Padmanabha swamy temple, Trivandrum

Padmanabha swamy Temple, Trivandrum
By
P.R.Ramachander
This great temple is situated in the middle of the capital city of Kerala-Trivandrum. It
is also possibly one of the very few temples in Kerala with a Raja Gopuram of 7 tiers. It
is believed that the great Saint Vilwa Mangalathu Swamiyar, with whom Lord Krishna
was always there, once irritated Lord Krishna due to his pride. Lord Krishna disappeared
from there. When the Swamiyar prayed, Lord Krishna told him in his dream to find him
in Anathan Kadu. After many days of arduous search, Swamiyar reached a place called
Ananthan Kadu. There he sat near a big stone and later realized that it was the Lord
himself. There was nothing with him to offer to the Lord. So he approached a poor family
near by and took from them tender mango pickled in salt and offered it to the Lord. This
tradition of offering tender pickled mango is being continued till this time. It is also
believed that this is a one of the temples established by Lord Parasurama. It became
dilapidated by non use and was later found by Vilwamangalathu Swamiyar.
The God in this temple is Lord Padmanabha reclining on his serpent bed Anantha. It is
believed that this statue was made by using 10008 salagramas (holy stones taken from the
Gandaki river of Nepal) . King Marthanda Verma of the Travancore dynasty [resented
the entire Kingdom of Travancore to this lord and took the title of Padmanabha dasa,
(servant of Padmanabha)
The temple opens at 3,30 Am the timings when devotees can see the Lord are (before
noon) 3.30-4.45, 6.30-7.00, 8.30-10.00, 10.30-11.00, 11.45-12.00; (after noon) 5.00-6.15
and 6.45-7.20. Only Hindus are permitted inside the temple. There are several festivals in
the temple. Ganesh Chathurthi , Ashtami Rohini and the festival in thula and Meena masa
are famous. Once in 12 years there is A laksha(hundred thousand) deepa(lamps)
observed in this temple. This is accompanied by recitation of Vedas by Namboothiri
Brahmins called Mura Japam.
Apart from the tender mango mentioned earlier, Milk kheer is offered as offering in a
coconut shell daily .Other naivedyams are Unni appam, aval etc.
More information on this temple can be read at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padmanabhaswamy_temple