Stories of gods and temples.
The origin stories of Kerala's deities and the histories of its temples — legends of creation and courage, of saints and rulers, and of the shrines that keep them alive.
Stories of the gods
Bhadrakali
In the Devi Mahatmya tradition the Goddess manifests as Bhadrakali to slay the asura Darika, whose boon made him invulnerable to all male beings. Kerala retells the Darika Vadham i...
Muthappan
Tradition tells of a boy found and raised by a humble couple who was later recognised as the presence of Shiva and Vishnu. He wandered as a hunter and ascetic with his dogs, breaki...
Nagaraja
The serpents Ananta, Vasuki and Takshaka belong to the race of Nagas who dwell in Patala and serve as the couch of Vishnu. In Kerala the Naga deities are believed to guard ancestra...
Vishnumaya Kuttichathan
Tradition holds that Vishnumaya was born to Shiva and Parvati and took the form of a child to defeat the asura Bhrugasura through illusion, or maya. In northern Malabar he is linke...
Mariamman
Mariamman is honoured as the goddess who cools the heat of summer and wards off epidemics. Her shrines stand at the edge of the village, where she guards the settlement, and her fe...
Chamundi
When the asuras Chanda and Munda attacked the Goddess, she manifested from her brow as Kali and destroyed them, earning the name Chamundi. In Kerala her shrines often stand on hill...
Vettakkorumakan
When Shiva assumed the form of a Kirata, a hunter, and Parvati joined him in the forest, their son Vettakkorumakan was born. Shiva gave him a churika, the curved sword, and sent hi...
Yakshi
In Kerala folklore Yakshis are otherworldly beings who dwell in banyan and pala trees. A Yakshi honoured with lamps and offerings becomes a benevolent guardian; neglected, she is f...
Muchilottu Bhagavathi
Muchilottu Bhagavathi is remembered as a learned girl of Perinchellur who was humiliated in a challenge of scholarship and later revealed as divine. She is the tutelary goddess of...
Temple histories
Pazhavangadi Ganapathy Temple
Pazhavangadi Maha Ganapathy Temple stands at East Fort in central Thiruvananthapuram, close to the Padmanabhaswamy Temple. The deity is Ganesha seated with one leg folded, and the...
Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple
Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram is one of the 108 Divya Desams, dedicated to Vishnu reclining on the serpent Anantha. The shrine is praised in the Divya Prabandha...
Ettumanoor Mahadeva Temple
Ettumanoor Mahadevar Temple in Kottayam is among Kerala's major Shiva temples, grouped in tradition with Vaikom and Kaduthuruthy. Its name is traced to a deer — 'man' — that is sai...
Sabarimala Sree Ayyappa Temple
Sabarimala Sree Dharma Sastha Temple in the Western Ghats is Kerala's greatest pilgrimage centre, where Ayyappa is worshipped as an eternal brahmachari, the son of Shiva and Mohini...
Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple
Guruvayur Temple in Thrissur district enshrines Guruvayurappan, a form of Krishna-Vishnu, and is one of the most visited shrines in Kerala. The Gurupavanapura Mahatmya of the Narad...
Ananthapura Lake Temple
Ananthapura in Kasaragod is Kerala's only lake temple, set in the middle of a tank and dedicated to Anantha Padmanabhaswamy. Tradition holds that this was the original seat of the...
Arattupuzha Sree Sastha Temple
Arattupuzha Sastha Temple, near Thrissur, claims an antiquity of some three thousand years and is best known for its Devamela, a festival in which gods and goddesses are believed t...
Aluva Mahadeva Temple
Aluva Mahadeva Temple stands on the sandy manappuram of the Periyar river near Kochi, with Shiva facing east. It is counted among the 108 Shivalayas of Kerala, and folklore credits...
Chottanikkara Bhagavathy Temple
Chottanikkara Bhagavathy Temple, near Ernakulam, worships the Divine Mother as Rajarajeswari. She is adored in three moods through the day — as Saraswati in the morning, Lakshmi at...