Tiruvattar - Adikesavapperumal Ambalam

Kerala, the renowned Parasurama kshetra boasts of many famous temples dedicated to one or the other of Chaturvimsati forms of Lord Mahavishnu. In addition to Padmanabhaswamy temple at Tiruvananthapuram and Krishna temple at Guruvayur, there are scores of ancient temples that have hoary legends of the august archamurtis, who fiber-ated genuine bhaktas time and again. Here the Moolavar is called Adikesava Perumal and the Mother going by the name of Marakadavalli Tayar are worshipped devoutly. The high caste Brahmins of this place puffed up with caste prejudices and supercilious nature prohibited the entry and worship of the Moolavar by other castes for long. The temple has two tanks called Rama thirtha and Vayu thirtha. The image of the Moolavirat in standing posture is quite majestic and pleases the adorers instantly. The sthalagnas extol the glory of the kshetra attributing it to the archamurti is giving darsan to the Moon-god Chandra and Lord Parasuram too. The Ashtanga vimana of the temple bears striking resemblance to the Padmanabhaswamy temple at Trivandrum. And the garbha griha too has three doors akin to the famous Attanthapadmanabhaswamy temple. Of the twelve Alwars, Nammalwar is the only one, who visited and worshipped the Lord with the flowery Pasurams that gained a covetable place in the Bhakti literature. Although the prayer services offered here are characteristic of the Kerala style, they conform to agamic tenets. Periodical festivals are conducted regularly with due eclat.

It lies about 30 km off Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala accessible by bus.

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