Ettumanur Siva Temple -- Kottayam district

 Ettumanur temple is also very old and famous and is always thronged by devotees. Like Vaikathappan, Siva here is known as Ettumanurappan.  This temple is at a distance of  about 15 Kms. from Vaikom. This Siva temple was built in 16 th century.  The  conical tower above the sanctum is copper plated and looks stunning. This temple has exquisite mural paintings  from Ramayana, Bhagavatha and  Siva's cosmic dance. The deity here faces the West.

The dwajasthambha is very  tall and  gold plated. It is a real visual treat  to watch this gleaming dwaja with a Nandi atop and small bells hanging below.  There is metal lamp called Valiavilakku inside the temple and pilgrims keep offering  oil and this lamp is  kept burning through out day and night.  It is believed that Siva himself lighted this lamp first. The soot from the lamp is believed to cure eye problems.

Offering Tulabharam is famous here.  By Tulabharam, it  means  a devotee offering his worship, would contribute equivalent of  his or her weight of  banana/ sugar/ jaggery/ coins/ gold/ flowers etc.what ever they can afford in fulfillment of their wishes granted by the Lord.

There  are other shrines dedicated to Bhagavathi, Ganapathy, Dharmasastha, Dakshinamoorthy and Yakshi.  There is no idol for Parvathy here but  still she is  worshipped here on the Eastern side. The Ezharara Ponnana ,the  golden elephants and golden umbrella are a great attraction which is unique to this temple and it is used on the last day  of the annual  festival here. During the festival days ,all four sides of the temple would be lit with thousands of oil lamps which is a very attractive sight to watch.

There is a Krishna's temple just outside the Siva temple facing east,  also believed to have been  installed by Khara the demon who brought the other Sivalingas of Vaikom, and Kaduthiruthy temples. Here  Mahadeva(Siva) gives darshan  to his devotees in three bhavas one as Aghora Moorthi, then as Santha swaroopi and third as  Uma Maheshwaran.

How to reach

The temple is on  Kochi -Kottayam highway. It is about 50 Kms. from Kochi and 12 kms. from Kottayam.

Accomodation - Very good  hotels are  available in Kottayam town.

Photos:
1 Entrance of temple -view from highway, 2. Nataraja 3. Mandapam in front of the temple 4West Gopuram. 5. Side view of the Gopuram.6. The main temple 7. Lamps on the side walls which are lit during festival.8 &;9 Dwajasthambha  10. Krishana temple outside.11. Lamps on the walls of the temple