Udinoor Kshethrapalaka Temple

The Udinur Kshetrapalak Temple is glocated at Udinur and is dedicated to God Shiva. The main deities of this temple are that of Kshetrapalakan or God Shiva and his mother Goddess Kalarathri (the goddess who killed the demon named Kalasura). There are various sculptures that enhance the beauty of this temple. Some of them have been exquisitely carved on wood and rock, they are of Palazhimathanam, Vivahachadangu, Ghoshayathra, Prasavam etc. Various festivals like paatulsavam, vishukani, nira, puthari, pathamudayam, navarathri, pathinonnamudayam, kallakodukka, avilyam, paatinukalpikkal are celebrated in this temple with great devotion and vigour. The festival of paatulsavam is the most important festival and it is inititated on the day of Karthika in the month of Makara according to the Malayalam calendar. This festival goes on for duration of 11 days. On the 10th day of this festival, shudhikalasham takes place and the final day i.e. the 11th day, the auspicious theyyam is celebrated. Theyyams are of 4 important forms which are Puthiyaramban, Padarkulangara Bhagawathy, Paradevatha, and Vadakkaevadukkal Bhagwathy. This temple boasts of a very interesting history. According to it, the lamps were lit in this temple on the banyan tree as per the directions of the Kshetrapalan. The banyan tree is situated at the south-west direction of the temple which is called as Kovilakam. Kshetrapalan along with the Goddes Payyanur devi were pleased with it. They used to visit the Kovilakam and empty the bell metal goblet or the Kindi of milk the mother of the house offered. The kindi which was emptied was then placed upside down which is why it wasn’t able to move by the other ladies of the Kovilakam. According to the Hindu astrology, it was concluded that all those ladies used to enter the Kovilakam via the prayer room so the people of this place constructed a separate Sreekovil for both the God Kshetrapalan and Payyannur Devi. The sanctum sanctorum of the temple has a very nice architecture. For both the deities the shape of the sanctum is quite different. For Kshetrapalan, the shape is that of rectangular and it is two storied. The sanctum of the Goddess Kalarathri is square in shape and is single storied.