LORDMAHAVISHNU TEMPLE THRIKKODITHANAM, KOTTAYAMDISTRICT, KERALA-COMPILED.
Dear friends, The famous Mahavishnu Temple is located in Thrikkodithanam,Kottayam District, Kerala. Constructed in theKerala style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham,the early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints from the 6th–9th centuries CE. It is one of the 108 DivyaDesam dedicated to Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu, who is worshipped as Mahavishnu. The nearestrailway station to reach the temple is located in Chenganassery, while the nearest airport isCochin International Airport. Plenty of buses are to Chenganassery or passingthrough Chenganassery. To reach the temple plenty of autos are there, about 2KM south of Chenganassery. It is one of the five ancient shrines in theKottayam-Alappuzha-Pathanamthitta area of Kerala, connected with the legend of Mahabharata,where the five Pandavas are believed to have built one temple each;Thrichittatt Maha Vishnu Temple by Yudhishthira, Puliyur Mahavishnu Temple byBheema, Aranmula Parthasarathy Temple by Arjuna, Thiruvanvandoor MahavishnuTemple by Nakula and ThrikodithanamMahavishnu Temple by Sahadeva. My late elder brother (cousin) was Manager of Syndicate Bank, Chenganassery. Duringfamily visits , I have offered prayers in this temple many times. Hope a divine reading Gopalakrishnan 10-6-2025 Legend It is one of the five ancient shrines around the Chengannurarea of Kerala, connected with the legend of Mahabharata. Legend has it thatthe Pandava princes, aftercrowning Parikshit as king of Hastinapura left on a pilgrimage. Onarriving on the banks of river Pamba, each one is believed to have installed atutelary image of Krishna; Thrichittatt Maha Vishnu Temple by Yudhishthira,Puliyur Mahavishnu Temple by Bheema, Aranmula Parthasarathy Temple by Arjuna,Thiruvanvandoor Mahavishnu Temple by Nakula and Thrikodithanam Mahavishnu Temple by Sahadeva. All the Pandavas exceptSahadeva found the perfect Mahavishnu idol for their worship. When even after searchingeverywhere they could not find the perfect idol, Sahadeva decided to commitsuicide by jumping into fire. When all the preparations were being donesuddenly a beautiful idol of Lord Vishnu came out of the fire, thus, gettingthe name of Atbhuta Narayana. The idol of Mahavishnu in the temple has been placed andworshipped by Sahadeva and is fifth among the temples of Pandava brothers. History Arputha Narayana temple is revered in Nalayira DivyaPrabhandam, the 7th–9th century Vaishnava canon, by Nammalvar. The temple isclassified as a Divya Desam, one of the 108 Vishnu temples that are mentionedin the book. The temple is also believed to be the place where Kutakkuttu, adance form where ladies hold an umbrella while dancing is practiced duringworship. This temple is of historical value as it finds reference in ‘Unnineeli Sandesam' which waswritten in 537. Architecture The temple is built inKerala style architecture. The temple has a two story gopuram or a gatewaytower, with the upper story having wooden trails covering the Kottupura, thehall of drum beating during festivals. A rectangular wall around the temple, calledKshetra-Madillukam has the sanctum for Lord Mahavishni in the in the middle. Thereare gateways on the all four sides ,encloses all other sub shrines of the temple. The metal plated flag post ordvajasthambam and the Deepastamba, the light post, are located axial to thetemple tower leading to the sanctum. Chuttuambalam is the outer pavilion located within the templewalls. The sanctum and the associated hall is located in a rectangularstructure called Nallambalam that has pillared halls and corridors. Between the entrance of Nallambalam to the sanctum, there isa raised square platform called Namaskara Mandapa (altar) which has a pyramidalroof. Thevrapura, the kitchen used to cook offering to the deity is located onthe left of Namaskara Mandapa from the entrance. Balithara is an altar is used for making ritualistic offeringto demi-gods and the festive deities. The temples has paintings on its walls dating back to early18 century. Sanctum The sanctum called Sreekovil, houses the image of thepresiding deity. It is on an elevated platform with a single door reachedthrough a flight of five steps. Either sides of the doors have images ofguardian deities called Dvarapalakas. As per Kerala rituals, only the main priest called Thantriand the second priest called Melshanthi alone can perform poojas in the SreeKovil. The central shrine hasa circular plan with thebase built of granite, superstructure built of laterite and conical roof madeof terracotta tile supported from inside by a wooden structure. The lower half of Sree Kovil consists of the basement, thepillar or the wall, called stambha or bhithi and the entablature calledprasthara in the ratio 1:2:1, in height. The roof projects in two levels toprotect the inner structure from heavy rains during monsoon. The roof of thetemple and some of the pillars have lavish wood and stucco carvings depicting variousstories of ancient epics, Ramayana and Mahabharatha. The outer walls around thesanctum have a series of wooden frames housing an array of lamps, which are litduring festive occasions The Vimanam, the roof the sanctum is called Punniya kotiVimaanam. Main deity The presiding deity in the temple is Athpudha Narayanan, whois also named as "Amirutha Narayanan". The presiding deity is sportedin standing posture facing the east direction. His consort is Karpagavalli. Theimage of the presiding deity is 6 ft (1.8 m) tall. Krishna is in Vishvarupapose, the one he depicted to Arjuna during the Mahabharatha war. Here Lord Vishnu with conch, sudarsanachakram, club and lotusin its hands. Sub deities In the second precinct, there are shrines of Sastha, Yakshi, Nagaraja andErangavil Bhagavathy Balarama in the lower shrine. The temple tank namedBhoomi Theertham is located opposite to the temple. There are shrines for LordShiva, Lord Ganapathy and Narasimhamoorthy also. Statue lf templepriest Once the temple couldnot open the temple in time and devotes were waiting. He was cursed by the deity to turn into a stone as hedelayed the opening of the temple doors making the devotees to wait fordarshana. The statue of the servant can be seen in front of the temple. Poojas Daily five poojas called Ushapooja, Ethirthapooja, pantheeradipooja, uchapooja, athazhapooja and performed. Offerings The main offerings to Lord Vishnu are palppayasam andkadalipazham. The offerings to Narasimhamoorthy are Kadumpayasam and Panakam. Kazhuvetti Kallu – Thestrange statue outside Between the pond and the eastern entrance, near a publicplatform for arts and discourses, is a strange granite statue. It is a man flaton his back, held up stiff and straight on a stone pillar about six feet high.Only his waist rests on the pillar, rest of the body is unsupported. He holds ashankhu (conch shell) in his left hand and wears the sacred thread indicativeof the Brahmin castes. At one time the statue wore a crown as well. The idol is a stern reminder thatbribery, cheating and dishonesty cannot be tolerated. Anybody whogoes after these evils will be met with the capital punishment, such as, thatmet with the man lying on the stone. Common folklore about this stone idol hasa story of jealousy, indiscretion and swift retribution. The ruler of Chembakaserry kingdom was a renowned NambuthiriBrahmin who took pride in the prosperity of his own kingdom and Sri Krishnatemple. Since temples were then considered keystones to a kingdom's spiritualand temporal well-being, the King decided to embarrass the rulers ofNanrulainattu (capital-Thrikodithanam) by making a deliberate, untimely visitto the famous Vishnu Temple. He arrived in Thrikodithanam after the Seivelipuja (the last ceremony of the day) and after the temple had closed. It is considered very inauspicious to open a temple after the gods areput to rest, but still, the King forced an entry by bribing a caretaker. When the rulers of Nanrulainattu discovered thisindiscretion, they were furious. The caretaker was beheaded and, soon, theChambakaserry king too fell ill and died. So this stone figure was installednear the temple entrance to deter any future offenders and to remind everybodyof the consequences of disturbing the gods. Another version of the story laysthe blame on the king of Ambalapuzha for this surreptitious darshana. Festivals The two major festivals celebrated in the temple are VaikuntaEkadasi and Thiruvonam. The main annual festival for ten days each year in themonth of Karthikai (October/November). A monthly Sravana Deepams (festival of light) is conducted inthe temple. It is believed that Shiva, in his fury, started burning theregion. Brahma pleaded to Shiva to relieve off the issue. Shiva was pleased bythe devotion and burnt the lamps. To commemorate the event, Karthikai festivalis celebrated in the temple every year. Gokulashtami and all other festivalsrelated to Vishnu are celebrated in the temple Temple timings The temple is open from 4:00 am to 11:00 am and 5:00 pm to8:00 pm Administration The temple isadministered by Travancore Devaswom Board of the Government of Kerala. Address Thrikkodithanam Mahavishnu Temple Chaganaserry Town, KottayamDisrtict, Kerala, India Website :www.thrikodithanam.org -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/347477261.1300366.1749562028990%40mail.yahoo.com.
