On 12 December 2017, we (me and my mother) boarded the Kochuveli Garibrath at around 10 PM in Hosur and reached Palakkad Junction at 5:30 AM on the next morning. Our plan was to visit a few temples in the districts of Palakkad, Malappuram and Thrissur on that day and on the next day. As we were not going to stay in Palakkad for that day, we didn`t want to take a hotel room for the entire day.
I spoke to a few hotel managers around the railway station and one manager agreed to give a double room for us for one hour so that we could complete our bath. He charged one fourth of the room rent for that.
We came out of that room at around 7 AM after getting ready.
I stored our suitcase in the cloak room in the railway station. I carried only a small bag with me which had one pair of extra dress for both of us.
13 December 2017
We had our morning coffee in a restaurant opposite to the railway station. When I enquired about the availability of cabs, the hotel proprietor called a cab driver who parked his cab on the road close to that restaurant. I explained him the list of temples we wanted to visit and he quoted the fare. As the price he quoted seemed to be very reasonable, we immediately hired his cab at around 7:30 AM. He agreed to leave us in the bus station of Palakkad at the end.
Chinmaya Tapovan
Our first visit was the Guruvayurappan temple located in Chinmaya Tapovan. This temple is maintained by the Chinmaya mission. It is close to the Victoria college and is almost 4 kms away from the railway station. The main attraction of the temple apart from the deity are the mural works on the temple walls. There were hardly 10 people near the deity and around 100 people meditating in the hall.
We stayed for around 10 minutes there and moved ahead to our next visit which was supposed to be the Shiva temple at Mukkai. However, as our cab driver was not sure of the route, he had taken us to some other place and then started asking the local people over there about the temple. They told that we had already crossed the temple and came one kilometer ahead. Incidentally, our cab stopped exactly in front of another temple and the locals told that it's another Shiva temple and asked us to visit that one also.
We went in and realized that we entered from the back side of the temple. There was nobody in the temple except the priest. We were in the temple for five minutes and came out after having our darshan.
We came back to Mukkai by crossing a small bridge on a river. In fact, the Shiva Kshetram that we visited is located on one side of the river and the Shiva temple at Mukkai is located on the other side. These two temples are located within a distance of one kilometer.
Mukkai
Mukkai is a small village located in the outskirts of Palakkad. This temple looks like a new one as it was recently renovated. The surroundings of the temple were so beautiful. All male devotees have to remove their shift before entering the sannithi.
We stayed in front of the Lord for five minutes. There are small temples for Ganapathi and Ayappan in the same complex. After having our darshan, we walked around enjoying the beauty of the temple. It looked strange to me that the temple would be open only for five hours in the entire day - 6 AM to 9 AM and 5 PM to 7 PM.
We came out after 15 minutes and moved ahead for our next visit which was Puthur. It took another 10 minutes to reach Puthur.
Chinmaya Tapovan
Our first visit was the Guruvayurappan temple located in Chinmaya Tapovan. This temple is maintained by the Chinmaya mission. It is close to the Victoria college and is almost 4 kms away from the railway station. The main attraction of the temple apart from the deity are the mural works on the temple walls. There were hardly 10 people near the deity and around 100 people meditating in the hall.
We stayed for around 10 minutes there and moved ahead to our next visit which was supposed to be the Shiva temple at Mukkai. However, as our cab driver was not sure of the route, he had taken us to some other place and then started asking the local people over there about the temple. They told that we had already crossed the temple and came one kilometer ahead. Incidentally, our cab stopped exactly in front of another temple and the locals told that it's another Shiva temple and asked us to visit that one also.
Shiva Kshetram
We came back to Mukkai by crossing a small bridge on a river. In fact, the Shiva Kshetram that we visited is located on one side of the river and the Shiva temple at Mukkai is located on the other side. These two temples are located within a distance of one kilometer.
Mukkai
We stayed in front of the Lord for five minutes. There are small temples for Ganapathi and Ayappan in the same complex. After having our darshan, we walked around enjoying the beauty of the temple. It looked strange to me that the temple would be open only for five hours in the entire day - 6 AM to 9 AM and 5 PM to 7 PM.
We came out after 15 minutes and moved ahead for our next visit which was Puthur. It took another 10 minutes to reach Puthur.
Puthur
The temple at Puthur is dedicated to Goddess Bhadrakali who is worshiped as Sri Thirupurakkal Bhagavathi. This temple is one of the ancient and the most powerful Shakti temples in Kerala. There are also small sanctums for Ganesh and Vishnu.
There were around 50 people in the temple when we reached. We had our darshan immediately as there was no queue. The priest gave us theertham and prasdam. We sat in front of the deity for five minutes. It took another ten minutes for us to walk around the temple and cover the small temples for Ganapathi, Vishnu and Durga, located in the complex. We came out and boarded our cab to go to our next destination - Kalpathy.
Kalpathy
Kalpathi has the distinction of being the only Heritage village in Kerala. We reached Kalpathy in just five minutes. There are two famous temples in Kalpathy - one for Shiva and the other one for Vishnu. Both are located within a distance half a kilometer, but strangely, the area of Shiva temple is called New Kalpathy and the area of Vishnu temple is called Old Kalpathy. Our cab stopped in front of the Shiva temple.
There is a Ganesh temple at the main gate of the Shiva temple. We went in as it is the practice to have the darshan of Ganapathi first. The temple is not so big and there were around 20 people in the temple. The deity looked powerful and very attractive.
After our darshan, we came out and went to the main temple dedicated to Shiva who is worshipped as Vishwanathar. This temple is big in size and is located on the banks of Nila river. We had to walk for five minutes from the main gate to enter into the temple.
The Shiva Lingam is believed to be brought from the holy town - Varanasi. There is another temple for Parvathi who is worshipped as Visalakshi. There are temples for Kala Bhairava and Murugan as well. There is a golden hall (Kanakasabha) for Nataraja.
This temple is famous for the Rathotsavam (chariot festival) which is celebrated for 10 days during the Karthika month as per the Hindu calendar (in Nov - Dec every year).
We spent almost 15 minutes in the temple and came out. We boarded our cab and reached the Lakshmi Narayan temple which is around half a kilometer away from the Vishwanathar temple.
The Lakshmi Narayan temple is not as big as the Vishwanathar temple, but had more devotees than the other temple. Here, Goddess Lakshmi is sitting beside Narayan on his left side. The deities are beautifully sculpted and are very attractive. The priest was chanting slokas and the devotees sitting on the floor in front of the sanctum sanctorum were singing bhajans. We came out after 10 minutes and moved ahead for the next temple which is located in Vadakkanthara.
Vadakkanthara
There are two temples in Vadakkanthara - one is for Mahashakti and the other one is for Vishnu. We first stepped into the Mahashakti temple. She is none other than Parvathi who is worshipped as Sri Thiruppuraikkal Bhagavati. She is also known as Goddess Karnaki.
This temple was destroyed by Tipu during his invasion to Malabar and was renovated later. There is another temple for Lord Shiva in the same compound. The special attraction here is that the rituals are conducted in Malayalam style for the Goddess and in Tamil style for the Lord. We came out after spending a good 20 minutes in the temple.
Our next visit was the Vishnu temple which is located in the same village. This temple is more than 600 years old and is maintained by the Malabar Devasom Board. The deity in the temple was installed in Shadadhara Pratishta which is very rare in Kerala. There were hardly 10 people in the temple at that time. We stayed in front of the Lord for five minutes and came out to go to our next temple which is in Yakkara.
Yakkara
The temple in Yakkara is dedicated to Shiva. We reached the temple and it was open at that time.
Shiva is worshipped as Visheshwara here and the Lingam is big in size. It had 5 big lines of Vibhuti which represent the Pancha Bhutas. This type of decoration was first started in the Mahadeva temple in Vikom and the same style is followed in this temple as well. We moved ahead after staying in the temple for ten minutes.
Manupully
We then reached Sri Manuppully Bhagavathi temple after travelling around two kilometers. The sannithi was closed at that time as special alamkaram was going on. We waited for around 20 minutes and, finally, it was open.
Sri Manuppully Bhagavathi is believed to be the daughter of Lord Shiva as she was born out of the sacred Jada of Shiva during the Dakshayagna. The deity is Black in colour with four hands. There are soolam, kapalam, gadakam and khedam in each hand. Her vehicle is Ghost and she is fearful in appearance. However, she is well known for fulfilling the desires of her devotees.
We came out after ten minutes. The cab driver had dropped us at the bus station in Palakkad as per our agreement. Our initial plan was to go to Karimpuzha, which is 40 kms away, by bus and to visit the Ramaswamy temple there before it would close at 12 noon. But due to the delay in our trip, it was already 10:45 AM and I realized that we would not be able to make it before the closing time. Moreover, we both were hungry as we didn`t have anything since our first coffee in the morning. So, we went to a nearby restaurant and had our breakfast. We discussed our plan during the breakfast and decided to go to Kallekulangara. It is just 6 kms away from Palakkad and the temple there would be open till 11:30 AM. We hired an auto and reached the temple at 11:15 AM.
Kallekulangara
Kallekulangara is a small village in the outskirts of Palakkad and the temple here is called Sri Emoor Bhagavathi temple. The Goddess here is worshipped as Hemambika. It is believed that Parashurama consecrated 4 Bhagavathi temples in the Malabar region. They are - Balambika in Kanniyakumari, Mukambika in Kollur, Lokambika near Badagara and Hemambika near Palakkad.
We quickly walked into the main temple as it would be closed shortly. There is only the head of the Goddess with golden crown in the main temple. There are two hands on either sides of the Goddess with open palms. The priest told us that Indira Gandhi visited that temple in the mid 60's. She was so influenced by the hands of the Goddess that she later selected palm as the symbol of her party when she became the president.
We stayed there till the temple was closed. There is a pond beside the temple and the temple elephant was tied to a coconut tree in front of the pond. We came out after 12 noon and hired another auto to go back to Palakkad. We then boarded a KSRTC bus to go to Angadipuram which is in the Malappuram district and is around 60 kms away from there.
Angadipuram
We reached Angadipuram at 2:30 PM. The bus stopped in front of a small street that leads to the temple which is just 500 meters away. We had our lunch in a restaurant between the main road and the temple.
The temple in Angadipuram is known as Thirumandhamkunnu temple and is dedicated to Goddess Durga. It is one of the famous temples in North Kerala. There are around 50 steps to reach the temple. We reached the temple at around 3 PM, but the temple was closed then. As it was supposed to be open at 4 PM, we waited there for one hour and had a parikrama of the temple in the meantime.
The priest went into the sannithi at 4 PM, but the devotees were not allowed to enter the sannithi even after a long time since the temple was open. When I enquired, the temple staff said that we would shortly be allowed to go in for darshan. Finally, the darshan was allowed at 5 PM and we went in.
The unmarried people perform a special puja called Mangalya Puja here to the Goddess to bless them with right spouses. This puja is to be performed once in a year for three years in a row. It is obligatory to perform the puja for three consecutive years even if the marriage is settled after the first puja itself.
We came back to the main road and stood at the bus stop where we got down from the bus earlier. There was no direct bus to Kadampuzha and the local people advised us to go to a place called Pang which is a junction. They said we would get bus to Kadampuzha from there. We got the bus to Pang within 10 minutes and reached Pang in 45 minutes. There was one bus ready on the platform and it was going to Kuttipuram. The driver asked me to board the bus and get down on the highway at Valanchery. He said we could get auto to Kadampuzha from there. He also said, there was another bus in the next 5 minutes that would go to Kadampuzha directly. So, we wanted to wait for the direct bus.
The direct bus to Kadampuzha came on time, but started only after another 15 minutes. Moreover, it went through the long route covering all the small villages in that route. As a result, we reached Kadampuzha at 6:45 PM.
Kadampuzha
The temple is just 300 meters away from the bus stop. As we new that the temple would be closed at 7 PM, we immediately rushed to the temple. The temple is situated much lower then the ground level and there are around 100 steps to go to the temple. We went down and it was 6:55 PM by then. The security guards stopped me and asked me to wear dhoti as I was wearing trousers. I carried a dhoti in my bag, but it would take some time to remove it out and wear it. I asked my mother to go in and have her darshan as it was almost the closing time. I then went into the room showed by the guard and changed my dress to dhoti. I also went in immediately and joined my mother at the sannithi.
The last aarthi for the Goddes was being performed then and, fortunately, I was able to have my darshan. The sannithi was closed after 5 minutes and we came out. I changed my dress back from dhoti to trousers in the same room.
We came up and bought the prasadam which was given in a sealed tin. The temple staff said that the prasadam would definitely last for 6 months. They also said there is a rest house for the temple and we could stay there for that night. But we had other plans. As we had a few more temples to cover on the next day before going back to Palakkad, we wanted to move ahead and stay at Kuttipuram, which is close to the first temple we wanted to visit on the next day. So, we came back to the bus stand.
There was no bus in the bus stand. As we didn`t have our evening tea, we had it in a small hotel beside the bus stand. The proprietor started closing the hotel after serving tea to us. In fact, there were so many small shops between the temple and the bus stand and all the shops were closed by then (which were open when we were going to the temple). It looked so strange to me as it was just 7:15 PM then.
We came back to the bus stand and waited for half an hour patiently, but couldn`t get our bus to Kuttipuram. The locals told me that we could hire an auto and reach Valancherry, which is just 7 kms away. But as it was winter, it was so dark out there and we carried a good amount of cash with us as I didn`t want to leave the cash in the cloak room in Palakkad. So we hesitated to go by auto as it might not be safe and continued to wait for the bus. Finally, the bus came at 8 PM. But the driver said it wouldn`t go further as there was an issue with the engine.
We then decided to stay in the rest house for that night. The locals told us that the rest house was located in a small street beside the temple. It took 10 minutes for us to reach the rest house. There was a restaurant exactly at the entrance of the rest house. The rest house was well maintained and we got a room on the first floor. We took rest in the room for more than one hour and then we went down to the restaurant. There were only Idly and Dosa available at that time. We both had Dosa as our dinner and went back to our room in the rest house.
14 December 2017
We woke up at 5:30 AM and vacated our room in the rest house at 7 AM. We had our morning coffee in he same restaurant which is at entrance of the rest house. We hired an auto and reached Valancherry in 10 minutes. Our first visit was the Varahamurthy temple at Panniyur. We got a KSRTC bus that was going to Kuttipuram and we immediately boarded it. We reached Kuttipuram in 15 minutes.
As Panniyur is a small village, there were no frequent buses to that place. We boarded a bus that was going to Kumbidi, which is 7 kms from there. We reached Kumbidi in 15 minutes. We hired an auto as Panniyur is just 2 kms away from there and reached the temple at around 8 AM.
Panniyur
We entered the temple from the back entrance as the auto stopped there. There is a pond adjacent to the temple. We had a clockwise walk around the temple and reached the main entrance. All male devotees have to wear dhoti before entering the sannithi.
There are only two Varahamurthy temples in Kerala. The other one is in Thiruvananthapuram. The main shrine is big in size and is much bigger when compared to the famous Varahaswamy in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.
The deity was said to have consecrated by Parasurama 4,000 years ago, however, was destroyed later. The current deity was installed in the mid 18th century. There is Bhudevi sitting on his left lap and the deity faces East.
As there is Bhudevi settled in this temple, the people from the nearby villages perform Bhumi Puja in this temple before they construct new houses. Similarly, if there are any land disputes around, they will be settled by performing rituals here.
We came out after spending almost 30 minutes in the temple. We had to wait for some time to get another auto back to the main road. We boarded a bus and reached the highway at a place called Vattamkulam which is 8 kms away from there. We got down and immediately boarded another bus that was going from Kuttipuram to Guruvayur.
Our next visit was the Ramaswamy temple in Kadavallur. We got down on the highway at Kadavallur and the temple is 2 kms away from there. We hired an auto and reached the temple in 5 minutes.
Kadavallur
There are 4 famous temples in Kerala dedicated to Lord Rama and Kadavallur is one among them. It is located in the Thrissur district in North Kerala.
It was 9:15 AM by the time we got down in front of the temple. We went in immediately and had our darshan. The main deity is with four hands and Sita is beside him. The priest told me that the deity would look in three different moods - sad in the morning, angry in the afternoon and happy in the evening. However, we couldn`t observe the sadness in the face (as we visited in the morning). It could be due to the distance between the deity and us as we were standing at least 20 feet away from the deity and the shrine is not so big in size.
We came out after spending around 15 minutes in the temple. We again hired an auto and came back to the highway. We didn`t even have our breakfast though it was half past nine in the morning as we wanted to visit the next temple at Kunnamkulam before it's closing time of 10 AM. We got a KSRTC bus and reached Kunnamkulam in 15 minutes. The distance between Kadavallur and Kunnamkulam is 10 kms. The conductor advised us to get down at a place on the highway after reaching Kunnamkulam. He said the temple is on the other side of the highway and said it's just 300 meters away. We crossed the road and reached the temple in 10 minutes.
Kunnamkulam
The temple is located within a distance of one kilometer from the bus stand in Kunnamkulam. The temple is dedicated to Lord Ganesha who is worshipped as Kakkad Maha Ganapathi here. We went in immediately after reaching the temple as it would be closed at 10 AM.
The idol of Maha Ganapathi is beautiful with his trunk turned towards left. The idol was completely covered with gold and looked very attractive. There is another shrine for Shiva who is equally important here. We came out as the sannithi was closed within 10 minutes after we entered.
There is a big statue of rat (mushika) which is the vehicle of Ganapathi at the entrance. The rat was painted in gold colour.
We went out and collected our shoes from the counter. I asked the person in the counter if there were any restaurants around as we didn`t have our breakfast. He told me that the temple had arranged breakfast for all devotees and it was being served beside the temple. I didn`t understand whether it was only for that day or it
was a daily practice.
We walked in the direction shown by that person. There was an open place beside the temple and tables and chairs were neatly arranged. Breakfast was being served under the tents. A few people were having their breakfast and we were asked to sit beside them. The breakfast contained Wheat Upma and Ravva Kesari. The temple staff were serving the dishes at regular intervals before the devotees asked them. They also served us tea at the end. We thanked them and came out after having a satisfactory breakfast.
The next visit was Guruvayur which was jut 10 kms from there. We were in no hurry as that temple would remain open till 1 PM and it was just 10:30 AM then. We came out and boarded a bus at the same spot where we got down earlier and reached Guruvayur in 20 minutes. The driver asked us to get down at a place which was close to the temple. However, it was the back side of the temple and we had to walk a long way to go to the other side of the temple as we had to keep our bag, mobile and shoes in the locker which was on the front side. It was our third visit to Guruvayur.
Guruvayur
Guruvayur is one of the most sacred placed not only in Kerala, but in the entire country as well. This town is located 30 kms away from Thrissur and the temple here is dedicated to Sri Krishna who is worshipped as Guruvayurappan.
The main shrine was believed to have been brought from Dwaraka by Brihaspathi, the Deva Guru. He brought it along with Vayudev. As the shrine was brought by Guru and Vayu, this town was named as Guruvayur.
It is mandatory for the male devotees to wear dhoti when they go for darshan. I took out my dhoti from the bag and after wearing the dhoti, I deposited the bag, our mobile phones and shoes in the appropriate counters. We then joined the long looking queue for darshan. As there were benches in the queue line, we didn`t have to stand. The darshan was stopped after half an hour and it was opened after another half an hour. Finally, we had our darshan at 12:45 PM.
We came out after 1:15 PM and collected our belongings from the counters. The temple in Guruvayur is famous for elephants. There are more than 50 elephants for the temple and most of them were gifted to the temple. The temple maintains a sanctuary for the elephants in a ten acre compound at Punnathur Kotta, which is 3 kms away from there. We couldn`t go to that place in our earlier two visits and wanted to go during this visit. However, as we would have to reach Palakkad for that night after covering two more temples on our way, we decided to skip that during this visit as well.
We had our lunch in a restaurant close to the temple. We then reached the bus stand and boarded a bus to Thrissur. We reached Thrissur in less than one hour. Our plan was to visit two more temples on the way to Palakkad - one at Nemmara and the other at Alathur.
We boarded another bus to Vadakkencherry as there was no direct bus to Nemmara. The distance between Thrissur and Vadakkencherry is 35 kms (There is another place in the district called Wadakkancherry with the same pronunciation). We reached Vadakkencherry in one hour and had our evening tea in a restaurant on the main road. We boarded another bus and reached Nemmara in less than half an hour, which is 15 kms away.
Nemmara
The temple in Nemmara is dedicated to Goddess Durga who is worshipped as Sri Nellikulangara Bhagavathi here. The temple is one kilometer away from the bus stand. We hired an auto and reached the temple in 5 minutes. The auto driver told that he would wait and drop us back in the bus stand if we could come back in 15 minute. We agreed to that and went in.
The temple was open as it was 5:30 in the evening. There is a tank located beside the temple. We had our darshan immediately as there were hardly 10 people in the temple at that time.
We boarded the same auto after coming out and the driver dropped us at the bus stand. Our plan was to visit the Maha Vishnu temple at Kachankurichi. As it is a very remote village and there are no direct buses to that place, the locals told us to boarded a bus to Kallengode which is 10 kms from Nemmara. We had to wait for 15 minutes for the bus and finally we boarded the bus to Kallengode at around 6:30 PM.
Kallengode
We reached Kollengode in 20 minutes. Our bus stopped in a small junction in Kollengode. After we got down, we had one more cup of tea after having some refreshments in a small hotel opposite to the bus stop. I spoke to a few auto driver whether they would take us to the Maha Vishnu temple as it is just 4 kms away. But none of them showed interest as the road was not good.
We saw a temple on the opposite side of the road. We crossed the road and went in. It's an Ayyappa temple and, again, it's mandatory to wear dhoti for male devotees to enter the sannithi. The priest gave me a new dhoti even before I took my dhoti out of our bag. I refused it and told him I have one dhoti with me. He still insisted to wear the one he gave. I did that and had the dardhsn of Ayyappa.
After our darshan, I we wore my pant and returned the dhoti to the priest after folding it neatly. He asked me to keep it with me as his memory. When I hesitated, he told me that there are hundreds of new dhoties in the temple store room as the devotees keep offering dhoties to the Lord. I thanked him for that gift and said that we wanted to visit the temple at Kachamkurichi, but no auto driver was willing to take us there. The priest said he could call one auto driver known to him who could take us to that temple. But he said that temple would be closed at 7 PM and there was no time for the auto driver to come there and pick us up. As there was no other go, we wanted to go back to Palakkad without going to that temple.
We went back to the same bus stop and boarded the bus to Palakkad. The distance between Kollengode and Palakkad is 25 kms and we reached Palakkad in 45 minutes. We went directly to the railway station where we left our luggage on the previous day.
We saw the cab driver who showed us a few temples the other day in front of the same hotel where we had our first coffee one day before. He smiled at us when he saw us and we went into the railway station. We wanted to take a retiring room in the same railway station to stay for that night. When I enquired about the room, the railway staff told me that the check out time was 10 AM and 10 PM.
As it was just 9 PM then, we went out to have our dinner in a nearby restaurant and were back in the railway station at 9:45 PM. The staff asked me whether we would want the room for 24 hours or 12 hours. He also said that the room rent would be half if it was taken for half a day. I took the room only for 12 hours as we would have to vacate the room at 10 AM on the next day and we would be leaving Palakkad by then. He handed over the room keys to me after I filled in the form and gave it back to him along with the rent. I then collected my suit case from the cloak room where I left on the previous day. The room was in the first floor and was very big in size. It was so decent with a dressing table, center table, four chairs along with two beds. We slept immediately as we were continuously travelling from the beginning of the day.
15 December 2017
We woke up at around 7:00 AM and were ready by 8:00 AM. Our plan for that day was to visit the temple at Karimpuzha, which is 45 kms away from Palakkad and then to leave for Coimbattore. We had our tickets booked from Coimbattore to Chennai for that night.
We vacated the room and handed over the keys to the railway staff as we wouldn't be able to be back before 10 AM (checkout time). I left my luggage in the cloak room as we would have to come back to the same railway station to board our train later.
We had our first coffee in a hotel opposite to the railway station. When I enquired, the hotel owner told me that there were no direct buses to Karimpuzha. He asked me to go to the main road which was just 100 meters away from there and board the bus to Srikrishnapuram and we would get bus to Karimpuzha from there.
As advised by him, we went to the main road and crossed it as the bus would come on the other side. The bus came within 5 minutes and we boarded it. It took almost one hour for us to reach Srikrishnapuram which is a junction. We boarded a mini bus from there and got down at Karimpuzha in 15 minutes. The distance between Srikrishnapuram and Karimpuzha is 7 kms.
Karimpuzha
The temple is almost one kilometer away from the place where the bus stopped. As we couldn`t find any mode of transport around, we both started to walk. It took almost 15 minutes for us to reach the temple as we walked slowly while enjoying the countryside of Kerala.
The temple is located on the banks of the river Karimpuzha and is dedicated to Sriram. It is one of the famous temples in Kerala and is known as Dakshin Ayodhya. I have seen many Shiva temples in South India that are known as Dakshin Kashi. But, this is the only temple that is known as Dakshin Ayodhya (In fact, we heard the word Dakshin Ayodhya for the first time).
There were hardly 10 people in the temple and and we had an immediate darshan. The priest told me that Lord Rama renounced his life there in the river Karimpuzha. I didn`t believe this as it's a well known fact that Lord Rama renounced his life in the river Sarayu in Ayodhya.
We came out at around 10 AM after being in the temple for almost half an hour. We came back to the road on foot. We could see one small hotel on the road and there was nothing available other than Vada (that to without chutney/sambar). We generally don`t prefer Vada, but as there was no option left, we ordered it one plate each. But to our surprise, it was so tasty as onions and chillis were mixed it. We had order another plate and shared it. We then had a cup of tea as coffee was not available.
After coming out of the hotel, we notice another temple on the other side of the road. We crossed the road and went in. It's a Shiva temple and was very clean.
We came out in 5 minutes after having our darshan. There was a mini bus ready and we boarded that bus and reached Srikrishnapuram in 15 minutes. We boarded another bus and reached the railway station in Palakkad in one hour. We collected our luggage from the cloak room and bought the tickets to Coimbattor as there was a train in the next 15 minutes. We boarded the train and reached Coimbattor at 1:30 PM.
