Sunday, November 6, 2022

Three temples in Tirur

 Date : 4th November, 2022

I have been purchasing a monthly travel magazine by the name ‘Yathra’ whenever I get to travel to Kerala since long. I also have been taunted often saying that I just buy and keep the same in the shelves without undertaking a trip to any one of the places in it. To an extent it is true also.



So this time around I had made up my mind to visit some place that found a mention the magazine. I had already applied for a one day leave two weeks before in my office. I then tried glancing through one August edition of the magazine for a place where I could travel for a day trip. Wayanad was dropped as it would need two days minimum. Then I saw an article about a temple near Tirur, which also happened to be the only temple dedicated to ‘Garuda’. When I checked the distance and time needed for travelling to Tirur it was very much possible one.

So I informed a friend staying in Kannur and he also agreed to join me from there. I made enquiries regarding the temple ( such as how to reach from Tirur station to the temple, What all offerings will be available and the timings ) from a person whose contact number was shared in the article.

My onward train was starting from Coimbatore at 6 am and it was the starting station. As it was too early for Buses to ply I booked through ‘Red Taxi’ a cab at 4:45 am. I prefer to be a bit early for any journey. So I was at the platform where my train was stationed at around 5:10 am. When I neared my coach I could see that the lights weren’t switched on. When the lights were put on I boarded the train. The train ( 22610 ) started around 6:03 am ( a delay of 3 minutes ) The compartment was mostly empty. The train passed through some lovely sceneries ( green mountains, mist, etc ) and was almost on time check till Shoranur ( the last halting station before Tirur ) and reached Tirur with a delay of 15 minutes. My friend from Kannur who was supposed to reach lot earlier hadn’t reached yet and so I decided to make enquiries as to from which side we could travel to the temple.

I asked a person manning the automatic ticket vending machine. He told me that Buses were on the other side. I wasn’t able to see foot over bridge and hence crossed the tracks to go to the next platform. After some time my friend arrived and I informed him that we need to rush a bit as the temple will be closing by 10:30 am.

We went outside and hired an auto to take us to the temple. He charged us 170 Rs. We had good darshan and enquired with the priest regarding the next temple. He told us that we could visit not only Hanuman temple but also Triprengode Siva temple as well. So we purchased the offerings ‘Manja Payasam’ and ‘Garuda Panchakshi enna’ and after finishing the rounds inside the temple started towards the second temple. After coming out we took an auto to the Hanuman temple. He charged us 40 Rs.

The temple is actually dedicated to Lord Rama but is more popular by ‘Hanuman Temple’. ‘Avil’ is the popular offering here. We hurried along to the next temple. The main sanctum is very high and the deity looks grand. The priest after enquiring about our whereabouts told us the legend of the temple. When we went outside and were leaving when a temple worker called us and gave ‘Ganapathi Homam’ prasadam.

After the visit we then asked directions for the main road and reached the bus stop. We got a bus almost immediately which took us to Tirur Railway Station.

Similar to the morning scenes I feel evening scenes were even more as the setting sun had spread some wonderful colours



It was almost 8 when I reached Coimbatore but the day was memorable.