Sree Padmanabha Swami temple, a beautiful temple, is dedicated to Lord Vishnu and is the most popular temple in Thiruvananthapuram. Located inside the East fort, this temple is a mix of Kerala and Dravidian styles of architecture. One of the 108 temples of Lord Vishnu (Divya Desams), it is famous for its stone carvings and mural paintings. The temple consists of an idol of the deity, reclining on Anantha, the sacred hooded serpent. Though the original temple dates back to the 8th century but in 1750, Marthanda Varman, ruler of Travancore dynasty, renovated this temple.
Unlike the other temples in Kerala, this temple is constructed in Dravidian style, which is similar to the temples of Tamil Nadu. A copy of the Adikesava Perumal temple in Kanyakumari, it has a Gopuram of 16th century. Only Hindus are allowed inside Padmanabha Swami temple who should follow the set strict dress code. While the men have to wear a dhoti or a mundu sans a shirt, the women have to wear half sari/sari mundum neriyathum or a skirt and blouse. The temple becomes the venue of its 10-day annual festival during Meenam and Thulam, the Malayalam months, which is attended by a huge number of devotees.
Pooja timings
Morning:
3:30 am- 4:45 am (Nirmalya Darshanam); 6:30 am - 7:00 am; 8.30 am - 10:00 am; 10:30 am to 11:10 am and 11:45 am to 12:00 pm
Evening:
5:00 pm- 6:15 pm and 6:45 pm to 07:20 pm
Getting there
Nearest railway station: Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway Station (1 km)
Nearest airport: Trivandrum International Airport (6 km away)
