Guruvayoor Sree Krishna Temple

Guruvayur Sree Krishna temple is located in Thrissur district and is dedicated to Lord Krishna and the Lord here is lovingly called as Guruvayoorappan. It is so popular that people from all parts of India visit this temple. This temple is popularly called as the ‘Dwaraka of the South’. The main entrance of this temple is called as the Bhooloka Vaikunta Nada. There is a gold plated flag post and a Deepa Stambha for lighting the lamps. This lamp post has 13 receptacles and is lit daily. The Srikovil is the place where the idol of Krishna is placed. This idol is made of a stone called as ‘Pathalanjanam’.

The temple opens daily at 3 am for the ‘Nirmalya Darshanam’ and the afternoon worship is called as the ‘Ucha kaala Pooja’. The Deeparadhana takes place in the evening. A number of festivals are celebrated here which includes Mandalam festival, Ashtamirohini, Guruvayur Ekadasi, Onam, Gita Jayanthi, etc. Ashtamirohini is celebrated to mark the birthday of Lord Krishna. The Ekadashi that falls in every month is important in Guruvayur, but the Ekadashi of the Malayalam month Vrishchikam is the most important one. It is considered auspicious as it is believed that it was on this day that Lord Krishna had advised the Bhagavath Geetha to Arjuna. The famous ‘Chembai Music Festival’ is conducted on Ekadashi. The temple annual festival is conducted in the Malayalam month Kumbham and it begins with the Elephant race which is world famous.

The devotees make several offerings to the Lord to fulfill their desires. Some of the offerings include Thulabharam. The devotees conduct Annaprashana which is the ritual for feeding their child for the first time. Many conduct their marriage from the temple. Here, there is an Elephant sanctuary owned by the Guruvayur Devaswom which is the largest of its type. It is called as Punnathurkotta and is around 3 kms from the temple.