Guruvayur Temple, Kerala

The Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple is a major Hindu temple that is dedicated to the Hindu God Guruvayurappan. The temple is located in the Guruvayur town of Thrissur District in Kerala and is one of the most important Hindu religious centers in Kerala. The Guruavayur Temple is also known as Bhuloka Vaikunta, which literally means “Holy Abode of Vishnu on Earth”.

The Guruvayur Temple is believed to be 5000 years old and the presiding deity of the Temple, Vishnu is worshiped in the form of Krishna, who is his avatar. The temple has a central icon in which we can see a four-armed standing Vishnu carrying the conch Panchajanya, the Sudarshana Chakra, the mace Kaumodaki and a lotus along with a Holy basil garland.

The Guruvayur Temple is also known as the “Dwarka of South India” and this is mainly due to the widespread presence of Lord Krishna. The hereditary tantris or high priest of the Guruvayur Temple is the Chennas Nambudiris.

The Guruvayur Temple is managed by Guruvayur Devaswom, which is a special Devaswom, that is under the control of the Kerala State Government. The 10 day festival during the Malayalam month of Kumbham is one of the main festivals of this temple. The festival starts with the flag hoisting ceremony on Pooyam star, Sri Krishna Janmashtami during the month of Chingam, Ekadasi in the Shukla Paksha and in the month of Vrishchikam which is commonly known as Guruvayur Ekadasi and Vishu on the first day of the Malayalam month Medam.

Ganapathi, Ayyappan and Bhagavathi are the sub-deities of Guruvayur Temple and there are also two sub-temple, one for Ganapathi and the other for Nagadevata. The Guruvayur Temple has a wide range of history and heritage associated with it and it has been a center of attraction for centuries.

There is a temple tank or pond that is situated on the northern side of the temple, which is known as Rudratheertham. As per the legend, it is believed that Lord Shiva and his family used to worship Lord Vishu on the southern bank of the temple tank.

While entering the Guruvayur Temple, strict dress code needs to be followed. Men who are entering the temple should wear mundu around their waist, without any kind of clothes covering their chest, apart from a small piece of cloth known as veshthi. Boys can wear shorts, but they are also not allowed to wear a shirt.

Women and girls are prohibited from wearing any kind of dresses similar to trousers or short skirts. Women can wear sari, whereas girls are allowed to wear long skirts and blouses. Recently, the dress code of women has undergone some changes and now they can also wear shalwar kameez while entering the temple.

The Guruvayur Temple also owns 56 elephants and they stay at the Punnathur kotta elephant yard or Anakotta. It is considered to be the yard containing the largest population of captive male Asian elephants. Among the elephants, Guruvayur Keshavan is the most famous and even after 40 years of his death, he is very much in the talk.

The temple attracts devotees from across the world and even the tourist who visits Kerala are keen to visit the temple and learn more about it. It is indeed one of the most popular spiritual travel destinations of India.

The nearest airport to Guruvayur Temple is the Cochin International Airport, which is 87 km away and the nearest railway station in the Guruvayur station which is very near to the temple.

Temple Timings:
Open 03:00 – 12:30 hrs and 16:30 – 21:15 hrs

Address:
Guruvayur Temple,
Guruvayur Devaswom,
Guruvayur, PIN 680 101,
Thrissur,
Kerala, India

email – admingd.ker@nic.in, guruvayurdevaswom@rediffmail.com, devaswom.guruvayur@gmail.com
Phone Number: 0487 255 6335
Website: https://www.guruvayurdevaswom.nic.in/