Neyattinkara is a small town in the southern part of Thiruvanantha Puram district of Kerala. The town is on the banks of river Neyyar. The place is famous for Sri Krishna temple.
Neyattinkara Krishnaswamy Temple is considered as the Guruvayur of Trivandrum.
As per the legend, one of the Thiruvithankur Princes named Marthanda Varma was facing life threats from his enemies and was on the run. A person named Anantha Padmanabhan Thambi had appeared before him and asked him to hide in the cavity of the Jackfruit tree nearby. The prince did so and saved his life.
The Prince was convinced that only Bhagwan Krishna had come in the form of his savior. Hence after becoming King, Sri Marthanda Varma is said to have built the temple at the same place where he was rescued.
It is believed that the temple was built during 1750 – 1755 A.D.
Soon on alighting from the bus at the main road, we get the darshan of Bhagwan Ganesha in a separate temple.
The gateway of the temple depicts the Geethopadhesam scene of Mahabharat where Sri Krishna is teaching Bhagavath Geetha to Arjun.
After passing through the corridor with overhead shed, we get to see the deepasthambam.
If we go past the deepasthambam, we enter the temple.
After Dwajasthambam, we can enter the main sanctum which is squarish in shape. The walls have murals depicting Shiva Parvathi family, Mahishasura Mardhini, Dasavatharam of Sri Vishnu Murthy and other murals.
At the main sanctum in the mandapam, Sri Krishna is in standing position holding butter in both the hands. This posture is a rarity in itself. He is called as Sri Unni Kannan, Sri Bala Krishna and Sri Navaneetha Krishnan. This posture with butter in both the palms is known as Thirukkaiyil Venna. He is facing west.
The main sanctum is called as Sri Kovil. The doors of the Sri Kovil are painted in gold colour.
When we take the perambulation outside the main sanctum, we get to see a huge trunk of Jackfruit tree kept in an enclosure. This is the tree which had protected the King. The tree is called as Ammachi Palavu.
When we do the parikrama of the temple, we are blessed have the darshan of Sri Ganapathy and Sri Aiyappa Swamy in separate sanctums. Sri Nagaraja is also worshipped in the precinct.
The temple elephant is called as Neyattinkara Kannan.
The neivedyam is rice poha mixed with jaggery and fruits. The same is offered to the devotees as prasadam. The pal payasam made with rice and coconut is also sold as prasadam.
Ashtami Rohini, Vishu, Onam, Navarathri and Mandala Puja are some of the major festivals celebrated in the temple. The annual festival is celebrated in Meenam month. It commences with kodiyeeti, the flag hoisting festival and concludes on Rohini Star-day with aaratu at Neyyar river.
During Navarathri, three Deities rest at this temple prior to proceeding to Sri Padmanabha Swamy Temple, Thrivuvanantha Puram. They are Sri Kumara Swamy from Kumara Koil, Sri Munnuti Nanga and Sri Saraswathi Devi.
The temple is open from 04.00 A.M to 11.00 A.M, 12.00 Noon to 12.30 P.M and from 05.00 P.M to 08.00 P.M.
When we complete the darshan of Sri Krishna temple, we can also get the darshan of Bhagwan Shiv nearby in a small temple.
Neyattinkara is easily accessible by road from Trivandrum. It is on the way to Nagarkoil and Kanyakumari.
