THIRUVAMBADI SREEKRISHNA TEMPLE

Prathishta / Presiding Deity : Sreekrishna
Upadevatha / Sub Deities : Lord Ganesha, Dharmasastha
District: Thrissur
Thaluk: Thrissur
Panchayath: xx
Thanthri: Brahmasri Sankaranarayanan Namboodiripad - Puliyannur Mana
Trustee: Thiruvambady Devaswom Office


Governed by a Committee elected from the members of Thiruvambady Thattakom, the temple is a public property owned by the members. Unlike other famous temples, since the power for decision making lies with the Committee members, the developmental activities of the temple take place in an admirable speed. Apart from the usual temple activities, The Thiruvambady Devaswom (Devasthanam), as we call the administrative set up, is an integral part of the main stream of the Thrissur Town and is involved in social, educational and charitable activities too. Thiruvambady Devaswom is one of the two partners conducting an annual trade fair come educational, industrial & cultural exhibition under the style ' Thrissur Pooram Exhibition' for 50 days synchronizing with Pooram Festival. Naturally thus the Temple and Devaswom attracts a large number of tourists also.

Histroy
Most of the devotees might get surprised to know that Thiruvambady temple was earlier situated in a rural village called Edakkalathoor, located 20 Kms away in the north west direction of Trichur Town. The name of the temple itself shows the importance of "Lord Krishna". The surroundings of the temple, including the holy pond and Flag Stuff; had become an inevitable part of day today life of the villagers. The local administrator of that particular area was a respected gentleman called "Moose".

Approximately in the Sixteenth century , a girl belonging to the Moose family fell in love with a young man of another religious belief. This made a lot of tension among the villagers. Conflicts between these sects became a part of the village life. Some of the villagers foreseeing communal riot decided to save the idols of the temple from being destroyed. They detached the idol of Lord Krishna from the Sanctum Sanctorum and proceeded to Thrissur. They reached "Kandanathu Mana" ( also renowned as Kachanappilli Mana) seeking help. At that time only a couple were residing there and they were in great sorrow because of not having kids. When they saw the idol of Lord Sri Krishna they took the lord itself as their kid and consecrated the idol in a hall within the premises.

The couple were worshippers of Kodungaloor Bhagavathi ( Goddess Devi in Kodungaloor temple). Once while they were leaving the Kodungaloor Temple after the usual visit, tears rolled down their cheeks, because they felt that they would not be able to visit the temple again; becuase of the ill health of the Nambudiri. On reaching the Mana, the namboodiri (male brahmin) placed "olakkuda" (umbrella made of palm leaves) in the nadumuttam (a vacant place surrounded by rooms called "nalukettu"). Later he found that the 'Spirit' of the Devi has accompanied him on the Olakkuda.

He shifted the 'spirit' onto a pillar of that nadumuttam and started worshiping Devi. Astrologers advised Namboodiri to consecrate Bhagavathi on the left side of the sanctum of Lord Krishna. They did so since there were no children to the couple, they transfered the ownership of the Temple to the public. All the decisions on the temple affairs were taken by a group of local people. Since then people sacrificed a lot, personally and collectively for the upliftment of temple activities.

Shakthan Thampuran
In the eighteenth century, Sree Ramavarma (Shakthan Thampuran) became the ruler of the state of Cochin. He had a special affection towards Trichur. He cleared the teak forest surrounding Shree Vadakkunnathan temple and decided to place big water tanks made of granite stones to keep water for cows and animals moving the meadow. These tanks were made by the labourers in Viyyur, a place 3 Kms north of Trichur Town. Elephants were assigned with the job of drawing these tanks from Viyyur to Trichur. While passing through the temple , the elephants suddenly stopped and refused to draw the tanks. To enquire the reason, Shakthan Thampuran came to the spot and found a temple totally dilapidated and in a poor condition. Shakthan Thampuran decided to renovate the entire temple structure and suddenly elephants started their job of dragging water tanks to the Thekkinkad ground. Shakthan Thampuran started the world renowned Trichur Pooram and that turned out to be a healthy competition between Thiruvambady and Paramekkavu temples. Because of the special affection towards Lord Krishna, Shakthan Thampuran decided to place the golden idol of Lord Krishna on the "Kolam" (a placard made of wood decorated with gold templates featuring the idols of Gods and Goddesses for whom the festival is conducted), while the Thidambu was to be of Devi.

The Thiruvambady Temple and Thrissur Pooram festival are today almost synonymous to the general public. However the latter is the climax to the sustained round the year activities of divine worship aimed at providing a spiritual avenue for peace, tranquility and mental uplift of thousands of devotees far and near.

The temple is located 1 km north of the Vadakkunnathan Temple and 800m from Swaraj Round, on the Shornur Road. It is only 10mts drive from Thrissur Railway Station and Bus stand. The Punkunnam Railway station, which is a C-grade station, is only 250 mtrs from the temple. In physical appearance the temple is a small one; but in quality and immensity of rites of worship, it stands on a par with the Mahakshethras here.

The Deities
The main deity at Thiruvambady is Unnikrishna (Lord Krishna in infant form). Goddess Bhagavathy is consecrated in a shrine just on the left of Lord Krishna and worshipped with equal ardour. Lord Ganesha, Dharmasastha and the founders of the temple are worshipped in separate shrines outside the Nalambalam.

Deities known by Dravidian names – Kukshi Ayyapa, Manikanda, Ghandakarna, Raktheswari and Bhairava are also enshrined here, just outside the walls of the temple.

Advent of Krishna:
The idol of Krishna, now worshipped here, was originally the Parthasarathy idol in a temple at Edakkalathur, a sleepy hamlet, about 15km from Thrissur. The temple had the same name – Thiruvambady – and there were many shrines too, for Bhagavathy, Sastha etc. Some four centuries ago, when life and property in the village were threatened by communal conflagration, some villagers under the cover of darkness, surreptitiously carried the idol to Thrissur and entrusted the same to a pious Namboodiri couple at Kachanappilly Illam, 200mtrs from the present Thiruvambady temple. The childless couple considered it a blessing in disguise from the Almighty and as they fostered the idol for worship, they felt it was their own unborn child. The benevolent Lord who appears before a devotee in the form he wants, opted to cast aside Partha Sarathy’s whip and to pick up the flute in one hand and extended the other to receive the butter of devotion from the ‘foster parents’. A small temple in the form of a ‘sala’ was erected 200mtrs, South of Kachanappally Illam and ‘Unnikrishna’ was enshrined.

Bhagavathy:
The saga of Devi is no less enchanting. The Kachanappally couples were ardent devotees of Kodungallur Devi and the male used to foot a distance of 40km, up and down, every month, to have a darshan of the Devi at Kodungallur. With the passage of time and deteriorating health conditions, per force, he had to bid farewell to the Deity and plod homeward with a broken heart. However, just like a human mother, the Devi could not bear the pangs of separation from her dedicated devotee; her ‘Chaitanya’ followed the Bhaktha to his abode and consequently got enshrined on a granite pillar in the central courtyard within the Nalukettu. It is this consecrated pillar with the Devi ‘Chaitanya’ which is installed in the Sanctum to the left of Unnikrishna and worshipped as the compassionate Balabhadrakali (Kali as a child).

The aura of the divine duo-Unni and Devi – makes Thiruvambady a spiritual beacon of beatitude, like Brindavan, providing solace and succour to thousands of devotees from far and near.

The poojas and other thanthric rites are performed, as envisaged in Thanthra samuchaya, with meticulous care, and this has upgraded the small temple qualitatively to the stature of a Mahakshethra.