Temples & Palaces of Trissur

one of the gopurams of Vadakkumnaathan temple

It was an uncharacteristicly devotional day this past sunday, the second day of our Trissur visit. 3 of us who always wakes up when the sun is at its zenith, broke all traditions and rose up before 7. What happened next is sure to shock people who know us well. We started our small pilgrimage of temples in and around Trissur. Our first stop was Vadakkumnaathan temple, the abode of Lord Siva. Its situated at the centre of the Trissur round, a big circular plot right at the heart of the city. For the unintiated, this is the location of the world famous Trissur pooram. A mammoth gopuram welcomes you to this temple full of imposing architecture. The camera shut its eyes once inside the temple, never opening it until I stepped out. One of the main attractions there was a big koothambalam, where various art forms are usually performed. Thankfully, the temple didn't have the usual rush that is a bane when visiting famous temples. It was as peaceful as any small village temple.

Vadakkumnaathan temple- main entry gopuram

Paramekkavu bhagavathy temple

Thiruvambadi sri krishna temple

After prayers here, we got out through the back gate and went straight to the Paramekkavu temple, which is situated just behind Vadakkumnaathan. Paramekkavu is one of the two groups that participate in the Trissur pooram festival, the other being thiruvambadi. This is a Bhagavathi temple. Due to the pant restriction, we had to be contend with a view from just inside the gates. Its time such archaic rules are re written rather than providing hardships to devotees. Afterall, what matters is what is inside one's soul, not the dress one wears. Here, some activity was going on in the koothambalam. The percussion sound of many sticks striking rhythmically on a wooden board was heard, most probably a 'chenda training class' going on. We headed back to the Vadakkumnaathan and walked around it. Each of the four gopurams(facing each direction) had different architectures. One of those was closed and will open only for the pooram festival. Our next trip was to thiruvambadi sri krishna temple, the temple of the other main group participating in the pooram. Again the pant restriction made sure that we could only watch the proceedings from the gate.

The afternoon trip was to the sakthan thampuran palace. Shaktan thampuran was the ruler of Cochin and is best known as the man who started the Trissur pooram festival. He was also instrumental in bringing Trissur to its present status of 'cultural capital of Kerala'. The palace is maintained by the archeological survey of India, but manned by a bunch of arrogant men. Even after paying the shooting fee for camera(you can only shoot the outside. No shooting is allowed in the inside and in the gallery), one or the other stupid guy popped up with objections. The funniest one was when I was shooting a simple locked door outside the palace.

The guy comes and asks-"who asked you to shoot it?"
Me-"I took the pass and am allowed to shoot everything outside the palace"
Guy-"No. This is a high security door. You should delete your pics"

After some more exchange of words, I decided to satisfy the fool's ego by deleting one of the five pics that I clicked of the locked door. Having achieved his aim, he started walking when my friend came and asked what happened. I said sarcastically that this guy's saying this is some BIG door, which comment didn't go down well with the guy. He came back and started his gyaan again-"when you are in a place, you should learn to behave according to the framework of rules of that place or else better stay away from clicking(exact words- oru sthalathu pokumbol aviduthe niyamangalude chattakoodinullil ninnu perumaaran padikkanam. Illengil padam pidikkan pokaruthu"). We bid him goodbye with a sarcastic "OK SIR". Such ill intentioned morons shouldn't be allowed to man such wonderful monuments.

Sakthan thampuran palace

view of the nalukettu from the top

ghosts of a glorious past

The controversial 'locked door'

view of the kitchens

Coming back to the palace, the horse carriage in the gallery was one of the highlights. There were displays of old swords and other fighting equipments. Old currencies and vessels were on view. Another notable thing was the stone sculptures of Gods. The nalukettu looked nice. Adjacent to the palace is a big pond surrounded by lots of trees and a small butterfly park. Its certainly a worthy trip to this place, if you are visiting Trissur.

your crusader Praveen