Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Thiruvananthapuram

Sthala Purāṇam

The Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple at Thiruvananthapuram enshrines Anantha Padmanabhaswamy, Vishnu reclining in yogic sleep upon the thousand-hooded serpent Adisesha (Ananta), with Sridevi and Bhudevi at his side and Brahma seated upon the lotus that springs from the Lord's navel, which gives the deity his name 'Padmanabha.' The idol is famously composed of 12,008 saligramas brought from the Gandaki river in Nepal, coated in the ayurvedic 'katusarkara yogam.' One account traces the shrine to Parashurama, who venerated the idol and entrusted its worship to families of Pottis. The popular legend tells of the sage Divakara Muni, identified with Vilvamangalathu Swamiyar, who worshipped in the Ananthankadu forest; the Lord appeared to him in the form of a mischievous child, then vanished and manifested as a colossal reclining figure so vast that the sage saw him only in parts. Because the divine form is immense, devotees behold him through three separate doorways: the first reveals the face, the reclining body and the Shiva lingam under his hand with Brahma and Bhrigu; the second the navel and lotus; the third the sacred feet. In 1750, King Marthanda Varma surrendered the kingdom of Travancore to Padmanabhaswamy, and the rulers thereafter styled themselves 'Sree Padmanabha Dasa,' servants of the Lord. One of the 108 Divya Desams of Malai Nadu, the shrine was glorified by Nammalvar in the Divya Prabandham, the city itself being named after the Lord Anantha.

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