Thiruvananthapuram Padmanabhaswamy Temple

Thiruvananthapuram, or Trivandrum, is the capital city of Kerala - God's own country - an Indian state. The tradition of Trivandrum can be dated back to 1000 BC. Trivandrum has a lot of important tourist places such as Padmanabhaswamy temple, Palace, Attukal Bhagavati temple, and Government Museum. The most important site in Trivandrum is undoubtedly Padmanabhaswamy Temple.

The city Thiruvananthapuram got its name from the temple of Padmanabhaswamy. Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple is also called Sri Padmanabhaswamy Kshetram or Ananta Puri. It is one of the 108 Divya Desam temples (108 most important abodes of Lord Vishnu). 

The temple has massive 100 feet and a seven-tiered temple tower.

Sri Padmanabhaswamy is the presiding deity of the temple. He is in the reclining position over the serpent Ananta or Adi Sesha. Padmanabha is found along with his two consorts Sri Devi aka Lakshmi and Bhoo Devi (earth). Lord Brahma, is also seen in the sanctum. The image is made of 10,008 Salagrama stones. It is perhaps the biggest Padmanabha or Ranganatha image across the globe. 

The shrine is carved out of single stone and is called 'Ottakaal Mandapam'. The devotees get the view of Vishnu's face and Shiva Linga from the first entrance. The middle entrance provides us the view of middle part of Vishnu's body. The last entrance allows us to view Vishnu's feet and two sages, Divakara and Koundika seated near. 

There are a lot of legends about the temple. As per the popular legend, Lord Krishna disguised himself as a mischievous boy to the sage Divakara and swallowed the Saligrama kept for pooja. The sage was chasing the boy, and the boy hid behind a tree. Immediately, the tree fell, and a huge Ananta Padmanabha icon was found. Based on the request by the sage, the icon shrunk to one-third of its size, and the Lord mentioned that he had to be seen through three doors.

This vast ancient temple of Padmanabhaswamy also houses the shrines for Narasimha, Rama-Sita-Lakshmana-Hanuman, the sages Vyasa, Virushasena, Kshetra Pala along with Ganesha, Ayyappa and Ganesha. The temple is vast and architecturally beautiful. It is rich in art and sculptures. The corridors (prakara) are huge. There is a hall (mandapa) full of beautiful sculptures such as Vishnu, Shiva, Yoga Vishnu, Vishnu carrying Lakshmi, Kali, Ganesha, Muruga, Narada, Nataraja, and Shiva in various postures. It is allowed to climb up the tower and visit all the seven tiers. The first tier has the icons of Padmanabhaswamy, Lakshmi, Bhooma Devi, Brahma, and ten avatars of Lord Vishnu.

Happy travelling.

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