Trissure is known as the cultural capital of kerala for it’s numerious festival like pooram , onam , Aanayoottu , Ollur and many more . The main places to visit near thrissur are sree Vadakkunnathan Temple , Paramekkavu Bhagavathy Temple ,Thiruvambady Sri Krishna Temple , shakthan thampuran palace ,Kerala Kalamandalam (Cheruthuruthy), Athirappilly Waterfall , vazhachal waterfalls , chavakkad beach and many more . It has been the capital of the kingdom of cochin from 1790 – 1805 and it is one of the oldest city in Kerala . The city has been build around the sacred shiva temple Vadakkunnathan . This temple has been described in hindu mythology and suppose to made by Parashuram .Trissure is also called the Gold capital of India for the High concentration of Gold and jewellery shops and pioneer historical gold trading route .
According to the mythological stories lord parashuram throw his axe in the sea and made the land Kerala . After that , exactly in the place where is now situated the “Vadakkunnathan Temple” , he made this temple and worship Lord Shiva . Around april month the famous trissure pooram festival was organished . You can see classical decorated elephants in the swaraj round around the main temple . More than 1 million people gathered in this place for pooram festival .
How to reach Trissure ?
Trissure is situated almost in the middle of the state of kerala . It is the oldest city in the state .
The nearest airport to Thrissur is the Cochin International Airport which is situated 56 km from the trissure city .
From Trissure Railway station you can reach multiple city in of kerala and India .
You can also reach Thrissure city by bus from tiruvananthapuram , cochin , chennai , bangalore and coimbatore .
Attractions in thrissur:
There are numerous attractions in Trissure , that include both the Natural, Historical and religious places. Vadakkunnathan Temple is a UNESCO World heritage site and the whole city is situated around it .
Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple :
There are numerous traditional Dancing Halls inside the temple among them this (in the picture) pyramical sized Koothambalam (Dance Hall) is the biggest. There is beautiful wood carving in these dancing halls .
According to Hindu scripts some belive Adi Shankaracharya worshipped here for 41 Days. Some says he created this temple ..
Maha Shivaratri , Aanayoottu(feeding of elephant ) , Trissure Pooram are the festivals celebrated in this temple.
Vadakkunnathan temple has been build in traditional kerala style .According to the archeologist, this temple has been more than 1600 years old . There is numerious murals inside the temple among them the Nataraj is most prominent .(this paintings are almost 300-400 years old and still in it’s original form ) .
In the main temple the leftmost deity is Vadakkunnathan (which is a form of shiva ) In the extreme right there is the deity Mahavishnu and in the middle, there is the deity Shankanarayan. The deity of Vdakkunnathan is almost covered by the ghee. In the opposite of the main temple there are two sister temple Krishna Temple and the Paramekkavu Devi Temple.
Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple :
Guruvayur temple is situated 3o km from the Vadakkunnathan Temple of Trissure and this temple has been dedicated to lord Vishnu . This is a huge temple and 100 of elephants lived in a specified area of this temple . Here the main deity Vishnu was in a standing posture with four hands ,holding panchajanya Shankha , sudarshan chakra , Gada and Lotus. Other deities are Ganapathi, Ayyappan and Bhagapathi.
The main festivals are 10 day festival in the month of kumbham other similar festivals are Krishna Janmastami and Ekadasi.
shakthan thampuran palace:
Shakthan thampuran palace is a historical palace situated in the heart of the city build in the year 1795 by Maharaja Rama Varma Shakthan Thampuran . He is also started the trissure pooram festival . In this time it was the capital of the cochin Dynasty . It was build in the mixture of the dutch (Western side of the palace )and Kerala style (Eastern side of the palace ). Specially in the kerala side of the palace the wooden arts are impressive to see .
Now it is a museum also . It has different section like numismatics, bronze , sculpture, epigraphy and the Historical gallery.
This museum is opened between 9:30am – 4:30 pm . Entry ticket for this museum is 20 INR for an adult.
shakthan thampuran palace
Kerala Kalamandalam :
Kerala Kalamandalam is one of the most prestigious Institute for classical south Indian as well as kerala dance . This institute was established by the Malaylam poet Vallathol Narayana Menon with the patronage of Mukunda Raja in 1930 . It is situated in the Chiruthuruthy village.
This institute teaches Kathakali , Mohiniyattam , Kodiyattam, Ottanthullal , Nangiarkottu and Panchavadyam . This institute’s building are built in Traditional kerala style . Student’s learn this skills staying with their teachers.
Visitors can visit the institute and see the teachings and traditional dance performances free of cost. But you should be aware of the opening dates and time. That is why I can not enter the institute.
Paramekkavu Bhagavathy Temple:
Paramekkavu Bhagavathy Temple is one of the oldest Bhagawati (Durga) temple built during the 10 th century, dedicated to Devi Vaishanavi. There are also other deities like Ganapathy, Veerbhadra, Bhrambharaksha and Nagas. This is one of the important temple in the Trissure Pooram festival and a procession of elephants reach toward Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple .
If you want to enter this temple, you have to wear a Dhoti(Men) and a Saree (Woman ) . Before visiting this temple please check the timing of opening.
Thiruvambady Sri Krishna Temple :
Thiruvambady Sri Krishna Temple has been built in the 16-17 th century and dedicated to Unnikrishna (child krishna) . The other deities along with Unikrishna, are Bhadrakali , Hanuman , saraswati , Bhrambharakshas , Ayappa, nagas and other deities.
It is one of the important temple in the Trissure Pooram festival. Where the elephant’s possession moves toward Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple. Other festivals celebrated in this temple are Krishna Janmashtami (Ashtami Rohini), Navaratri, Kuchela Dinam and Vaikunda Ekadasi.
chavakkad beach :
Chavakkad Beach is situated in the Arabian sea 34 km from the Thrissure city . This beach is famous for the floating bridge and Azhimukam (Estuary). In the low tide the Estury looks very beautiful. Ramachapadam Farmland is an interesting place where ayurvedic oils are being prepared.
Athirappilly Waterfalls:
Athirappilly Waterfall is a waterfall in the western Ghats mountain where the Chalakudy river drops almost 25 meter and in the monsoon times it becomes 300 feet in width. It is located near to the Sholayar forest ranges . Here you can see 85 types of animals like buffalo, Elephant and leopard . . This spot is also famous for the bird watching .
Numerous Malayalam and tamil movies are shooted here . It is situated just 60 km from the Trissure city .
Vazhachal Waterfalls:
Another waterfall near to Athirappilly Waterfalls is Vazhachal Waterfalls. Here the water flows through the rocks downward but not straight vertical . It is also build upon the same river Chalakudy river .
This place is full of flora and Fauna and one of the important place for bird watchers . Hornbill is an important bird in this area.
Trissure Pooram Festival :
Thrissure Pooram is the biggest festival in the state of Kerala. Before 18 the century in the month of medam every temple make small possession . In this possession the main attraction is the decorated elephants , traditional music and burning the fire crackers . But after the king Sakthan Thampuran in 18 the century, he combined all small temple possession and made it a united event in the field of Vadakkunnathan Temple.
Now mainly from the Paramekkavu Bhagawati temple and Thirumvadi sri krishna temple the procession meets at the main temple in Vadakkunnathan Temple . Almost 1 million people gathered at that place. Above every elephant, there are one or two Brahmins who perform some religious process. This festival continues for three days .
Onam Festival :
In the fourth day of the onam festival there is dance called pulikali dance . People decorated themselves as tiger and danced in the street .
Kandassankadavu Boat Race happens in the Thiruvonam day. This is the most auspicious day in the celebration of the Onam.
Rather than this there is traditional folk dance, onathallu dance (Martial Art Dance ), kumattikali dance (masked dance and many more. This festival is mainly celebrated around the Swaraj round .
Onam is a 10 day festival in the month of September . It is mainly a harvest festival in the indian state of kerala . There are different events in the different days of the festival .
First one is the grand pookalam in the temple of Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple . In the year 2024 they used 2000 kg flower to make this pookalam(Flower carpet).
Aanayoottu:
Aanayoottu is a unique type of festival held at the Vadakkunnathan Temple. This festival is called the elephant feeding festival. In this festival, the first event is Gaja Pooja then comes the Baby elephant’s feeding then the mass feeding. Almost 70 elephants participated in this festival.
Almost 2000 kg of jaggery , 10000 coconuts and 531 kg of rice are fed to the elephant. This is a very unique type of festival in Trissure.
Summary :
Trissure is one of the oldest city in Kerala . It is called the cultural capital of Kerala for it’s unique festival like Trissure pooram and the Onam festival . There are numerous Hindu temple which are very ancient. The main temple Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple is more than 1000 years old and the epicentre of different festivals in Trissure . Rather than this two waterfalls in Western Ghats are very near to it . Kerala Kalamandalam is a unique type of art school where students take courses in Different classical dance. All together, if you want to see and feel the culture of kerala this is the best place which was once in the kingdom of Cochin. I wish you all a very happy trissure experience .
