01Aghora of Ettumanoor
Shiva here is in his fierce Aghora form, and the temple is counted among the great Shiva shrines of Kerala with Vaikom and Kaduthuruthy, the three that devotees try to visit on one day. The present round sanctum with its copper-sheeted conical roof was rebuilt in 1542. On the inner wall of the gopura is one of Kerala’s most celebrated murals, the Pradosha Nritta, Shiva dancing at twilight, painted in the deep reds and greens of the Kerala style. A great lamp, the valiya vilakku, has burned before the deity for centuries.
02Seven and a half golden elephants
The temple treasury holds the Ezhara Ponnana: seven elephant figures about two feet high and one of half that size, of jackwood covered in gold, offered by a Travancore Maharaja. They are brought out only once a year, on the night of the Ashtami in the ten-day festival in Kumbham, and lakhs come for the darshan. The festival ends with the arattu, the sacred bath of the deity.
The life of this place
- 1542The present temple is rebuilt.
About 12 km north of Kottayam on the MC Road; Ettumanoor has a railway station.
