Sree Manikandeswaram Umamaheswara Temple Guruvayur
Sree Manikandeswaram Umamaheswara Temple is situated near Guruvayur temple. The main Idol of this temple is Umamaheswaran or Ardhanareeswaran. The temple is well known for various festivals like, Pooram, makarachovva, Vettekkorumakan Pattu, Shivarathry, Ayyappan Vilakku, Navarathry etc. the temple is located 7 Km from Guruvayur Sreekishna temple and 29 Km from Thrissur railway station.
Sree Manikandeswaram Umamaheswara temple is one of the rare temples of Lord UmaMaheswaran. Lord Umamaheswaran is a form that represents Lord Shiva and Devi Parvathi. The idol of Lord Shiva is in angry form, but Goddess Sree Parvathi seated in front of Lord Shiva to reduce his anger and to bless every people in the world. The temple is located at Manikandeswaram which is 7 Km away from Guruvatur Sreekrishna temple. The devotees who visit guruvayur temple are always searching for other temples near Guruvayur. The Manikandeswaram temple is one of the oldest temples in Malabar region. The temple is comes under Malabar Devaswam Board of Kerala. The other Idols of this temple are Lord Shiva (faces into west direction), Lord Ganapathy, Lord Vettekkorumakan, Lord Ayyappan, and Lord Bhadrakaly. The temple is very much popular because of its large Gopuram(Entrance into temple) which was built up of huge stones. But today the side wall of this Gopuram is in broken state. The history says that many temples in south India were destroyed by tipu sulthan who was the king of Mysore. When we look around various temples in Kerala, especially in Malabar region, this can be verified. The wall around the temple was also broken by him. Features of Manikandeswaram Umamaheswara Temple
The presence of Lord Ayyappa is the reason for the name Manikandeswaram. In this temple Lord Ayyappa ,Bhadrakali and Vettekkorumakan are situated outside the Chuttambalam(the building that bound the sreekovil). The temple has another specialty due to the existence of Lord Vettekkorumakan, who is also one of the forms of Lord Shiva while going for hunting in forest. A temple pond is there, which is large up to one acre approximately. The Bhadrakali in this temple is also known as Palakkal bhagavathy, because it located in an area where large number of Pala trees exists. The devotees who visiting this temple can also go to the nearby temples, Thiruvalayannoor Mahadeva temple, Ngamanegad Shiva temple, Ngamanegad Bhagavathy temple etc.
Some features of Temple
It is garden of 27 variety of pants, in which each of the plants will denote a particular Malayalam Nakshthram(starting from Aswathy to Revathy). It was established in 2010 and inaugurated by Mullakkara Rathnakaran( Former Minister).
Sree Umamaheswara Temple Kala samithy( Arts Society) was formed in 2010 with an aim of promoting and encouraging various traditional temple art forms in Kerala; like, Brahaminy pattu, Melam, Thol pavakoothu , etc. The society provides an award to eminent personalities in each year.Festivals in the temple
The Manikandeswaram Umamaheswara temple is conducting various festivals in each year. The main festival of the temple is Pooram, which is conducting in the month of March. Thrissur is also known as the land of poorams. Here also, the main attraction of the pooram is elephants. The pooram is celebrating for getting blessings from the lord Bhagavathy.
Another important festival in this temple is "Vettekkorumakan Pattu", which is conducting in the day before pooram. It is a festival in which the picture of Lord Vettekkorumakan is drawn on floor by using various natural powders like, rice powder, Turmeric powder etc. After drawing the picture, there is another interesting traditional practice of breaking a large number of coconuts by throwing into a particular stone. This practice is usually carried out by a person known as Kuruppu.
Makarachovva( The first Tuesday of malayalm month Makaram) is a festival conducting for Palakkal Bhagavathy in the month January. Various traditional art forms will be carried out on this day, like Thara, Poothan, etc. This festival is celebrated in so many temples in Kerala which is celebrated for getting blessings from Bhadrakali.
This festival is take place during the month of December. As the name denotes, it is conducting for getting the blessings from Lord Ayyappa. The main attraction of this festival is the fight between Hindu Ayyappan and Muslim Vavar. At the end of fight, Vavar will be defeated by Ayyapan and both of them will become friends and vavar will supply "Pathiry" to all devotees. It is actually a symbol of religious harmony in Kerala. In this festival, Ayyappan will walks through ember; it is actually an amazing practice.
It is celebrated in the months of October and November for getting blessings from Lord Saraswathy. The celebrations will be long as nine days and in the evening of Durgashtamy, the books will be kept in front of Goddess Saraswathy for doing pooja. It is done in order to improve the talents of students in studies. In all these nine days, there will be a "Chuttuvialakku" (rows of lamps around the temple) in the evening by various families. In Vijayashtami day, the books will be given back to students for studying.
In additional to these festivals,Shivarathry in February or March, Ashtami rohini, Thiruvathira, are also celebrating in this temple.Various offerings to the temple
How to reach Manikandeswaram Umamaheswara Temple
The temple is located 7 Km from Guruvayur temple, 4 km from Punnathur Elephant sanctuary
and 29 Km from Thrissur. It is situated in vadakkekad panchayathu, thrissur district. The devotees can also reach easily at this temple from Thrissur railway station and Cochin airport. The private and KSRTC services are also available from Guruvayur and Calicut.
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