VADAKKUMNATHA TEMPLE

Vadakkunnathan Temple at Thrissur also known as Rishabhari or Thenkailasam (the Kailash of the south) is one of the ancient and most prominent Shiva kshetram's (temples) of Kerala. Situated on top of a beautiful hillock, the temple is a classical example of the Kerala style of architecture depicting many decorative murals and works of art. Vadakkunnathan temple houses a museum of ancient wall paintings, wood carvings and art pieces of immense historical value. It is famous for its spectacular Pooram Festival celebrated annually in April -May every year. It is a stunning event, combining the majestic elephant pageantry with the frenzied playing of drums and cymbals, rounded off with a fireworks extravaganza.

Vadakkunnathan temple is believed to be built by Lord Parasurama, one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu. The temple complex is a massive one covering an area of about nine acres. The vast maidan about 65 acres around the temple is called Tekkinkadu or forest of teak woods. Once, many years ago there used to be a beautiful teak forest here, now the ground is scattered by dozens of peepal trees. The four magnificent gateways called Gopurams facing the four directions and the massive masonry wall around the temple quadrangle gives the temple an imposing appearance. The multi-shrined internal temple complex (nalambalam or chuttamabalam) is situated in the center of this vast enclosure. There are five separate shrines inside the nalambalam for five separate deities. These central shrines are dedicated to Shiva, Parvati, Ganapati, Sankaranarayana and Sri Rama (Vishnu).

Lord Shiva, more popularly known as Vadakkunnathan, is the principal deity and the circular srikovil (shrine) of Shiva is on the northern side. The unique feature of the temple is that, the idol of Shiva i.e the Shivalingam facing west, is worshipped in the form of a mound of ghee or clarified butter. This is formed by the daily abhisheka with ghee over the years. The ghee never melts in spite of several lamps in the sanctum or even in hot weather nor has any bad smell or is infested by insects or pests. The centuries-old ghee is considered to possess medicinal qualities and cures many ailments. The eleven feet high mound of ghee is embellished with fifteen cascading crescents of gold and three serpent hoods at top. The main offering is ghee and Kadali bananas. The outside wall of the shrine has a big painting of Mohini holding a mirror.