01Bharata, the faithful brother
Bharata ruled Ayodhya for fourteen years with Rama’s sandals on the throne, and the temple holds him in that spirit of devotion and renunciation. The murti, one of the four that came from the sea, is of Vishnu’s form, and the deity is called Sangameshwara, lord of the confluence. The worship is strict: there is no incense, no camphor, no flowers from the temple garden, no deeparadhana with waving lamps, and only the lotus and tulsi are offered. The thamara mala, a garland of a hundred and one lotuses, is the chief vazhipadu. The name Koodalmanikyam, the gem that merged, comes from a jewel said to have vanished into the murti.
02Koodiyattam and the Medam festival
The temple has one of the finest koothambalams of Kerala, and Koodiyattam, the Sanskrit theatre that UNESCO lists among the world’s intangible heritage, has been performed here for centuries by the Chakyar families. A 9th-century stone inscription of the Chera king Sthanu Ravi refers to the temple. The ten-day utsavam in Medam (April–May) has seventeen caparisoned elephants, more than any other festival in Kerala, and the temple is surrounded by four tanks, one inside the walls.
The life of this place
- 9th centuryAn inscription of the Chera king Sthanu Ravi refers to the temple.
In Irinjalakuda town, about 20 km south of Thrissur; the Nalambalam yatra comes here second, after Thriprayar.
