Temples of Kerala-part2

Temples in Kerala-2

Normally, when we think of temples in Kerala, only major temples like Guruvayoor, Ananthapadmanabaswamy,Chotanikkara etc come to our minds. We therefore decided to visit some of the lesser known temples in the Northern districts like Kozhikode, Kannur, Thrissur etc along, of course with the major temples there.

 On Day1,we started with the Siva temple , located in the Tali area in Kozhikode. This is a historical Siva temple, built by Samuthiri, (Zamorins), rulers of the erstwhile Hindu State of Kozhikode. Exponents of different cultural arts used to display their talents in the presence of Samuthiris.(Zamorins) Even though it is a Siva temple, there is a Sannadhi for Narayana also.

Our next visit was to the Mahaganapathi Balasubramanyaswami temple situated just opposite to the Tali Shiva temple, said to have been built by Zamorins .We also visited the Ramaswami temple in the near vicinity. Another famous temple in Kozhikode is the Azhakodi Devi temple located in the Thiruthiyad area.

We then proceeded to Kannur by train and halted there for the night. Next day, we visited the temples in Kannur, Taliparamba and Talasseri. It is said that visiting Trichambaram Krishna temple in the outskirts of Taliparamba, Vaidyanatha temple in Taliparamba and Shiva temple in Kannur on the same day is very sacred. These trinity of temples  are collectively known as TTK temples.

We started the day with Trichambaram temple which derives its name from Thiru Shambara in reverence to Maharishi  Shambara. The temple is famous for the sculptures in the walls of the sanctum sanctorum and the exquisite collection of mural paintings.The temple is also known for the colourful annual temple festival held between March 6^th and 20^th.The highlight of the festival is the Thitambu Nrithyam, a dance featuring Krishna and Balarama.

Our next visit was to the Vaidyanatha temple at Kanjiragat in Taliparamba. The Lord is known as the divine physician or Vaidya(like Vaideeswarankoil in Tamilnadu). The abhishekatheertham here is said to contain medicinal properties.

We then proceeded to the Rajaraeshwara temple in Taliparamba. It is one of the existing 108 Shiva temples in Kerala. It is said to have the tallest Shikara among the temples of its times. The temple is several thousand years old and  the legend s that it was renovated by Sage Parashurama. Ladies are not allowed inside the temple precincts during daytime. They are allowed only after 8 PM  after Athazha  Pooja when the Lord’s consort Parvathi joins Him and the Lord is said to be at the pleasantest mood. However on Sivarathri day, ladies are allowed all through the day.  The  temples of Lord Vasudeva and Bhoothanatha, the chief lieutenant of Lord Shiva are also in the vicinity.

We then visited the famous Krishnan temple at Chirakkal near Kannur. The deity here is in a standing posture with a smiling face holding bananas in both hands.

In the evening, we went to Thalaseri where we visited the Jagannath temple which is actually a Siva  deity temple even though the name raises visions of a Vishnu temple.

We completed our visit to Talassery with a visit to Sri Ramaswami temple at Thiruvengadu in the eastern part of the town. In the same compound, there are two Siva temples Kizhako, ttu Sivan and Vadakkottu Sivan.

We then returned to Kozhikode for the night stay.