On Jan 16th, the day we were leaving from Thiruvananthapuram, we went to the Pazhavangadi Ganapathy Temple. It’s very close to the Padmanabhaswamy temple. I think if we were to draw a square with the Padmanabhaswamy temple in the centre, it would be one end of the square.
Viju, my school friend insisted that we should visit this temple. This temple historically belongs to the Nair Brigade of the Travancore army and once the Travancore army became a part of the Indian army, this temple now belongs to the Madras Regiment. That was the bigger reason to visit the temple for us :).
The temple architecture is typical of the Kerala architecture, with the curved ceiling. The main temple is dedicated to Lord Ganesha. It’s a very beautiful vigraham (idol). The other smaller temples that are a part of the same complex are dedicated to Maa Durga, Lord Ayyappa and Nagaraja.
Krishnan came wearing his track pants, so he couldn’t do the inner Parikrama and we left our shoes and bags with Amma and went in. Then I took Amma for another Darshan and at that time, I saw the other “Sannadhis” (temple/seats for the Gods). I couldn’t make out which Devi’s vigraham it was and another lady devotee told me it was Maa Durga. The names of the Gods are written only in Malayalam which I can’t read.
After visiting the temple we went for our breakfast and then to the airport for our flight to Chennai. As in most of the temples that I have visited in Kerala, the atmosphere in the Pazhavangadi Ganapathy Temple is serene and spiritual… people aren’t loud and it’s an uplifting experience.
Happy that we visited this temple.