This is the fourth and final part in the series of posts about my trip to Guruvayur and Thrissur. Click here to read all earlier posts.
Our second day in guruvayur began early, in the wee hours of the morning. The temple opens for nirmalyam, which is the darshan of lord krishna in the previous day’s decorations, at 3am. We had hoped to see either the nirmalyam or the vakacharthu that happens right after, but despite reaching the entrance line shortly after 3am, it was 3.30 by the time we entered the passage to the main sanctum and just a few minutes later they closed the shrine. So it happened that around 30-40 mins we had to stand in the narrow passage, being neither inside nor outside, but after the wait we got to see guruvayurappan looking splendidly beautiful in his first alankaram of the day.
The early morning hours have the least wait times, except you have to take care not to get caught up roughly in between 330-415. The crowds probably start increasing after 7.30/8am when the morning buses/trains and day trippers start arriving.
After a brief break back in the room, we decided to head out right away next to Thriprayar, another temple town about 40 mins away from guruvayur. There are lots of buses going frequently between guruvayur and thriprayar, we just went to the bus stand and got into one. It was still early, just around 6am, and the morning haze was hanging around with a cool breeze flowing along as the bus started.
Just a few kms down the journey the bus crosses chavakkad, a beach close to guruvayur. The road runs parallel to the beach for sometime, giving a view of the sea through the border of coconut trees lining them, still clouded with the morning mist.
blurry pic since taken from the speeding bus, but the sea can be seen behind the low wall, almost merging into the misty morning
Further down, the route crosses Chettuva, a backwater which empties into the arabian sea, and from the bus you can see the greenery of an island in the middle of the river. Another 14 kms or so down the road and the bus reaches thriprayar. There is first one other stopping in thriprayar, but when we asked for the ambalam (temple), we were told to get down at the next stop, which we did. The bus from guruvayur stops at the main road from where it is around a 10-12 min walk straight down the road to the temple. Buses from some other routes seem to have a stop right in front of the temple, so it depends on where you come from.
Thriprayar is a town on the banks of a river, and the temple itself is also located right on the river bank. Thriprayar is one among the group of ‘naalambalam’ or four temples - one each dedicated to Lord Rama and his brothers Lakshmana, Bharata & Shathrughna. Triprayar is the Rama temple, while Irinjalakuda has the temple for Bharatha, Moozhikulam (or thirumoozhikulam) for Lakshmana and Payyammal for Shathrughna. For those visiting all four on the same day, (and many do follow the ritual of visiting all four the same day) it is customary to visit them in the aforementioned order, which is the order of their birth.
On this visit however, we visited only triprayar rama temple. As i mentioned earlier, it is situated right on the river bank, and the sanctum faces east, on which side the river flows. So the main entry into the temple is actually from the western side where the road is.
On entering the temple one turns left and makes the customary pradakshina or the clockwise round which takes you eastwards towards the river and the main sanctum. The temple precinct is large and expansive, looking beautifully serene in the soft light and quiet of the morning.
the thriprayar temple
Lord Rama here is tall and stately, in contrast to the small Bala (child) Krishna of guruvayur. There were no crowds here - it was early in the day with only a few people were around, and we could have a relaxed and peaceful darshan of rama, who here is with four hands, with conch and disc in addition to his bow. The walls of the sanctum are full of beautiful kerala mural paintings. Other shrines include a goshala Krishna with an endearing smile, and also ganapathy, shashtha etc. All rama temples usually have a shrine of hanuman facing rama, but the unique feature of triprayar is that there is no separate shrine for hanuman as his presence is said to be felt everywhere in the temple.
The river laps up the steps at the eastern bank of the temple, and there is a ritual of feeding the fish here, called ‘meenoottu’. One can get a small cup of rice for a fee and sprinkle it in the water and see the fish coming around and nibbling it all up. Another interesting and quite unique ritual here seems to be the ‘vedi vazhipadu’, firing of gunpowder into the air as an offering - don’t know if it is unique to triprayar alone or common in other temples in kerala.
morning view of the greenery lining the opposite banks, seen from the thriprayar temple
It is a beautiful sight to stand on the steps of the river bank in triprayar temple and see the lush green of coconut trees on the other side of the river, and the occasional bus rolling by on the bridge across. We spent some time in the temple and then started to head back, taking an auto to the bus stop on the main road instead of walking this time. We just reached the stop when we found a bus already waiting and scrambled for it. this one happened to be a state transport bus, (while our onward journey had been by a private one ) so ended up ticking off going in kerala’s beloved ‘aanavandi’ too by chance :)
While coming back too, we got to see the chettuva backwaters again and also some typical kerala houses located amidst groves of lush coconut trees.
chettuva backwaters with islands in the middle, seen from the bus.
houses in the midst of coconut groves. with views like this and the above, window seat paisa vasool :)
Once back in guruvayur, we headed for breakfast, and then later to another darshan at the temple, our final one before we left guruvayur. After finishing lunch we headed to the railway station and caught the passenger train to reach thrissur. It is the easiest way to commute between thrissur and guruvayur in my opinion, taking less than half an hour to thrissur, much less tiring than road, and costing just 10 rupees a ticket !
We reached a friends house and spent the rest of the afternoon chatting with them and catching up, and in the evening decided to visit two temples in thrissur. Leaving around 430, we took an auto and went first to the Paramekkavu temple.
Paramekkavu is dedicated to Bhagavathy or Devi, (Goddess) and is in the centre of the city, right opposite the Vadakkunathan temple. It is an old and ancient temple, and the goddess is seated in a huge, imposing form.
parmekkavu bhagavathy temple
Paramekkavu is also one of the temples participating in the famed thrissur pooram festival, with one team of caparisoned elephants and their decorated parasols starting in a procession from here. The paramekkavu temple is on the eastern side of the big circle in the centre of thrissur. This circle goes round about the Thekkinkadu grounds or maidan.
Thekkinkadu is the place where the city congregates, and since we reached there in the evening, i realised this was the city’s hangout space, fairgrounds, meeting grounds, everything in one. Going by its name, it must have been a teak grove or forest at some time. (thekku = teak, kadu = forest) Thekkinkadu’s importance though, is not merely because it is a gathering place, but because it has at its central core the hallowed grounds of the Vadakkunathan temple. This is the temple which gives thrissur itself its name, for it is originally called Thrisshivaperur, (or thrissivaperur) meaning the great city of Holy Shiva (thri-siva-perur).
Vadakkunathan temple is one of the oldest temples in kerala, believed to have been founded by Parasurama himself. The temple has four gopurams or towers on four sides, and we entered through the west side. Upon entering you realise what a sprawling area it is - the entire temple is around 9 acres of land. The gopurams and sanctums have all the typical elements of kerala style architecture, with tiled roofs, wooden carvings and murals on the walls. The very mention of thrissur brings to mind an image of the grand pooram festival to most people, and vadakunathan temple is the venue where it is held. Elephants from ten temples, one team led by paramekkavu temple as mentioned earlier, and another team led from the Thiruvambadi temple, face each other in a grand spectacle involving processions, parasols, panchavadyam and pyrotechnic displays. The other temples pay their respects to lord vadakkunatha in the splendid week long festival that brings together a sea of people to the temple grounds.
entrance tower, vadakkunathan temple
Lord Shiva as vadakkunathan is in the form of a tall shivalingam, over which ghee is poured everyday as offering. There is a mound of ghee built up over time and it never melts, and is apparently taken out and distributed only once a year. There are also shrines for Rama, Krishna, Ganapathi, Shastha among others. There is also a sanctum for Shankaranarayana - a combined form of Shiva & Vishnu together.
According to legends, this is the temple where the great saint and advaita philosopher Adi Shankara’s parents came and prayed for a child, and he was born to them later. Adi Sankara himself is believed to have visited the temple and there is also a shrine for him here.
As mentioned earlier, the temple precinct is a vast one, and there are a number of sanctums or shrines inside. There is a very specific order to be followed for visiting the different shrines, which we could do only because we had a friend who is native to thrissur showing us the way. At the time of our visit there were also some renovations going on so that added so much of going back and forth. The renovation or repair work actually ended up making the temple opening in the evening delayed that day, and we were asked to come around 545pm when we landed up earlier.
Click here to read all posts in this series, and check out instagram to see more of my travel pics.
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