Vaikom Temple kerala

The Vaikom temple is a temple of Lord Shiva in Kerala in South India. This temple is the most celebrated Shiva temples in the entire South India.

The Vaikom temple is situated at 33 km distance from the south of Ernakulam and is at a distance of 40Km from the north of Kottayam by railroad between Ernakulam and Trivandrum.

This temple is supposed to be one of the ancient temples and has seen ages.

The worship in this Vaikom temple is done by offering food. In the earlier ancient days, food in varieties used to be cooked and offered to all the devotees.

The Vaikom Mahadever is also known as ‘Annadaana Prabhu’ mainly because lots and lots of food are cooked and served here. This deity Shiva presents himself in many forms such as here he is known as Vaikom Mahadevar, while in the Panthirathi pooja in the early mornings he is referred to as Dakshinamurthy. He is also worshipped during the Uchcha Pooja as Kiraata Murthy in noon and as Satchitananda in the evenings.

All the ancient temples are based on legends and the legends are worth believing as seeing is believing and we get to see various things very true that the legend imparts.

The legend of Vaikom temple says that during the period of Ramayana, Khara the demon worshipped Shiva and attained three Shivalingams. He had one on each hand and the third Shivalingam in his mouth.

Khara, the demon set a Shivalingam on the earth and to his apprehension found that it firmly got rooted to the ground. So he installed the remaining two Shivalingams at Kaduthuruthy and Ettumanoor. He assigned the Shivalingam of Vaikom under the care of Vyagrapadar and hence derived its name as Vyagrapuri which eventually became Vaikom in short.

Legend also tells that Parasurama, another Vishnu incarnation constructed this temple and placed the protocol of worship here.

It is also believed that during Tiruvillaiyaadal, jackals were transformed into horses miraculously here. Poojas are banned inside the temple during the Ashtami festival as it is considered that this day Lord Mahadeva fasts, provides food for his guests and prays for the victory of his son against the demons.

This temple has multitudes of visitors every year and they are highly impressed by these legends. Situated in a paradise like country amidst the beautiful natural surroundings and good climate, it invigorates its tourists to visit and revisit the holy sanctity of the Vaikom temple.