Neyathinkara Navaneetha Krishnan

Neyathinkara Navaneetha Krishnan
By
P.R.Ramachander
This temple is situated about 20 km from Trivandrum in the middle of Neyathinkara
town. The god consecrated here is Lord Krishna as a child holding in his hand a ball of
butter, Daily the priest keeps a fresh ball of butter in Lord Krishna’s hands.
It is believed that the ghee which was collected in the ashrama of Aghasthya (in the top
of the mountain) over flowed and became a river of ghee. Neyyar in Malayalam means
“river of Ghee”. Neyathin Kara means “On the banks of Neyyar”. The temple of Lord
Krishna is situated in the banks of Neyyar. There is a ghat (steps) in to the river from the
temple. This temple was constructed by Sri Marthanda Verma, the famous king of
Travancore. This king in his youth was hunted by several of his enemies and reached near
a jack fruit tree in Neyathinkara. When his enemies were chasing him, a young boy
appeared from no where and showed him a cave below the jack fruit tree. (Ammachi
Plavu-mother jack tree). The king escaped. Later Lord Krishna appeared in his dream
and told that it was he who has saved the king. The king immediately ordered the
building of a temple. The king ordered a statue made of black stone. But the boat carrying
the black stone idol some how stuck to a point. The king consulted the astrologers who
told that God wanted an idol made of Pancha Loha and not black stone. The black stone
idol was consecrated in a village called Krishna Puram and a new Panch aloha idol was
made. The idol of Krishna faces the west. The roof of the sanctum sanctorum is made of
copper. There is a ten day long festival in the month of Meeanam (March-April)