Thiruvanvandoor Sree Mahavishnu Temple — Attraction in Kerala

This temple is situated 7km from Chenganoor and is believed to have been built by Nakula, the fourth brother among the Pancha pandavas. The God is also called Pambanai appan(Lord who sleeps on serpent) or Kamalanathan ,. People believe that Panchali the wife of Pandavas got the Akshya Pathra in this temple and in memory of this daily anna dhanam is carried out in this temple. Some people are of the opinion that this place was called “ Thiru Pandava oor” and this name became over years as Thiru van vandoor. Others believe that due to heavy population of Bees(Vandu in Malayalam) which make sound around this place. But one of the old inscriptopna call this place as Thiru van Mandur. This temple has been mentioned in Narada Purana. It seems once Narada was cursed by Lord Brahma who was his father and that sage came to this place and did penance addressing LKord Vishnu. It seems Lord Vishnu came and gave him the boon of wisdom and as a result sage Narada wrote the Narada Purana consisting of 25000 verses in this place. It seems sage Narada also wrote a book detailing the worship procedures at this temple. Devotees also believe that sage Markandeya was able to see Lord Shiva in Thiruvandur. Nammalvar one of the great Azhvar saints has written poem with eleven stanzas extolling the greatness of the God here. Because of this Thirvandoor is one of the 108 Divya Kshethram of Vaishnavas., The Lord Vishnu is consecrated here facing the west unlike the other four Pandava temples in Kerala. In a inscription by king Vallabha kodha, this God is addressed as “Thiruvan mandur Pattara”. Here also the God Vishnu is in the standing posture with four hands holding conch, wheel, Lotus and mace. Near Lord Vishnu , statues of Lord Ganapathi and Lord Dakshinamurthy is specially consecrated.. At the entrance of the sanctum sanctorum , there are two huge Dwara Palakas and on the , over the door , There is a statue of Lord Vishnu sleeping on the snake . This possibly musyt have lead to the name Pambanai appan. There are sub temples of Sastha, Shiva and Ganapathy out side the main temple. There is another remarkable Krishna temple in the temple compound. Here Lord Krishna is in his baby form standing on two folded legs and one hand and showing the left hand containing curd rice..He is seen holding the rice with two of his fingers . It seems in the year 1325, the king of Ambalapuzha send his emissaries to bring this Krishna statue to the temple at Ambalapuzha as there was some defect in the statue there. ,. Jnazhapalli Nambudiri who was priest of Thiruvanvandur did not want to happen and threw the statue in the river flowing on the east of the temple and disappeared. In 1960 One Damodaran who was an art teacher in the local school saw a dream , in which he was told that this statue was in the temple pond of Thiruvanvandur. He was instructed to recover the statue and consecrate it.Damodaran with the cooperation of local people dug the pond for 47 days but still could not find it. A Christian family whose house would be affected if the digging continued warned Damodaran and others to stop the digging next day. The next day they found this great pretty idol of Balakrishna. It was again consecrated in a very grand manner . In memory of this the local people started a festival lasting for 51 days. On the fifty first day , a huge procession starts from Thiruchithat temple and reaches here. A feat in which about 1000 kg of rice is cooked greets the devotees on that day. In the month of Kumbham there is a eleven day Ashtami Rohini festival in this temple. The temple is open from 5 Am to 11.320 Am and...

Thiruvanvandoor Maha Vishnu Temple is one among the 108 Divya Desam temples dedicated to Lord Vishnu. The history of the temple is related to the epic Mahabharatham and it is believed that the temple was built by Nakula the fourth of the Panchapandavas. After the Kurukshethra war when Pareekshithu was crowned as the king of Hasthinapuri, Pandavas went on a pilgrimage preparatory for the "Swargarohanam". On the way they reached Kerala and stayed here in penance and worship of Lord Vishnu. Each of the Pandavas built temples on the banks of the river Pampa and installed the idols of Lord Vishnu which they had worshipped in the palace.Thiruvanvandoor Temple is one among the five temples built by the Pandavas in and around Chengannur. It is also believed that they stayed here for a longer period when they were in exile which was bound as per the agreement with Duryodhana.

The recorded history of the temple goes back to 6th century BC. when the temple is referred to in the early tamil literature written by the Azhvar saints.The architectural beauty of the temple is that of Kerala style. The vast temple compound protected with walls, Nalambalam, Namaskaram Mandalam and the Sree kovil are to be seen and experienced. It is a must to visit all these temples and feel the the calmness and the ambience...

It is said that this Divyadesam sthalam is built by Nakulan, one among the Pandavas.

Once, Narada got a Sabham from Brahma devan and he came to this sthalam and worshipped Paambanaiyappan. At that time, Sriman Narayanan came in front of him and explained the Naradeeya puranam, that explains about the Gnana explanation. It also explains that both Saivam and Vaishnavam should be treated an one and all humans should be treated the same way.

Another great person, Maarkandeya Maharishi who is one of the Siranjeevi, got the seva of this perumal. The perumal gave his seva along with Kamalavalli Naachiyaar as Kamalanathan in Nindra thirukkolam.

The perumal is also called as "Pambha Anai appan". Lots of utsavar Idols were got during excavation and they were kept in Separate sannadhis.

Moolavar:

The Moolavar found in this sthalam is Paambanaiyappan. (Paambu + Anai + Appan). He is also named as "Kamalanathan". Moolavar is in Nindra Thirukkolam facing West Prathyaksham for Narada and Maarkandeya.

Thayaar

The Thaayar of this sthalam is Kamalavalli Naachiyaar.

Mangalasasanam:

Nammalwar - 10 Paasurams. Total 10.

Pushkarani:

Pabhanasa Theertham.

Pambha...