01Lakshmi and Gajendra
The temple’s katha says Lakshmi and the elephant Gajendra both worshipped here with lotuses from the same pond, until the flowers ran short and Gajendra cried out. Bhagwan seated Lakshmi beside him on one throne and took Gajendra’s worship, so the Thayar here has her own sanctum, which is rare in Kerala. Across the river at Thavanur stand shrines of Brahma and Shiva, and devotees call the place a meeting of the Trimurti. The ghat is held as holy as Kashi for shraddha and bali tarpanam.
02Nammalvar and the Mamankam
Nammalvar gave Thirunavai a decad of the Thiruvaimozhi, eleven pasurams, and Thirumangai Alvar added two; thirteen are counted. For centuries the dry bed of the Bharathapuzha below the temple held the Mamankam, the great twelve-yearly assembly presided over by the Zamorin, when warriors from Valluvanad came to die trying to reach him. The temple suffered in the Mysore invasions of Malabar in the 18th century and again in 1921; the present building is in the Kerala style, with a round sanctum and no temple tank, since all rites use river water. The Zamorin is still the managing trustee under the Malabar Devaswom Board.
The life of this place
- Alvar periodNammalvar and Thirumangai Alvar sing Thirunavai.
- 1921The temple is attacked during the Malabar rebellion and later repaired.
Tirunavaya railway station on the Shoranur–Kozhikode line is close by. Open roughly 5–10 a.m. and 4–7 p.m.
