Raviswarapuram Shiva Temple, Kodungalloor, Kerala

Raviswarapuram Shiva Temple, Kodungalloor, Kerala

Raviswarapuram Shiva Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, located in Kodungalloor of Thrissur District in Kerala, India. This Temple is considered as one of the 108 Shiva Temples created by Lord Parasurama. This temple is located very close to the famous Kodungallur Kurumba Bhagavathy Temple.

Legends

According to Hindu mythology, Lord Parasurama created the land between Gokarna and Kanyakumari. Parasurama the sixth avatar of Maha Vishnu, he was youngest son of sage Jamadagni and Renuka. It is said that Kerala was reclaimed from the ocean using his axe for donating to Brahmins after killing of King Kartavirya Arjuna and other Kshatriyas. He split this land in to 64 villages (64 gramas). Out of these 64 villages, 32 villages are in between Perumpuzha and Gokarnam and the spoken language was Tulu.

The remaining 32 villages were in Malayalam speaking area between Perumpuzha and Kanyakumari. According legends, after donating the land to Brahmins108 Maha Shiva Lingam and Durga Idols were installed in these 64 villages. These 108 Shiva Temples are mentioned in the Shivala Stotram and song is written in Malayalam language. Of the 108 Siva Temples, 105 temples are situated in Kerala state, 2 temples in Karnataka and 1 in Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu.

Among these temples, the Lord Shiva of Gokarnam Mahabaleswara Temple in the north and Goddess Kumari of Kanyakumari temple in the south were considered as the protectors of Kerala. The first temple created by Parasurama was the Thrissur Vadakkunnathan Temple and the last one was the Thrikkariyoor Mahadeva Temple. This Temple is considered as one of the 108 Shiva Temples created by Lord Parasurama.

History

The existence of temple was mentioned in Sangam Literature as one of the major temples under Chera Dynasty.

The Temple

This is an east facing Temple. Presiding Deity is called as Raviswarar. He is housed in the sanctum in the form of Lingam. It houses a pond with an abandoned Siva Linga. There are no details on the origin of the Shiva Linga here. A huge Naga tree is found in the temple complex.

Connectivity

The Temple is located at about 500 meters from Kodungallur Kurumba Bhagavathi Temple, 1 Km from Kodungallur KSRTC Bus Station, 22 Kms from Irinjalakuda Railway Station, 27 Kms from Angamaly (Kalady) Railway Station, 29 Kms from Cochin Airport, 39 Kms from Thrissur and 239 Kms from Thiruvananthapuram. Kodungallur is situated on Thrissur to Cochin Route

Location