Sri Anchumoorthi Temple – Thirumittakode

 

Sri Anchumoorthi Temple is located on the banks of Bharathappuzha at Thirumittacode of Palakkad district in Kerala State.

It is one of the 108 divyadesam of Lord Vishnu and is also regarded as the 108 Shivalayam of Lord Shiva.

Here Lord Vishnu is worshipped as Uyyavandha Perumal and his consort is Vithuvakootuvalli.

This temple was built in the Kerala style of architecture

This place is called Thirumattikodu Five (Anchu) Moorthy Temple, and it houses five statues: one for Lord Shiva and four for Vishnu. This temple is called the Five Murthy Temple for this reason.

This temple has a Chakra Theertham. The huge banyan trees stand in front of this temple. The inner sanctum houses two shrines. The first shrine that one sees after entering the sanctum is dedicated to Lord Shiva. Behind this shrine is another shrine dedicated to Uyyavandha Perumal. The Vishnu shrine stands on an elevated platform and devotees have to climb the steps behind the Shiva Shrine to reach the Vishnu shrine. Outside the Sanctum there are shrines dedicated to Lord Ganapathy (Ganesh), Dakshinamurthy (The Lord of the South), and Goddess Durga. These small shrines are what you see when you enter the temple premises. It is believed that the five idols of this temple were installed by the 5 Pandavas.

It is believed that this temple is one of the 108 Shiva temples of Kerala and is installed by sage Parasurama dedicated to Shiva. There is another myth in the place, Kasi Viswanathan, a Brahmin who came back after visiting the Kasi darshan, in this temple.

As per Hindu legend, both an elephant and Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu were worshiping Vishnu with lotus flowers. Once all the lotus flowers were taken away by Lakshmi Gajendra, the elephant to pray to Vishnu. Vishnu gave a boon to Lakshmi to be along with him and let the whole lotus garden be taken up by Gajendra. The place is a Mumurthi Kshetra as the Trinity of Hinduism, Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma are worshiped here. Hindus perform last rites on the banks of the river in the temple similar to that of Varanasi.

The Thiruvonam festival during the Tamil month of Margazhi and the Vaikunta Ekadasi during the month of Thai are the major festivals celebrated in the temple. The main annual festival is for ten days each year in the month of Medam (April/May).

Timings

5.45 am to 10.30 am

5.00 pm to 7.00 pm