Place · Shiva temple · India
Rajarajeswara, Kannur
Also known as Kannur, Rajarajeswara, Rajarajeswara — Taliparamba, Taliparamba
The Kottiyur Perumal Rajarajeshvara temple at Taliparamba in Kannur district, Kerala — one of the oldest Shiva temples in Kerala and one of the four principal Vaishnava-Shaiva kshetras of Malabar. The temple is unique in India for its restriction on night pujas: night worship is only permitted after specific ritual verifications involving the aru-pooja (six-ritual sequence) by the chief tantri. The temple's foundation is 2-century; traditional attribution to the mythical King Mandhata of Ayodhya. The current structure is 15-century Kolattiri royal patronage. The Thaliparamba thali architecture is one of the finest surviving Kerala temple styles. The 28-day Kottiyur Vaisakha festival each April-May draws over 300,000 pilgrims, mostly from the Nambudiri Brahmin and Nair communities. The temple is managed by the Malabar Devaswom Board.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 12.045, 75.341
Connections (1)
- Shrine within cityTeyyam, north Malabar
Teyyam belongs to kavus — small groves and family shrines — rather than to the large Brahminical temples of the same district, and the two systems ran side by side for centuries with different priesthoods, different deities and different castes. A temple like the Rajarajeswara at Taliparamba, with its Sanskritic ritual and restricted entry, and a teyyam grove a few kilometres away represent the two halves of north Malabar religion, and only one of them ever admitted everybody.
Sources
Wikipedia, “Rajarajeshwara Temple”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
Open Rajarajeswara, Kannur in the repository →