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
Chettikulangara Devi Temple
Chettikulangara Sree Bhagavathi Temple near Mavelikkara enshrines Bhadrakali and is one of central Kerala's most popular Devi shrines. One tradition says local chieftains, humiliat...
Ambalappuzha Sree Krishna Temple
Ambalappuzha Sree Krishna Temple was built in the 15th century by the Chembakasserry ruler Devanarayanan Thampuran and is counted among the seven great temples of old Travancore. T...
Aranmula Parthasarathy Temple
Aranmula Parthasarathy Temple on the Pamba river is dedicated to Krishna as Parthasarathy, Arjuna's charioteer, and is one of the 108 Divya Desams. Legend connects it to the Pandav...
Asramam Sree Krishna Temple
Asramam Sree Krishna Swamy Temple stands on the shore of Ashtamudi lake in Kollam and enshrines Krishna as Navaneetakrishna, the child holding butter. The shrine sits on a small mo...
Aazhimala Shiva Temple
Aazhimala is a coastal Shiva temple near Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram district, built in a style close to Tamil temple architecture. Fishermen and coastal families have long wor...
Attukal Bhagavathy Temple
Attukal Bhagavathy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram is dedicated to Bhadrakali, identified by devotees with Kannagi, the heroine of the Tamil epic Silappatikaram. Legend tells of a rad...
Shri Padmanabha Demo Temple
Shri Padmanabha Demo Temple is a centuries-old shrine dedicated to Lord Vishnu in Anantha Shayana posture.