On 25 August 2016, we checked out of our hotel room in Kannur at 6:30 AM. We had only one small bag with us as we left our luggage in Kozhikode on the previous day.
Kannur
The moment we came out on to the road, one auto driver stopped in front of us to check whether we would hire him. We didn`t even have our morning coffee by then. But, as we wanted to cover as many temples as possible, we immediately boarded the auto and reached Sree Sundareshwara temple in five minutes.
The Shiva Lingam is very big and is clearly visible from the entrance of the temple. There was not much crowd as it was not even 7:00 AM. We stood before the Lord for about ten minutes praying him. There is one small hall in the complex which has the idol of Narayana Guru.
When we came out, our auto driver was still waiting there. We asked him if he could take us to Chirakkal, which is 6 kms away from there, and where there is a temple for Sri Krishna. He said ok and took us to that temple in 15 minutes.
Chirakkal
We thought the temple would be overcrowded as it was Krishnastami that day. But, there was not much crowd. We asked the auto driver to stay there till we come back and drop us on the main road. He agreed to that and we went in.
The shrine of Sri Krishna is with four hands and is in standing pose. The shrine was beautifully sculpted though it is not so big in size. We had our darshan in five minutes and were in the temple for another fifteen minutes visiting other small temples in the complex.
Our next destination was Cherakunnu. The auto driver dropped us at the bus stop. The bus to Cherakunnu came after fifteen minutes. It took almost 45 minutes to reach Cherakunnu. The conductor asked us to get down at a point, from where the temple could be reached by walk. There was a decent restaurant on the other side of the road. We crossed the road and had our first coffee at around 9:00 AM.
Cherakunnu
We walked down to the temple as everybody said it was just a five minute walk. But, it took fifteen minutes for us as the distance is more than one kilometer.
The temple at Cherakunnu is dedicated to Goddess Parvati, who is worshipped as Annapurneshwari here. It is also considered to be one of the 108 Devi temples built by Parasurama. Lord Krishna also located here and, hence, it is considered as a special place for both Shaivas and Vaishnavas. The belief is that Annapura came from Kashi and settled down here.
The Goddess looked very powerful and it was very calm out there. We came back after 20 minutes and reached the bus stop in 5 minutes by auto. We got our bus after another 5 minutes and reached Kannur in 45 minutes. We had our breakfast in Hotel Brindavan, which is on the fourth floor in a building, opposite to the bus station.
Our next destination was Thalassery, which is around 25 kms from there. We wanted to board a bus after our breakfast, however, the hotel proprietor said that it would be faster if we go by train. He also said the railway station was just 2 kms away from there and there was a train at 11:00 AM. It was 10:45 AM when we came out. We boarded an auto and reached the station in less than 5 minutes. We bought the tickets and the train came immediately when we entered the platform. As it was a fast passenger, there was no reservation. Almost half the compartment was free. We reached Thalassery in 30 minutes. We boarded an auto and reached the temple at Thiruvangad by 11:45 AM.
Thiruvangad
The temple at Thiruvangad is dedicated to Sri Rama and is unique due to its historical importance. The shrine in this temple is believed to be installed by Swetha Muni, who was the student of Agastya Muni. There are four famous temples in Kerala dedicated to Sri Rama and it is one among them (One of the remaining three temples is in Triprayar, near Trissur. We visited this temple in 2005).
The Dhwajasthambham of the temple in Thiruvangad is so tall and there is no permission to erect a Dhwajasthambham taller than this in any other temple.
After we had our darshan, one of the priests talked to us in Telugu when he noticed me and my mother talking in Telugu. He said he worked for seven years in the Ayyappa temple at Gollapudi, near Vijayawada. He said that it was a special day that day and he told the reason for that which we couldn`t understand as his Telugu was not clear. It was definitely not because of Krishnasthami. He said they prepared a special prasadam called Kalabham that day and gave four big packets to us to distribute to our friends and relatives back in Hyderabad.
We came out at 12:30 PM after the temple was closed. We walked down a few yards and found a restaurant over there. We had our lunch and boarded an auto to reach the bus station in Thalassery.
Peralassery
Our next visit was the Subrahmanya temple at Peralassery, which is 15 kms away from Thalassery. We boarded a bus and reached that place in 30 minutes. During this journey, we crossed a small village called Pinarayi, which is the native place of Pinarayi Vijayan, the Chief Minister of Kerala. It was just 2:30 PM when we reached Peralassery and the temple was closed. It would be opened only at 4:00 PM. We waited there patiently and had our evening tea at 3:50 PM in a hotel opposite to the temple.
This temple is the place where Rama and Lakshmana were said to be halted when they were on their way to Lanka to free Sita from Ravana. The temple tank (Pushkarini) is artistically constructed
though it is not so big in size.
There were around 50 people gathered by the time the temple was opened. We were among the first ones to have darshan. There were so many copper and bronze idols of snakes all around the temple.
The priest of the temple told us about another Subrahmanya temple in a small village called Makreri, which is just 5 kms away from there, of course, in the opposite direction to Thalassery. So, we wanted to visit that temple also before going back to Thalassery.
We hired an auto directly to Makreri temple.
Makreri
We reached Makreri in 15 minutes and got down in front of the temple. The temple is two kilometers away from a small village called Vellachal. We requested the auto driver to wait for us as there was no vehicle found to go back to the main road.
We had our darshan in five minutes and visited another temple for Lord Vishnu located in the same premises. We spent around 15 minutes in the temple before we came out and boarded our auto.
We reached Vellachal in 5 minutes and the driver dropped us where the bus stops. We got our bus after a 15 minute wait and reached Thalassery at 6:00 PM. We immediately got our bus to Kadirur (which is jut 5 kms from there) and reached Kadirur by 6:20 PM.
Kadirur
The temple at Kadirur is just 200 meters away from the main road where the bus stops. We reached the temple in 5 minutes. The temple is dedicated to the Sun God. Kadirur was originally called as Kadaravanur which means Land of Sun. It is one of the rarest temples in Kerala which is dedicated to Lord Surya (Another famous temple dedicated to Lord Surya is located in a small village called Adityapuram, which is located between Kochi and Kottayam. We visited that temple in 2011).
The temple in Kadirur is clean and silent. The main shrine is beautifully sculpted and is around 3 feet in height (The main idol in Adityapuram is just one foot tall). The deity here is worshipped as Suryanarayana and looked very powerful.
We came out after spending around 25 minutes in the temple. We walked back and reached the main road in Vellachal in 5 minutes. We got our bus back to Thallassery immediately and reached the town at 7:15 PM. We had our evening tea in a hotel in the bus complex before boarding the bus to Kozikode at 7:30 PM. We reached Kozhikode at 9:00 PM after a one and half an hour journey. We had our dinner in a decent restaurant and reached the railway station at 9:45 PM. We claimed our luggage from the cloak room and boarded the West Coast Express to go to Mangalore.
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