Places · Temple
Lalur Karthyayani Temple
An old kavu (sacred-grove) temple at Lalur whose goddess goes in procession to Vadakkunnathan as one of the small poorams of the Thrissur Pooram.
Photo to come
The Karthyayani temple at Lalur is the oldest Hindu shrine of Aranattukara. It stands beside the road that leads from Lalur to the Dr John Matthai Centre and on to the kol (low-lying paddy wetlands).
A kavu temple
The book describes it as a kavu temple. A kavu is a sacred grove, and in early Kerala most village shrines were of this kind: an open place under great trees where the mother goddess of the village was worshipped. Many temples have since changed their form, but the word survives in their names, as it does in Lalurkkavu.
The presiding deity is Karthyayani, a gentle form of the Great Goddess (Adiparasakthi). Tradition counts the temple among the 108 Durga temples said to have been founded by Parasurama. It is also said that the Mannath family gave the land for it. The temple is under the Cochin Devaswom Board.
Part of the Thrissur Pooram
Lalur is one of the eight temples whose goddesses and gods hold the cherupoorams (small poorams) that are part of the Thrissur Pooram. On Pooram day, morning and evening, the goddess sets out with three elephants to pay her respects to Vadakkunnathan.
Visiting
The map pin here comes from OpenStreetMap and is still to be confirmed on the ground. We have not listed pooja timings or the temple’s own festival dates yet. If you can help us with these, or with the temple’s history, please contact us.
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Aranattukara in 10 Minutes
The whole story of Aranattukara in one short read — from a landing on the edge of the kol wetlands to a busy ward of Thrissur city.
Temples and Older Faiths
Long before the church bells, Aranattukara had its sacred groves, its kol paddy fields and its temples. This chapter looks at the land's older faiths, the Brahmin settlement of Thrissur, the temples of Lalur and Kizhakkeppuram, and the village healers.