Guruvayur

城市概覽

Guruvayoor Temple is one of the largest and most famed temple in Kerala at national level, attracting more than 5 million devotees annually. The presiding deity is Lord Vishnu, in form of Sree Krishna (8th incarnation of Lord Vishnu). Hindu mythology says the Lord Krishna used to worship an idol of Lord Vishnu at his palace in legendary Dwarka island. However Krishna knew that, soon after his death, his palace island would wash into seas. He instructed the Deva Guru (Heavenly Saint) Brihaspati and Vayu Deva (Wind God) to take his favourite idol, once Dwarka gets submerged and place it in some other place, where devotees can worship. As instructed by Lord, Guru and Vayu took away the idol, when Dwarka was sinking and was hunting a place to the idol. Soon they would a sacred place where they wished to place the idol. However a Shiva temple existed in that area, making it difficult to place the idol nearby. Soon on Guru's invocation, Lord Shiva appeared and agreed to move his temple from the sacred place, to install the divine idol. As Guru and Vayu placed the idol and erected a temple in its honour, the place came to be known as Guruvayur. There is a large Shiva temple at Mammiyur, within a kilometer from the main temple, where the original Shiva temple was relocated. Guruvayur was a royal temple under Kozhikode's Zamorin times. After annexation of Malabar into British presidency, the temple became part a private trust, headed by titular Zamorin ruler and Chief Priest of temple, who were known for their rigid orthodoxies. This resulted in rigid and cruel discrimination based on caste and creed. In 1930s, calls for equality and social reformation started across Kerala and large number of congressmen assembled at Temple gate protesting against the regime of caste discrimination for temple entry, which resulted in closure of temple in 1931. The temple soon was stormed by a group of revolutionaries ending the centuries-old practice of social discrimination. Soon the Madra

如何抵達

By plane The nearest airport is Cochin International Airport at Kochi (COK IATA) about 87 km away. Or, passengers can use Calicut International Airport at Kozhikode (CCJ IATA), about 100 km away. A large helipad at Guruvayur, enables helicopter transportation from Cochin and Kozhikode airport. An aerodrome and heliport is under consideration at Guruvayur, to cater to the growing number of pilgrims

By train Gurvayoor town has a small railway station, where only few inter-city passenger and one inter-state passes. Equally convenient to take the train up from Thrissur which is a major railway station where almost all trains bound to Kerala stops and then take a taxi (approx ₹1,200) to Gurvayoor.

By bus It's pretty easy to get a bus from near the Thrissur railway station (KSRTC Central station) or private bus from Shakthan Thampuran Bus Stand, to get connections from other parts of Kerala. A few buses of SETC of Tamil Nadu connects the town with Coimbatore and Palani.

By car Guruvayur is connected to the rest of the country via NH 17 (Mumbai-Kochi highway) and several state highways connect the town to Kozhikode, Thrissur, Ernakulam and Palakkad.

當地交通

Guruvayur is a small town, which can be accessed by foot. The entire town is structured around the Guruvayur temple, which is also the major commercial center. Taxis and autorickshaws are available at nominal rates. Be sure you fix your price before getting into one or else there is a chance of the drivers fleecing the passengers, especially westerners. There are no intra-town bus services, however most of the inter-city buses stops at various suburbs of the town. Traffic snarls can be very serious because of many devotees coming at the same time. Sometimes traffic can come a stand still for three or four hours.

必看景點

1 St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Church, Palayur. One of the earliest Christian churches of the sub-continent. Established by St. Thomas, it is one of the seven-and-a-half churches he founded. (updated Jul 2026)

Sree Krishna Temple

The entire town of Guruvayur rose to international fame because of the popularity of the Great Krishna temple, thus the temple and its surrounding temples are the prime attraction. Nearly 6-10 million devotees visit annually and it is one of the richest temples in South India.

About the temple

The temple is believed to have been constructed by Lord Parasurama (an incarnation of Lord Vishnu) himself, on request of gods. The original temple was just the sanctum sanatorium. The other complexes were later built by various kings and other rich men, as gratification of their devotion to the presiding deity. The outer ring of the temple was constructed by the Great Zamorin King Manadeva Varma of Kozhikode, one of the celebrated devotees of Guruvayurappan (as the presiding lord is known), with traditional Kerala architecture. The first layer of the inner ring and the extensive mural works were one of the oldest parts of the structure, commissioned by 4th Pandyan King in AD 52, after being cured of snake-bite poison. The sanctum sanatorium is the oldest structure and believed to have been constructed by Lord Parasurama. Archeologists estimate the complex to be at least 1000 years old. The sanctum sanatorium is unique, as the structure itself has 3 layers inside, something not seen in other places. The original idol is placed inside the third layer. The idol is a larger representation of Lord Vishnu, but often represented as a baby form of Krishna, with the help of sandal sculpting. Nearly 100 golden lamps light the inner sanatorium. Apart from the main deity, 4 smaller temples are located inside the main complex. While sanatoriums for Lord Ganesh and Lord Sree Padmanabha (Royal deity of Travancore in Trivandrum) are located inside the inner layer

體驗活動

Being a small temple town, reglious activities tops the list.

Festivals Chembai Sangeetholsavam. The highlight of Guruvayur Ekadashi day is this Carnatic music festival that brings together musicians from across South India. It runs a week up to the Ekadashi day, on which all participant musicians recite the 'Pancaratna Kīrtanaṇgal̥' together: five Telugu compositions of Tyāgarāja Swāmikal̥. (updated Mar 2022)

Guruvayur Ekadesi. This is one of the main festivals of temple, held on Ekadeshi day of month of November, where the temples are illuminated with more than 10,000 lamps. A week before the Ekadeshi, the Vilakku or Lamp festival commences, where devotees or various associations sponsor lighting of all lamps of the temple. Guruvayur Festival. The annual Guruvayur festival is in months of February–March, as per Malayalam calendar and zodiac signs. The festival is for 10 days. The festival kicks off with Great Elephant Race, where selected 10 or 15 elephants of Guruvayur temple will race from Manjualla (a baniyan tree nearly 1 km from temple gate) to the temple. The first elephant who enters the temple gate and complete 3 rounds inside the inner-layer of temple will be adjourned a