Indian Columbus

I asked my American friend who visited  Kerala , "Have you seen elephants?." He replied - "Yes, in the forest!" "Not about the forest! Have you seen elephants inside a town/city?" "How is that possible?" - he asked me. "Some of the ancient temples in South India have elephants," - I replied. "Really! then, how big would the temples be" - he exclaimed. He added - "Is there any temple with more than one elephant?" "Yes, there are such temples. In fact, there is a temple in Kerala state with around 50 elephants". When you think of  Guruvayur  town in Kerala state, you will definitely think about the Guruvayurappan temple. Then, you cannot resist thinking about the beautiful image of Lord Guruvayurappan and elephants. Guruvayurappan temple is one of the temples in India having a large number of elephants. It is prevalent among the significant South Indian temples to have elephants. However, the number of elepha...

Guruvayur town, located in  Kerala  state, is famous for its  Guruvayurappan  temple. There is another temple situated in the same city. It is a small temple for Lord Tiruvengadanathar or Thiruvenkidom, located near the Guruvayur railway station. The temple's presiding deity is Lord Balaji (an incarnation of Lord Vishnu), called Tiruvengadanathar. The icon looks like the famous Tirupati Venkatachalapati. However, this is smaller in size. The temple also has other icons and shrines such as Navagraha, Muneeswaran in the form of Linga, Ganesha and Bhagavati. Happy travelling. Visit my site,  krishnakumartk.com , to know more about the travel guides and other books that I have written.

Guruvayur, the town having the famous  Guruvayurappan  temple, also has a Shiva temple called Mammiyoor Shiva temple or Mammiyoor Mahadeva Kshetram. It is located at a distance of around 1 km from the Guruvayurappan temple. Similar to the Guruvayurappan temple, it is also an ancient one. There was even a period when this was more popular than the Guruvayurappan temple. However, now it is a small temple in Guruvayur that attracts only a portion of devotees of Guruvayurappan temple. Lord Shiva is found in the form of Uma Maheswara in this temple. It is one of the 108 Shiva temples believed to have been built by Lord Parasurama in Kerala. The temple has some beautiful mural paintings and houses shrines for other deities such as Vishnu, Kartikeya, Ayyappa, Ganesha and Bhagavati. The pilgrimage to Guruvayur is believed to be complete only if you visit this temple after visiting the Guruvayurappan temple.  Happy travelling. Visit my site,  krishnakumartk.com , to know mor...

Besides the famous  Guruvayurappan  temple and Mammiyoor Shiva temple, Guruvayur town in  Kerala  also has another small ancient temple named Parthasarathy temple. 'Parthasarathy' means 'chariot driver of Partha (Arjun)' - Lord Krishna. There is a famous temple for Lord Parthasarathy temple in Triplicane, Chennai. Even though the Parthasarathy temple of Guruvayur is not as renowned as the Chennai Parthasarathy temple, it is prevalent within Guruvayur/Thrissur region. Parthasarathy temple is located quite near to the Guruvayurappan temple in Guruvayur town. It is situated north of the sacred banyan tree Manjulal of Guruvayurappan temple. This temple was formerly called Thiruthiyil Thevar and was located amidst fields on three sides and the banks of a river. Thiruthiyil Thevar, later on, came to be named Parathasarathy. The Sri Shankaracharya's followers finished this temple's work and were also responsible for allocating the idols of Lord Krishna in the temple. H...

Guruvayurappan temple, the most famous temple of  Kerala  state, after Sabarimalai Ayyappa temple, is located in Guruvayur town. Guruvayur town is situated at a distance of around 29 kms from  Thrissur . The divine icon of Guruvayurappan installed in the temple represents the enchanting form of Lord Vishnu with four arms holding the conch Panchajanya, the discus Sudarshana Chakra, the mace Kaumodaki and the lotus. The icon portrays the majestic form of Vishnu as revealed to Vasudeva and Devaki, the parents of Lord Krishna at the time of Krishna's incarnation. Even though this icon technically represents Vishnu, people have called it Krishna since the beginning. The Murti of Guruvayurappan, the main deity of Guruvayur temple, is unique since it is carved out of "Pathalanjana Sila", and is considered highly sacred. As per the legend, the beautiful icon of Guruvayurappan was with Lord Vishnu. He gifted it to Brahma. From Brahma, it passed through various people, and at last...