Neyyattinkara Sree Krishna Swamy Temple
Neyyattinkara Sree Krishna Swamy Temple is a Lord Krishna temple situated at Neyyattinkara, 20 km south of Thiruvananthapuram city, in Kerala. One of the important temples of Lord Krishna, the temple is also of great historic importance as well. The temple enshrines Unnikannan in the form of (Navaneetha Krishna) as the presiding deity. Thrikkayyilvenna or Thrikkayyil Venna (butter) is a unique offering to Neyyattinkara Unnikannan – the deity of the temple.
Neyyattinkara Sreekrishna Temple, situated in a vast land with much greenery, is regarded as the Guruvayoor of Trivandrum district. The temple is built in traditional Kerala architecture and is decorated with beautiful artistic sculptures. The main gopuram (gateway) of the temple displays a beautiful scene from Bhagavad Gita – Lord Krishna offering teaching to Arjuna.
The presiding deity is Sree Krishna, in the form of Balakrishna holding butter in both hands. West-facing idol is made of panchaloha. Legend says, the original idol was made of wood but Lord Krishna was not amused of this, and while that idol was being carried in a boat across the Neyyar, the boat got stuck and would not move. In order to keep the time frame intact, another idol was installed at the temple.
Legend and History
Neyyattinkara Shri Krishnaswamy Temple is supposed to be built in between AD 1750 – AD 1755, by His Highness Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma, the then Maharaja of the erstwhile Indian princely state of Travancore. The history/legend behind the construction of this temple is, the then ruler, His Highness Anizham Thirunal Marthandavarma was surrounded by his enemies, arguably the high profile “Ettuveettil Pillamar” while he was near the place where the temple is now situated. The king was trying to hide himself in a safe place. At that time, a small boy was seen there and this boy advised the king to hide himself inside the hollow trunk of a huge jack fruit tree nearby. The king heeded to this advice and was saved from his enemies. Later, the king tried to ascertain the identity of the boy, but could not. The king then strongly believed that it was in fact Lord Krishna/Unnikrishna himself who saved his life and he decided to build a temple for Lord Krishna, as a gratitude, at the exact place where he hid inside the jack fruit tree and thus Neyyattinkara Sree Krishna temple came into existence. The huge jack fruit tree which helped the king save his life came to be known as “Ammachi Plavu” (Mother/Grandmother jack fruit tree, personifying one who protected the king).
Until AD 1970-75, the offshoots of the original tree was present bearing a huge amount of jack fruits, but these offshoots had to be cut in order to preserve the actual hollow trunk where the king hid himself. At present, the hollow trunk is in a preserved state (by Archaeological Department) and is visible to all devotees who visit this temple.
Ashtami Rohini, Vishu, Navaratri, Mandala pooja are observed with great fervour in this temple. The main festival of the temple falls on a Rohini star day in the Malayalam month of Meenam. In the midst of the festival, jewels of Unnikkannan will be brought from another temple, where they are ceremoniously kept for safekeeping. The main pooja of that evening has much significance, where hundreds throng to get a glimpse of Unnikkannan, adoring all the divine jewels.
During Navaratri, three deities will rest at the temple, on their way to Shri Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Trivandrum. They are Shri Kumaraswami, from Kumarakoil temple; Shri Munnuutti Nanga; and Shri Sarawathi Devi. They will stay overnight at the Krishna Temple, and leave for Trivandrum next morning. There will be grand arrangements all along the way and at the temple for welcoming the deities.