Vadakkunnathan Temple, Thrissur( Kerala): Temple Story.
Vadakkunnathan temple is the first temple that was created by Parasurama in Kerala. Standing tall in 9 acres of land, the temple is located on a hillock in the heart of Thrissur city. There are 4 gateways called gopurams to the temple facing East, West, North, and South respectively.
This is one of the largest temples in Kerala dedicated to Shiva. On the Southern side, there is Shri Rama’s shrine and also Sankaranarayan is worshipped here.
Adi Sankara is born to the couple Aryamba and Shivaguru after long years of prayer to vadakkunathan. It is said that Shiva came in the dream of both the husband-wife asking them for a choice for a son to be born to them. He gave them a choice to choose among a son who will do average in life but will live a longer life or a son who will be extraordinarily brilliant but will have a shorter life.
The couple chose the one with extraordinary brilliance but having a shorter life span. To show their gratitude to Shiva, they named their son Shankara. Shivalinga is covered with huge mounds of ghee due to daily abhishegam. It is one among the temples of Shiva where the Shivalinga is not visible. We could see only mounds of ghee covering over the linga, 13 cascading crescents of gold, and 3 serpents over the top. Ghee covering hiva doesn't melt even during summer.
Thrissur Pooram is the most vibrant festival of Kerala which attracts a large number of devotees from across the country Thrissur pooram sees a spectacular view of the elephants from various neighboring temples at the Vedakumnathan temple ground.
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