Pazhaya Sreekanteswaram Temple

Thiruvathira Mahotsavam and Maha Shivaratri festivals are the two major festivals of this temple. Thiruvathira Mahotsavam is the annual festival of the temple, celebrated in the month of March or April. In this ten-day festival, various magnificent processions and special rituals are performed. The next major festival of the temple is Maha Shivarathri. This festival is grandly celebrated in the Malayalam month of Kumbam. During the festival, devotees circumambulate the temple 108 times chanting the mantras and stotras of Lord Shiva. The unique feature of the festival is that the deity is carried out in procession on the silver Rishabhavana at 3 am. This procession takes place in the 5^th day of the temple.

Daily poojas begin at 3.30 am. Nirmalya Darshan in the temple is very famous. It is also believed that one who attends this Darshan continuously for at least 41 days will accomplish their wishes in life with the Lord’s blessings. Other poojas of the temple include Ganapathy Homam, Sahasranama Archana. Vidyarambam, Pushaka pooja, Chavi pooja, Thalimala pooja, Karuka Homam, Ayilya pooja, Charadu pooja and so on.

Info on the deity – Specific to the temple deity

The presiding deities of the temple is Lord Krishna and Lord Sreekanteswara, a form of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva is in the Swayambhu Linga form here. Lord Krishna’s deity was later installed to reduce the ferocity of Lord Shiva. The temple also has separate shrines of Lord Mahaganapathy, Lord Dharmasastha, Lord Nagaraja, Lord Murugan, Lord Ayyappan and Lord Anjaneya.