Aranmula Parthasarathy temple, Aranmula Of Kerala,: An important Pancha Pandava Temple Built by Arjuna

Navrangindia.blogspot.com August 31, 2026

The Aranmula Parthasarathy Temple (dedicated to Sri Vishnu), an important and popular Hindu temple, is located in Aranmula, a village in Pathanamthitta District, Kerala, South India on the southern bank of Pamba river, the third longest river in Kerala.This temple established by the Pandava brother Arujuna gains much importance each year during Onam festivities

Aranmula Parthasarathy temple, Kerala kerlatourism.com

Aranmula Parthasarathy temple, Kerala  flickr.co

Aranmula Parthasarathy temple near  Mallapuzhassery  Mavelikkara - Chengannur - Kozhencherry Road is  a popular Pandava temple built by Arjuna  on the banks of the river Pampa.  It is also one of the 108 ''Divya Desam'' shrines glorified by the Tamil Azhwar saints ( 6th -7th centuries). It is from here, the sacred jewels, called Thiruvabharanam of Ayyappan are taken ina  procession to Sabarimala  annually from Pandalam, and Aranmula  Also, the Thanka Anki,  an important golden attire of Ayyappa, donated by the erstwhile ruler of Travancore, is stored here and taken to Sabarimala during the Mandala puja season in late December. Aranmula, the venue of well-known   snake boat races held every year during  the Onam festival, takes festive kook during this time. as the festival is held on a grand scale. People in thousands make a beeline to this temple during the festival days.

Outer wall  with Vilakku (oil lamps) madam
Aranmula temple en.wikipedia.org

Wall mounted brass  deepa stand  Aranmula Parthasarathy
temple, Kerala Justdial.com

This popular temple built in Kerala style  with two-story gopuram  has four entrances on its outer wall and is built on an elevated platform that can be reached through a series of steps. The eastern tower is accessed through a flight of 18 steps and the northern tower  through a flight of  57 steps. The upper story in the gopuram has wooden trails and the hall is called Kotturpuram - from here the drums are beaten during festival time. The layout of this temple is just like other Kerala temples. Common features are  Nalambalam (including Sreekovil with a conical roof), Namaskara mandapam, Balihara,  Chuttambalam (outer pavilion within the boundary wall),  etc. Devrapura (Madappalli in Tamil Nadu) is the temple kitchen where the Nivadhya offerings are made. Both the flag-post Dwajasthambam and the Deepastambha (oil light post) are in line with the Garbhagriha,-Sreekovil.    The Pampa River is on the west side abetting the  entrance steps to the temple.  One of the attractions in this temple is the presence of nice mural paintings on its walls dating back to early 18th century.
Here, the main deity in the Sreekovil is  Parthasarathy who is actually Sri Krishna who was the charioteer of Arjuna in the Kurukshetra war. The main idol  is 6 ft (1.8 m) tall. Krishna is in 
 
Arjuna in the chariot. Sri Krishna as
 Parthasarathy, Kurukshetra war Pinterest.com

Vishvarupa posture, the unique and rare Darshan Sri Krishna gave to Arjuna  during the Mahabharata war.  Legend has it  Arjuna is believed to have built the temple in Nilakkal Narayanapuram and later, for unknown reason, brought  the idol to Aranmula in a raft made with six pieces of bamboo. He was helped by a poor local boy to cross the river.  Hence the name Aranmula. Arjuna built the temple to get rid of his sin of having killed Karna (yet another son of Kunti Devi) in the great war. At this kshetram, it is said, that God Vishnu revealed the knowledge of ''Creation'' to Brahma, another Trinity God from whom the demons stole the Vedas. In the second prakara, there are shrines of Sastha, Yakshi, Nagaraja and Erangavil Bhagavathy, etc in the lower shrine.
Aranmula Parthasarathy temple  Kerala HolidayIQ

Garuda Vahanam Ezhunellippu is the main event during the ten day annual Utsavam/ festival. It commences on the Atham Nakshatra in the month of Makara and concludes ten days later on the Thiruvonam day.  The 5th day event is an important one called  Anchaam Purappadu. The deity is taken out in a procession  on Garuda Vahana.

Snake boats on river Pampa 
beyondyatra.com

Snake boat. Aranmula Parthasarathy temple.
Myoksha Travels

The Aranmula Boat Race that falls on the last day of Onam festival is  a famous event. Annually, it is held on the  Pamba river close to the  temple. Yet another  festival celebrated here is the Khandava Dahanam . It is  symbolic of the Khandava forest fire of the Mahabharata. To make this festival interesting, a replica of a forest is created in front of the temple with dried plants, leaves and twigs. Then bonfire is made out of it. 

 

K. N. Jayaraman (Author: navrangindia.blogspot.com)