Visiting Vadakkumnathan Temple Near guruvayur

Visiting Vadakkumnathan Temple Near guruvayur

The Vadakkunnathan temple is one of the popular Hindu temples of Kerala. It is famous for its grand festival known as Thrissur Pooram.

The temple is located in the Thrissur district of Kerala about 27km away from the guruvayur temple.  The supreme deity of this temple is the lord Shiva and it also worships the other gods such as lord Rama and Shankaracharya.

Millions of devotees visit the temple every year and its architectural grandeur and festivals attract the people more into it. The temple is always open for its devotees from morning 4.00 am to 12.00 pm for morning darshanas and in the evening it reopens at 4.00 pm and closes around 10.00 pm.

It is believed that the temple was established by the lord Parasurama, the 6th incarnation of lord Mahavishnu. It is one of the oldest Shiva temples in Kerala. The temple was also a part of the social reforms and witnessed many historical events made by the Tipu Sultan's army.

 Later the Sakthan Tamburan, the ruler of Cochin during the 18th century played an important role in the development of the Vadakkunnathan temple. The major attractions of the temple are its architectural grandeur and the presence of a spiritual aura.

There is a separate area called koothambalam which is well maintained for performing the traditional temple art forms such as koothu, nangyar koothu, etc. It is considered one of the oldest koothambalam of Kerala. The walls of the entire temple are filled with mural paintings that tell the story of Hindu gods and history.