Sunday, July 20, 2008


Thrissur or Trichur is a town in Central Kerala. There is a temple here dedicated to Lord Shiva. Here he is called vadakkunathan. Many give it a wrong meaning as Lord of the North. The correct etymology is this.

Before the namboodiri Brahmins came to Kerala, Jainism was prevalent there. The temple in Trichur was originally dedicated to vrishabha muni one of the first preceptors of Jainism. The mound on which this temple stood is called vrishabhachalam. Vrishabham becomes etavam in Malayalam. So it became etavakkunnu. So the lord became first etavakkunnunathan and then vatakkunathan.

1 comment:

P.N. Subramanian said...

Vadakunnathan temple complex seems to have been a Buddhist centre.