Temple Run to Guruvayur & Thrissur - Part 3

This is part 3 of my guruvayur trip series. Read part 1, about the train journey here and part 2, about the guruvayur temple here.

In this part, i continue about the rest of our day in guruvayur after completing the morning darshan.

Once outside after our first darshan, we proceed to have lunch, and decide to make use of the afternoon time when all temples are closed, by making another stop nearby. Around 2.5 kms from the temple is the Punnathur Kotta, the camping grounds for the guruvayur temple elephants, and is managed by the guruvayur devaswom (temple administration). Elephants form an important part of kerala temple rituals and festivals, and about 30-40 elephants (i’m not sure of the exact number) belonging to the guruvayur temple are housed, bathed and fed in these extensive grounds and brought to the temple as and when necessary. There is a small admission fee and camera fee, and then you can walk about and see the elephants eating or splashing water around. The local auto men are the best mode of transport to take you straight there and back if you just mention the place to them. 

When we went it must have been time for their lunch, and there was a truck with a load of branches and leaves going around piling a share near each elephant, which they kept munching on as they pleased.

One or two of them were pouring sand over themselves or spraying themselves with water, and was a delight to watch. 

There is an interesting tradition in the guruvayur temple - on the first day of the annual festival, selected elephants from punnathur kotta participate in a race called aanayottam, and whichever one reaches the temple first gets to carry the lord’s idol during the processions for the rest of the year ! 

Having spent some time watching the regal elephants, we headed back to our room for a break. The guruvayur temple opens for the evening around 430 pm (after closing around 1230pm) so we headed back once again. There is also a senior citizens darshan with a separate queue as soon as the temple opens for the evening. A small note on this - one has to enter the temple straight through the back entrance on the west nada to join the senior queue - but the wait time for this line itself was around 30-45 mins, (at least on the day i saw, don’t know how it is usually) and the space was narrow and the seniors had to keep standing the entire time, since it is close to the inner wall of the temple and there is no seating. So if you go on a normal (non-festival etc) weekday, the normal line itself may be a better option, with wait times only slightly more but with seating and good ventilation. There is also a seniors darshan time in the mornings, verify with the security there for exact timing. 

After this, we decided to visit a couple of other temples in guruvayur. We had seen lord krishna, so it felt like a good idea to pay our respects to his elder brother Balarama also on the same day ! Balarama himself is considered one of the avataras of Vishnu, but temples dedicated to balarama alone are rare to find. This one is in a place called nenmini, about 2.5 kms from the guruvayur krishna temple. This temple is also administered by the guruvayur devaswom, but is small, peaceful and very serene. balarama can be seen here with his plough, called halayudha (hala = plough), which was his weapon of choice along with the mace.

the nenmini balarama temple in guruvayur

In my previous post, i had mentioned that when guru and vayu came looking for a spot to install the idol of lord krishna, they had found lord shiva meditating on the banks of a pond. Lord shiva himself said that the place he was meditating was the best to install the idol, and he shifted to a location a little distance away at the other end of the pond. That location is known as Mammiyoor, and it is believed that the rudra theertham, the pond where shiva was meditating (now to the north of guruvayoor temple), once extended all the way till mammiyur. 
No visit to guruvayur is said to be complete without visiting the mammiyoor shiva temple, so off we went to mammiyoor next.

the mammiyoor shiva temple at dusk

Mammiyur Shiva temple or mahadeva kshetram, as it is known, is a short distance from the guruvayur temple, less than a 10 min walk. The presiding deity, of course, is lord shiva. The Bhagavathy or goddess in a separate shrine behind with a benign beautiful smile.

The walls of the inner sanctum here too are full of beautiful kerala murals all around. There are also shrines for lord ganesha, subramanya and shastha (ayyappa).  

Kerala temples are unique with their worship traditions being tantric, so there are some interesting features which cannot be found in other regions. One of them is the sarpa kaavu, the shrine for snake worship, and mammiyur temple also has a sarpa kavu. Another interesting (and surprising) shrine here is that of a Bramharakshas ! - which many other kerala temples also seem to have.

After visiting the balarama and mammiyoor shiva temple we were again back again and decided to try for another darshan at the guruvayur temple. The wait time this time around was the longest we experienced, sitting in the lines outside for almost 1.5 hrs till the athazha (evening) pooja was done, which was around 8 pm. One of my pastimes while waiting in the lines by now had become spotting the various different patterns of the traditional kasavu sarees of kerala ! the traditionally beige/cream sarees now come in a vast variety of coloured borders, with motifs of mayil peeli (peacock feathers), kathakali faces, and even mural painting style designs.

Anyway, we followed this darshan up with dinner and a short break, and then returned to the temple again for the final event of the day, something i had been looking forward to very much. 

The day in the guruvayur temple ends with the seeveli, which is a procession of the deity on the temple elephant around the sanctum. There are usually 3 seevelis in a day, but the night seeveli, which happens around 9 or 915 pm each day is very special. 

The temple’s chuttambalam(circulatory path) is lit with the warm glow of thousands of oil lamps lining the vilakku matam on the entire perimeter of the temple’s inner wall. the temple elephant adorned with its finery of golden nettipattam (forehead ornament), and walks around in a regal swagger to the accompaniment of the pancha vadyam (drums, cymbals and other instruments), carrying the idol of lord guruvayurappan around the temple. It is a unique spiritual experience as well as a treat to the eyes and ears. Once the seeveli procession is over the lord goes back inside the sanctum and the temple is closed for the day soon after. 

We came back to our room and wound up a very satisfying day, and i’ll continue about the next day in the final part later.

Click to read part 1 and part 2 of the trip posted earlier and the final part 4 .