Adi Sesha Archives

13/Aug/2022

The Temple:

Padmanabha Swamy Temple is an ancient temple of exquisite beauty, it has on its walls mural paintings depicting the 10 incarnations (avatars) of Lord Vishnu, as also of Mahabharatha, etc. The Lord lies on Adi Sesha and to the sanctum sanctorum (Garbhalaya) there are three openings to have His darshan.

(1) Face and head on the left.

(2) Middle to see Brahma.

(3) The feet on the right.

The Lord was pratyaksha to each one like Brahma, Aswathama, Vedavyas, Indira, Brugu, and the King of Travancore. The King of Travancore known as Padmanabha Dasa (the servant of Lord Padmanabha).

The name of the Goddess is Hari Vallabha. It is also said that there are 12,000 Saligrams in this temple. Sannidhis also there inside this temple premises for Kurma Bhagwan and Narasimha Bhagwan. The temple decorated with 1,40,000 brass lamps and on special occasions when they are lit it is a delightful scene to watch.

All male devotee has to be bare by the upper garments before entering the precincts of this temple as also in most of the important temples in Kerala. Most of the temples insist on the cloth they wear being fresh and as a general rule prefer wet cloth immediately after a bath. Most of the Kerala temples are extremely clean and have an atmosphere of sanctity in them.

Legend:

In this temple as well as in most of the temples in Kerala, the pujas and other rites performed by the Namboodri Brahmins. The Namboodri Brahmins the original Malayalee Brahmins in Kerala and had the right to perform pujas in Kerala, a practice derived from Parasurama Himself.

The story of Kerala and its origin is entwined with this Namboodri Brahmins. Parasurama after spending His wrath of having killed many Kshatriyas Kings in the North and South came to the Western Ghats and this mighty saint threw his axe to the Arabian Sea and called the Sea Lord to go back and gave him a strip of land which came to be known as Bhargava Kshetra, the present Kerala State. Parasurama brought Brahmins to settle there and asked Brahmins to develop this land which was so picturesque that many people came from the nearby States to inhabit it. This is the legendary origin of Kerala and the Namboodiri Brahmins and the peer among them is Adi Sankara.

Architect:

Trivandrum is famous for handicrafts, especially those made out of ivory.

Padmanabha Swamy Temple one of the most prominent temples devoted to Lord Vishnu in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The temple one of the only many temples devoted to the Lord in which he worshiped in the “Ananta Shayanam” position. The temple has been declared the richest Hindu Temple in the world and the well-off religious institution in the World.

The Gopuram or the doorway tower of the temple added to the complex in 1566. It rises to a height of 100 feet and seven-tier giant structure. The tank seen beside the temple known as the Padma Theertham, which means “Lotus Spring”.

Near the Gopuram, there is a hall that was before used for organizing dance events. It named Naatak Shala or the hall of drama.

Inside the temple, the visitants can see 365 pillars made out of granite- stone and decorated with intricate sculptures, depicting the mastery of masterminds and sculptors of that period. The passage leads to the sanctum sanctorum, where the main shrine of the deity seen reclining on Adi Shesha. A Shivlinga seen below the right hand of the deity gods of Vishnu’s wives, Sridevi and Bhudevi can be seen.

A devotee has got to stand upon the Mandapa for offering puja and get sight of the deity. Other sanctuaries of the temples dedicated to Sree Krishna Swami and Sree Yoga Narasimha. Lord Narasimha given the task of guarding Chamber B, where an idol of the main deity kept.

Festivals and Traditions

Numerous carnivals celebrated at Padmanabha Swamy Temple, which is attended by thousands of devotees. Two of the festivals, Alpashy and Painkuni jubilee persist for a period of ten days. The first one celebrated in October or November, while the final word celebrated in the month of March or April.

Special Note:

The Region comes under Totadri onwards, in all temples in Kerala, upper garments of male devotees are prohibited and therefore chaddar (a small piece of cloth) is used instead.