01Sahadeva’s Vishnu
Kerala’s tradition says that after crowning Parikshit the Pandavas went south on pilgrimage and each installed an image of the Lord near the Pamba: Yudhishthira at Thrichittatt, Bhima at Thiruppuliyur, Arjuna at Aranmula, Nakula at Thiruvanvandoor and Sahadeva here. The temple also remembers King Rukmangada of the solar line, who kept the Ekadashi vow so faithfully that he gave its merit to the devas. Nammalvar sang Thirukkadithanam in a decad of the Thiruvaimozhi, eleven pasurams.
02The stone servant
The sanctum is round, on a granite base with a conical tiled roof, and a two-storeyed gopuram carries the drum hall above the gate. Chera-period inscriptions on the temple are among the old Malayalam records of the region. By the pond stands a stone figure, the Kazhuvetti Kallu, that devotees point to: a temple servant, they say, cursed to stone for delaying the opening of the doors while pilgrims waited. A Shravana deepam lights the temple every month.
The life of this place
- Alvar periodNammalvar sings Thirukkadithanam in the Thiruvaimozhi.
About 3 km from Changanassery station. Many pilgrims see all five Pandava temples in one day.
