Famous Temples in India

Religious Significance

Legend 1 : According to the legends Divakara Muni was a great Vishnu Bhakta. While at “Aanarthadesa” he performed deep penance. One day lord Vishnu appeared before the sage as a lovely child. The child attracted the attention before the Sage, he requests god to do stay with him. This was accepted and the child stays with him. He said to give great care and tolerated the childish pranks. One day the sage was in meditation at his prayers. The child took the Salagram which the sage using for worship and put it into his mouth and made a nuisance of himself. Then the sage chastised the child immediately the child ran away and disappeared from the spot. While going he said if you wish to see again you will find in ‘’Ananthankaadu’’. Finally, he reached a wooded area near the sea coast. The child disappears into a huge “Ilappa” tree. Immediately the tree fell on the ground and it assumed the form of sree Mahavishnu. The devine form has its head at "Thiruvallam" and its feet is at "Trippapur". Overawed by the majesty and the size of the divine form, which manifested before him, The Sanyasi prayed to the Lord to condense himself in size so that he could behold Him. There upon the image of the Lord shrank to a size, three times the length of the Sanyasy’s Yoga Dand. His prayers had been granted. He immediately offered a raw mango in a coconut shell (still this offering continues). The Lord ordained that, poojas to Him should be conducted by Tulu Brahmins. To this day half the number of priests in this Temple represent Tulu region.

Legend 2 : Another generally accepted version about the origin of the Temple relates it to the famous Namboothiri sanyasi Vilvamangalathu Swamiyar, whose name is linked with the histories of several temples in Southern India. This Swamiyar was also a Vishnu bhakta. The legend is almost identical with that of Divakara Muni referred above. It is said that, when Sree Maha Vishnu presented himself in the Ananthasayana rupa (in the form of reclining on Anantha) before the sage at Ananthankaadu, the latter had nothing worth while to offer Him. From a mango tree standing nearby, he plucked a few unripe mangoes and placed them in a coconut shell lying there and in all humility offered it as ‘nivedyam’ to the Lord. Even today salted mango forms a major offering. The original coconut shell has been encased in gold. It has also been the practice in the Temple for the past several centuries that the morning ‘pushpanjali’ is to be performed by a Namboothiri Brahmin sanyasi (designated Pushpanjaly Swamiyar) specially commissioned for this purpose. It is also believed that the small Sree Krishna Swamy Temple, located near the Western Swamiyar Madam (residence of one of the two Pushpanjali Swamiyars of the Temple) has been built over the Samadhi of Vilvamangalathu Swamiyar.

Puranas reference : The Temple has references in Epics and Puranas. According to legend the Sree Narasimhaswamy and Sree Sastha shrines were established after the installation of the idol of Lord Sree Padmanabhaswamy. There is mention in the ‘Bhagavatha Purana’ (chapter 10, chapter 79) that Sree Balarama visited “Syanandoorapuram” or “Ananthasayam” (Thiruvananthapuram) in the course of his pilgrimage. Similarly in the ‘Brahmanda Purana’ also there is a reference to “Syanandoorapura”. These references show that this temple is of great antiquity and has been held in veneration over the centuries as an important seat of Sree Maha Vishnu.