Aranmula Parthasarathy Temple is located around 10 km east
of Chengannur town in Kerala. The temple is associated with Pandavas of the
Mahabharata. Aranmula Temple was constructed by Arjuna, the third of the Pandava
brothers. The shrine is also one among the 108 Divya Deshams – Thiruvaranmula (108
temples dedicated to Lord Vishnu as per Vaishnava tradition).
Story of Aranmula Temple
Legend has it that the Pandavas ruled Hastinapura for a
couple of decades after the Kurukshetra war in the Mahabharat. Later, after
crowning Parikshit as king of Hastinapura left on a pilgrimage. When they
reached the banks of Pampa River in Kerala, each of the Pandava brothers built
a shrine dedicated to Bhagavan Sri Krishna.
Legend has it that Arjuna originally worshipped the murti of
Lord Krishna at Nilackal near Sabarimala. He performed intense austerities here
to expiate for the sin of having killed Karna in the Mahabharata war.
The murti was located inside dense forest in Nilakkal and
therefore it was difficult to perform daily pujas. Therefore, the murti was
brought to the present location in a raft made of six bamboo pieces. The place
got the name Aranmula after this incident. Aru means six and mula means bamboo.
The murti of Sri Krishna worshipped in the temple is that of
him taking discus or Sudarshana Chakra against Bhishma in the Mahabharat war.
Bhishma and Arjuna surrendered before this form of Sri Krishna and asked for
forgiveness.
The murti of Bhagavan Sri Krishna worshipped in the temple
is 6 feet tall.
The temple faces east and is approached after climbing 18
steps.
The shrine is a classic example of Kerala style temple
architecture with two storeyed gopuram, kottupura, gold plated flag post,
deepasthamba, mandapam, nalampalam, Thevarapura, balikkal pura, temple tank, sevapanthal
and huge compound wall.
The sanctum sanctorum is noted for its wooden frames with
array of lamps, lavish wood and stucco carvings with stories from Ramayana and
Mahabharata.
The subsidiary deities worshipped in the temple are Sastha,
Yakshi, Nagaraja, Bhagavathy and Balarama.
The temple festival is observed in Malayalam Makara Masam (January – February).
Aranmula boat race and the Aranmula Onasadya are organized
during the Onam period. Sri Krishna Jayanti is another important festival here.