. Despite the huge difference in their caste and social ranks, these families are traditionally bound together by rituals and religious customs.
The following verses in Malayalam of anonymous authorship and of uncertain date describes the names of the twelve children of Vararuchi and his wife Panchami who comprise the progenitors of the twelve clans of the legend of Panthirukulam. ത്തച്ചനും പിന്നെ വള്ളോന് നായര് കാരയ്ക്കല് മാതാ ങ്ങത്തെഴും പാണനാരും ച്ചാത്തനും പാക്കനാരും ---- ttaccanuṃ pinně vaḷḷōn nāyar kāraykkal mātā ŋŋattěļuṃ pāṇanāruṃ ccāttanuṃ pākkanāruṃ
