Sri Anantha Padmanabhaswamy Temple

By | 6/24/2009 11:30:00 AM 18 comments

Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple.
Temple Name: Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Kshetram.
Renovated In: 1733 AD.
Alias Name: AnantaPuri.
God Name: Sri Anantha PadmanabhaSwamy.
Goddess Name: Sri Hari Lakshmi Thayaar.
Dedicated To: Lord Vishnu.
Pushkarni: Matsya Theertham alias Padma Theertham.
Vimanam: Hemakoota Vimanam.
Renovated By: Raja Marthanda Varma.
Location: Trivandrum(Kerala).
State: Kerala.
Country:India.
Contact:Tele: 0091- 471 -2450233,2466830
Only Hindus are allowed inside the temple.Inside the temple dress regulations are strictly enforced.
The Temple Open:
(04.15-05.15hrs,06.45-07.30hrs,08.30-10.30hrs,11.30-11.45hrs,17.15-19.30hrs).
Dress Code:
Men – Dhoti.
Women – Saree and Blouse.
Temple Location:
It is found 3/4 miles away from the Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway Station. (inside the East Fort).
Big Idol Of Pandavas Displayed During Painkuni Festival
About The Temple:
Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple is located inside the East Fort,Thiruvananthapuram.It is the state temple of erstwhile Travancore.The temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu,who is depicted reclining on Sri Anantha,the hooded snake from which the city derives its name,“Thiruvananthapuram“.This ancient temple is the most dominating feature of Thiruvananthapuram,Overlooking the Padma Theertham Tank.The temple is a blend of the Kerala and Dravidian styles of architecture.It is known for its mural paintings and stone carvings.Exquisite stone carvings and pavilions are worth admiring one among the 108 sacred Vishnu temples in India,the presiding deity in here is Lord Vishnu reclining on Anantha the Holi Serpent.The idol inside the sanctum santorum is in the form of the Lord reclining on the Holy Serpent Anantha.It is an 18 feet long imposing figure built with Salagrama stones brought from Nepal and it is covered with gold and precious stones.This holy shrine attracts thousands of Hindu devotees.There are innumeraepillars,intricate carvings and Mural paintings.Outside the temple courtyard,there is a medley of shops that sell souvenirs,handicrafts,woodcarvings and handiwork of sandal.One can witness the craftsmen do their work right from carving the wood to polishing.In the October/November months of every year,there is held the Navarathri Festival of musical concerts at the Navarathri Mandapam,adjacent to the main building of the temple.

Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple Stone Carving
This holy shrine attracts thousands of Hindu devotees.There are innumerable pillars, intricate carvings and Mural paintings. Outside the temple courtyard,there is a medley of shops that sell souvenirs,handicrafts,woodcarvings and handiwork of sandal.One can witness the craftsmen do their work right from carving the wood to polishing.In the October/November months of every year,there is held the Navarathri Festival of musical concerts at the Navarathri Mandapam,adjacent to the main building of the temple.The temple has an imposing seven tier gopuram covered with beautiful stone carvings.The temple has a broad corridor with 324 sculptured pillars and a 80 feet high golden flag staff.The walls of the temple are covered with interesting mural paintings depicting mythical stories.The Kulasekharamandapam,the main platform inside the temple is beautiful and regal.The entire architectural style followed in this temple is a mixture of Dravidian and Kerala styles.

Arattu At Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple
This temple in its present form is built by Maharaja Marthanda Varma (1729-1758),one of the most powerful rulers of Travancore.The work on the temple was started in 1731.In 1750,the Maharaja dedicated his kingdom to Lord Padmanabha,the presiding deity of the kingdom and assumed the title Padmanabhadasa or the servant of Lord Padmanabha.From that day onwards the rulers of Travancore carry out all their princely and spiritual duties as the servants of the Lord.Padmanabha swamy temple is considered as one among the seven Parasurama shetras in Kerala and one among the 108 sacred temples in India dedicated to Lord Vishnu.The ancient texts of Padma purana and Skanda purana have mentions about this temple.The temple has very special rituals.Two festivals are celebrated every year,one in March-April and the second one in September-October.56 day long Murajapam or uninterrupted recitation of prayers is conducted once in six years and once in twelve years the festival of a million lamps or the Lakshadeepam is conducted.The temple is still given the status of the state templeand for the festivals divisions of the armed and mounted police will accompany the deity for the arattu or the holy bathing.Their band also play the songs written by Maharaja Swathi Thirunal.Swathi Thirunal had a very special relationship with Lord Padmanabha and the temple.His life was an offering to the Lord.All his songs carry the stamp of total dedication to Padmanabha.The most beautiful of his songs are on Lord Vishnu."Vande Sada Padmanabham"Always I worship thee Padmanabha,Thine is the hue of the water-laden clouds,Thy feet are the celestial Mandara blossoms to those who bow to them,Always I worship thee,my Lord” - Swathi Thirunal wrote.

Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple.
Mythology:
Padmanabha Swamy Temple stands at a place considered as one of the seven Parasurama Kshetras,texts including the Puranas,particularly the Skanda Purana and Padma Purana,have references for this shrine.Tradition states that in this place,the Hindu deity Lord Vishnu gave darshan to Indian sages like Divakarmuni and Vilvamangalam Swami.Another story tells of an pulaya couple seeing Vishnu in the form of a child.The child took morsels of rice from the hands of the couple.Also it is believed that Divakaramuni,when he saw the deity he took the first food item he saw which was an Unripe Mango and a coconut shell as an offering plate and performed primary pooja.In memory of this legend,naivedyam or offering prepared from rice is offered to the deity here in a coconut shell.
Legend:
There are many legends regarding the origin of the temple.One such legend says that the Sage Divakara prayed to Krishna for his darshan.Krishna came in disguise as a small,mischevious boy.The boy swallowed the Saligrama which was kept in Puja.The Sage became enraged at this and chased the boy until the boy hid himself behind a tree.The tree fell down and became Vishnu in Sayana Kolam.when he did so,he was of an extraordinarily large size.The Sage,recognizing that the tree was Vishnu,in despair prayed that he could not pray to Vishnu fully as his form was so large.Immediately,the Vishnu shrunk himself,and told the sage that he should be worshipped through three doors.These doors are now the doors in the temple through which the idol may be viewed.Through the first door,the worship is offered to Shiva,through the second entrance Brahma prays to Vishnu from his lotus navel,and through the third is Vishnu's feet,which are said to lead to salvation.Another legend suggests that the original Murti which was made of the wood of that tree got burned during a fire that engulfed the temple complex,was a sign of the unhappiness of the lord with the king.

Entrance Of Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy temple
History Of Temple:
In olden days Sree Padmanabha Kshetram and its properties were controlled by powerful lords known as Ettuveetil Pillamar under the guidance of Ettara Yogam.Later,Marthanda Varma defeated the Pillamar and his cousins "Kunju thampis" and took over power.The last major renovation of the temple was done by King Marthanda Varma,Maharaja of the erstwhile princely state of Travancore.He dedicated his kingdom to the deity,and pledged that he and his descendants would serve the kingdom as Padmanabha Dasa,meaning "servants of the Lord Padmanabha".With this,Sri Padmanabha became the nominal head of the state of Travancore,assuming the title Perumal,the Emperor.The British Government saluted the Lord with a 21-gun salute,a military tradition of colonial days,which was continued by the Indian Army until the abolition of the privy purses by Government of India with Indira Gandhi as the Prime Minister.The royal insignia of the Lord,The Valampuri Shankhu or dextral conch-shell,served as the State emblem of Travancore and even continued so for some time after the re-organisation of the States.Sri Padmanabha is still regarded as regional deity of Travancore[citation needed.The two annual festivals of the Temple culminate in a grand procession,in which the three deities (Sree Padmanabha,Narasimha Swamy and Krishna) carried on flower-decked and aesthetically decorated Garuda Vahanas to the Shankhumukhom beach,for 'aaraattu' (sacramental ablution).The 'aarattu' days are declared as local public holidays in Tiruvananthapuram.
Gopuram:
The temple has a 100 foot, seven-tier gopuram.The temple stands by the side of a tank,named Padma Theertham (meaning the lotus spring).The temple has a corridor with 365 and one-quarter sculptured granite-stone pillars with elaborate carvings.This corridor extends from the eastern side into the sanctum sanctorum.An eighty-foot flag-staff stands in front of the main entry from the 'prakaram' (corridor).The ground floor under the gopuram (main entrance in the eastern side) is known as the 'Nataka Sala' where the famous temple art,Kathakali was staged in the night during the ten-day uthsavam (festival) conducted twice a year,during the Malayalam months of Meenam and Thulam.
Newer Post Older Post Home

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting travel blog!

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting!

Anonymous said...

Om sai Ram,
I wish everyone to also visit Anantha Padmanabha Swami temple at Ananthapura, just 4.5 Kms from Kumble. Many buses pass through Kumble via Mangalore-Kasargod route. Hire an Auto or take a local bus from Kumble bus stop to Naipau, from here u can either hire an Auto who will charge you Rs.15/- Or you can just walk down maximum 10 - 15 minutes. Beautiful & quite place & very nice Poojaries, who will explain you all about the temple. Try to be there by 12 noon to attend the pooja & thereafter you will be servered with Prasad ( Lunch) . If you are lucky you can also watch the crocodile who comes near the temple for taking his share of Prasad

Anonymous said...

Me and my friend vishnu visited AnanthapuraLake Temple 3 months back.
So nice place beautiful,calm.
Here the supreme lord Vishnu is
sitting in 'Ananthasana'.In fact we were regular visitors of Padmanabhaswamy temple nowadays.
Visiting both temples situated in South & North ends of kerala is very very special.

----Deepu & Vishnu

Shah said...

Every 1000 years make extra ordinary work like China Wall
My Desire-'Mumbra to Howrah Housing Project'
Dear sir
I would like to Request Sri Anantha Padmanabhaswamy Temple's Trusty that please help or donation for my Desire
'Mumbra to Howrah Housing Project'
Thank you
Ramesh shah
97 Beacon ave Jersey city NJ-07306
email-easyintercom@gmail.com
Tele-1-5516891784. USA

nethragopal said...

worth to read. very intresting, we can can know more about the past. thanx for posting

Padmaraj said...

hello sir its Padmaraj from karnataka(hubli-31)
i want to give some opinions are provide more powerful security to temple and whatever we got the gold or money or dimonds from secured box please take those thing under suprime cort. and devolope the temple and also devolope the kerala state from that money. And make it as as indias top1 temple.its my humble request to that temple admistrators.please dont missuse that property....

Anonymous said...

bihello sir its Padmaraj from karnataka(hubli-31)
i want to give some opinions are provide more powerful security to temple and whatever we got the gold or money or dimonds from secured box please take those thing under suprime cort. and devolope the temple and also devolope the kerala state from that money. And make it as as indias top1 temple.its my humble request to that temple admistrators.please dont missuse that property....

Respected,
This is Ritesh Sharma I have a group named Plan-B. We work for museums in all around India, mainly documentation work and also conservation of metal objects. I read about Rs 90000 Crore Gold Treasure which found in Kerala Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple. We were looking if we can also join you. Right now we are working with Manjunath Mandir (Dharmsthala, Manglore) which comes under supervision of Shree Virendra Hegdde ji. There is a museum named Manjusha Museum, we are documenting all objects in the museum in digitalized format. It will be great if we can work with your temple
Thank you

Plan-B
(Ritesh Sharma, Ankita Khetan)
+91 9429926050

The reportd gold and wealth is not the property of anybody except that of god only. irrespective of the affluent wealth it should be there only. The national development can better be made out of earnings made for us.the willingness to develop the nation is the need of the hour instead people are grumbling as if it is their wealth.please dont touch it at any cost.no person is dying by hunger lest there is hunger for such wealth .

Anonymous said...

well news thanks...

Anonymous said...

your blog is well..

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for the valuable information .
From your blog , I picked up the phone nos , contacted them for help , and also got my doubts cleared .

It was very useful .

Thank you .
Kannan
Chennai

Unknown said...

The temple is a blend of the Kerala and Dravidian styles of architecture.It is known for its mural paintings and stone carvings.you can visit there through bus and you can book Online Bus Ticket also.

Unknown said...

You have provided a very informative and good post. In kerala there are many famous temples.People from all around come to explore the ancient temples.
Kullu Manali

Unknown said...

Kerala is a place with several temples. All are popular for the belief of the pilgrims.
Kullu Manali

Very nice post. Thanks to share.
Himachal Tourism

Sri Anantha Padmanabhaswamy temple is one of the nice temple to visit. It is a beautiful temple shows the rich culture and tradition.
Manali Hotels