Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple

Kerala is one of a fascinating place in India to visit, apart from the natural beauty of the region. The most top rated and the most preferred sites to visit during your holidays includes many of temples with amazing history and also some of the historical temples also carries information about the origin of the cultural diversity of Hinduism one of the most diverse and oldest religions of India.

Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in the league of most fascinating temples and tourist spots in Kerala tops the list of favorite places to visit, in terms of its architect as the story of its installation and prolonged historical reference in many of the historical books and Vedas counts it special and one of the prominent Hindu Temple in India and across the World.

All these facts and popularization magnetize millions of visitors to the temple throughout the year, the stories and enriched cultural density don’t only call the temple as one of the oldest temples, it also marked it as the Richest Temple of India.

The Temple of Sree Padmanabhaswamy is unique as it is called as the crown of Travancore, the Kingdom of Travancore till 1949 was ruled by Travancore Royal Family and free India named the estate Thiruvananthapuram. Read the amazing facts about the Temple to know its past and its significance.

10. The Lord Vishnu image made up of 12,000 fossilized shells

The Padmanabhaswamy Temple is bestowed with many mesmerizing Lord Vishnu or Padmanabha’s images, the image in the center of the temple of Lord Vishnu resting over the Adi Sesha or Serpent Anantha will surely mesmerize you. The image also can be described as Lord Vishnu’s right hand and over Shiva lingam and Goddess Laxmi by his side. A fascinating part of Image is that it is sketched with 12,000 fossilized shells of historical Nepal’s river Gandaki River.

9. Temple hosts Laksha Deepam Festival

The Laksha Deepam festival is celebrated with a gap of six years in the month of January, as the name of the festival denotes full of lights and Diyas, Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple’s biggest festival is Laksha Deepam that decorates whole Temple with thousands of Diyas. The Festival is celebrated on occasion of MakraSakranti after every six years that marks the end of Bhadreepams, Hindu seven days rituals that comes twice a year.

8. Temple reconstruction

With a fascinating past and valuable history, Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple is not as it is since its construction, the temple was almost fully destroyed by an accidental fire in 1696 A.D. the reconstruction of the temple was initiated without changing its place after destruction. It took a long period of time to raise fund and to decide its reconstruction, the process started after a long debate in 1728 A.D.

The Kingdom of Travancore and the Temple of Sree Padmanabhaswamy

Over the centuries, several important events relating to the temple were recorded. These included renovations made to the temple, a fire that almost completely destroyed the temple, and the re-construction process. One of the most important events that affected the temple, however, took place in the 18th century. In 1729, the Kingdom of Travancore was founded by Marthanda Varma. Apart from a major renovation that resulted in the present-day structure of the temple, Marthanda Varma also introduced the Murajapam and Bhadra Deepam festivals. The Murajapam, which literally means the ‘continuous chanting of prayers’, is still conducted in the temple once every six years.

In 1750, the kingdom of Travancore was dedicated by Marthanda Varma to Lord Padmanabha (the form taken by Vishnu in the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple). Marthanda Varma swore that the royal family would rule the kingdom on behalf of the deity, and his descendants would serve as Padmanabha Dasa (‘Servant of Lord Padmanabha’).

Although the Kingdom of Travancore has ceased to exist, there is still a titular Maharaja of Travancore. Since 2013 this position has been held by Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma.

7. Temple’s mention in Pre-Historic Books and Scriptures

The beliefs and treasure story about the Sree Padmanabhaswamy are not rumors or any initiative from Temple Staff to make it famous worldwide, as one of the most popular and historical temples. Scriptures as Brahman Purana, Mahabharata, Skanda Purana, and Varaha Purana mentions Shree Padmanabhaswamy as a shrine.

6. Gold Mahavishnu

The Temple has secured three and a half feet statue of Mahavishnu in the chamber that is decorated with hundreds of Diamond and other Gems, the weight of the pure gold statue is 30 KG.

5. Top security 24*7 and 365 days a Year

It is obviously the matter of commonsense that the richest Temple of World needs security to secure not only its luxury but to maintain belief people have as devotees, strong security is ensured with armed special commanders. The Z security marks it as the most secure temple with foolproof plans.

4. Dress Code Entry in Temple

Formal Shirts and Pants are not allowed in Temple, the proper dress code for all is to be followed. The Dress Code says men should wear Dhoti or Mundu around waist and shirts are prohibited. Women are allowed entry with saree categorized as Mundum neriyathum.

3. The chamber of Secret

Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple is full of secrets, the Supreme Court decided to explore all its chambers named as A to E decided to not open Chamber B as it is known to be cursed. B Chamber is termed by Historical as the Richest of all chambers.

The chamber B is considered to be fixed to the secret chamber with the ‘naga bandham’ or ‘naga paasam’ ‘mantras’ by the then ‘sidda purashas’ who lived during the reign of king Marthandavarma in the 16th century.

It is said that a door of such a secret vault can be opened by a highly erudite ‘sadhu’ or ‘mantrikas’ who are familiar with the knowledge of extricating ‘naga bandham’ or ‘naga pasam’ by chanting a ‘garuda mantra’; so except in this way, the door can’t be opened by any means by anyone.

If any human attempts are made with man-made technology to open the mysterious Chamber-B other than by chanting highly sacred and powerful ‘GARUDA MANTRAS’ by a highly sacred ‘SADHUS’ or ‘MANTRIKAS’, catastrophes are likely to occur in and around the Temple premises or throughout India.

2. Dravidian style Architect

The walls of the temple and its design categorized the style as Dravidian style, the style is one of the rarest and most fascinating design. Indigenous Kerala culture bestowed in design will surely skip your heart for a while. The Dravidian style of architect resembled it as many of Temples in Kerala and Tamil Nadu standing tall with a storey and sloping roofs.

1. Richest Temple In The World

The dynasty of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple was unknown for its business and treasury till 2011, the Supreme Court verdict in 2011 to reveal its treasure put all other treasuries to shame. The exploring committee that was commanded to give details about its treasure valued it's worth $ 1 trillion marking Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple richest in the world.