Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple in Thuravoor, Alappuzha

Posted Date: 18 Mar 2011 Author: Latha Jayaprakash Member Level: Gold

Sree Lakshmi Narasimha temple located in Thuravoor is one of the famous temples in southern parts of kerala and is well known for its history and glorious past. The temple situated at a distance of 25 kilometers from the city of Kochi and about 45 kilometers away from the international airport of Kochi. Lakshmi Narasimha is the presiding deity in this ancient temple.

Sree Lakshmi Narasimha Temple is loated in the small village of Thuravoor, lying on the National Highway 47 which runs from Kochi, towards Alappuzha, at about 5 kilometrs to Cherthala, in the state of Kerala in India. The temple can be seen at about one and a half kilometers from the NH47, on he Kumbalangi Road. The idol at the Sree Lakshmi Narasimha temple seems to be older than the present temple complex which is believed to be built in the early 18th century. The idol / prathishta seems to be of the 17th century.

The deities and the other sub temples at the Sri Lakshmi Narasimha temple

There is an idol of Venkatachalapathy on the first step, Vishnu padakkam in the second step and the Utsavamurthy on the fourth step. The third step is vacant which seems to be the place of Ugra Narasimha idol which is at present at the AN PURAM Temple at Alappuzha.
There is a sub temple for ganapati which is located inside the Nalambalam, there is a small temple for Hanuman near the flagmast, which is said to be the Vrindavan of Srimad Rajendra Tirtha Swamy, the 11th pontiff of Kashi mutt. There is a shrine outside the west gopuram dedicated to Raval Naicken and also a small temple for Kuladevata Vittala brought by Poojari settlers

The History behind the Sree Lakshmi Narasimha temple

Sri Raval Naicken was a young businessman who had come to stay at Thuravoor, near the vadakkanathappan temple. In those days GSB's that is Gouda Saraswat Brahmins of Konkani region were not allowed in to the Hindu temples in Kerala. He used to pray from outside everyday without fail. None of the Poojaris liked him and was not even given the prasad some days. Oneday they closed the temple without giving him any prasad he was heart broken and began praying to God. At that time he heard a voice asking him to move westwards after a light which was moving towards west. The light disppeared when he reached a place and he heard a voice telling him to install an idol there.
At the same time he saw two sculptors and he asked them to make an idol for Lord Narasimha for him. They accepted and made a shilpalaya like an enclosure and entered therein to make the vigraha. After some time when he could not hear any sound coming from within, he peeped and was surprised to see two vigrahas but no sculptors. He learnt then about the divine presence and the vigrahas were of Ugra Narasimha and Lakshmi Narasimha. Ugra Narasimha had a defect and a nail was missing in his foot.
He believed that the sculptors were Vadakkanathappan and Thekkanathappan and built a temple there for Lakshi Narasimha Murthy. He also constructed a house for himself and managed the affairs of the temple. Later when he became old he handed over the temple to Cochin Thirumala Devaswom in 1704 AD. A new temple and agrasalas were constructed during this time and was financed by the then Maharaja of Cochin.

Location of the present Lakshmi Narasimha temple in Alappuzha

Later when some of the GSBs shifted to Alappuzha they took Ugra Narasimha Murthy with them along with Venkatachalapathy idol from Cochin to Anantha Narayana Puram / AN Puram in the year 1852 AD. It was declared by the court that Alleppey and Thuravoor temple belongs to the entire Community members (in the eight villages or Ashta gramas) of Travancore state. The Ashtagramas are Alleppey, Thuravoor, Shertallai, Purakkad, Kayamkulam, Quilon, Kottayam and Parur. So Alleppey Anathanarayanapuram Thuravoor Tirumala Devaswom (AATTD) was formed and managed by elected members from the Ashtagramas.
The Lord Lakshmi Narasimha Murthy has many vahanas namely Garuda, Hanuman, Aswa, Chandra, Iravatha, Hamsa and Sesha vahanas and a silver palanquin. Among these the Aswa Vahana is the most popular and the biggest.