Thiruvilwamala Vilwadrinatha Temple

Getting there

• By train

  Lakkidi is the nearest station, on the opposite bank of the Bharathappuzha river. Ottappalam, Shoranur and Wadakkanchery are the major stations nearby, 14 to 25 km away.

• By road

  Buses run from both Thrissur, about 50 km away, and Palakkad, about 35 km away.

Rules to know

• Visitors need permission from Hanuman to enter the inner temple.
• Men must wear traditional mundus inside the sanctum; lungis, shirts and vests are not permitted.

Why devotees come here

Vilwadrinatha Temple stands in Thiruvilwamala village, Thrissur district, Kerala, about 50 km from Thrissur city. Here Rama is worshipped as a swayambhu, self-born image, the only one of its kind in the state.

The principal deities are Shri Rama, the seventh incarnation of Vishnu, and his brother Lakshmana. Legend says that after the penance of the sage Amalaka, Vishnu transformed himself, with his consorts and Ananta, into a swayambhu idol. Swayambhu means self-born, an image with no human intervention. Another legend tells of Parashurama, the sixth avatar of Vishnu, who killed 21 Kshatriya clans with his axe after his father's murder.

The temple has burned three times, first in 1827 and then twice in 1861. The current building was put up in 1883 by the King of Kochi. The temple is now administered by the Cochin Devaswom Board. Inside the inner temple, the nalambalam, two double-storied sanctums of equal size stand next to each other, facing one another.

The temple sits on a hilltop at the centre of the village, about 100 ft above sea level. It is one of the four major Rama temples in Kerala.

Tips for your visit

• Take a bath or wash your feet in the temple ponds first, then worship from outside the sanctum.
• Punarjani Guha, a cave 2 km southeast of the main temple, opens to people only on Guruvayoor Ekadasi, one day a year.

Questions people ask