SHREE VENKATACHALAPATHI TEMPLE, KARANAKODAM

Karnakodam near Thammanam is a suburb of Ernakulam Cochin and is about two miles north of Ernakulam. The main deity is Venkatachalapati with Goddess Lakshmi on the left and Goddess Bhumi (Earth) on the right. The original prathista of Lord Narayana Devar is also installed in the temple. This is a unique temple where Lord Venkateswara and Naraya Devar are worshipped within the inner prakara of the temple. One of the families who migrated from Goa settled in the present Karanakodam and had a small temple for their Kuladevata Lord Narayana Devar in about 1600 A.D. Lord Narayana Devar was worshipped as the main deity by the community at Karanakodam. The land on which the temple situated was owned by Sri Kalika Prabhu who was a successful entrepreneur and later became an advisor to the Dutch Governor of Cochin. In 1769 AD, when Kaliga Prabhu fell in debts, he handed over possession of all his landed properties to the Cochin Thirumala Devaswom for a price. Later in 1785, the Devaswom authorities purchased from the Raja of Cochin, vast area of land in Karanakodam for cultivating paddy for the temple. When the Portuguese attacked the Cochin Thirumala Devaswom Temple in 1662 A.D, the community removed the image of Shri Venkateswara along with processional deities for safety to Udayamperur about 17 KM on the Ernakulam Vaikom Road. After the Dutch defeated the Portuguese in 1663 A.D, the images were shifted back to Cochin. While on their way back to Cochin, one of the procession deities Lord Venaktewara was temporarily placed for worship in the Agrasala of Shri Rama temple at Tripunithura.

Details

Meanwhile, Sri Hari Shenoy, the then Manager of the Cochin Thirumala Devaswom and an ardent devotee of Lord Narayana, decided to construct a new temple for Lord Narayana Devar worshipped at Karanakodam. When the temple construction is nearing completion, he had a dream wherein the Lord Venkateswara directed him that the Venkateswara idol placed in the Agrasala of the Tripunithura temple should be installed at the newly constructed Karanakodam temple facing East and Lord Narayana be installed in a seperate peetam on the North eastern corner of the inner temple facing West. The Lord Venkateswara image was taken out in a palanquin as a procession to Karanakodam temple and installed there as directed in the dream. When Venketachalapati was installed as the main deity, the family god Lord Narayana was also consecrated. Two festivals are celebrated annually in this temple. This temple is under the management of Cochin Tirumala Devaswom.