Guruvayur temple is located in the town of Guruvayur, Thrissur district of Kerala. The temple is very dear to Krishna devotees. The vishnu form deity is worshipped here as little Krishna.



What does ‘Guruvayur’ mean and why the deity is called Guruvayurappan?


Well! The Deity is in Chaturbahu form (with four hands). Guruvayurappan (Lord of Guruvayur), comes from the words Guru (Brihaspati, the Guru of the Devas), Vayu (Lord of Wind) and Appan (Father) in Malayalam. Since Guru and Vayu installed Krishna's idol, the name, ‘Guruvayurappan’ was given. It’s made of a stone called ‘Paatala Anjanam’ or Black Bismuth.


The idol was worshipped by Shri Krishna’s parents Vasudeva and Devki and later was installed in Dwarka and worshipped by Krishna himself. Before leaving to Vaikuntha, Krishna called his friend Uddav and informed him that Dwarka would be destroyed by a disasterous flood soon, Lord Krishna instructed him to hand over the divine idol worshipped by his parents to Lord Brihaspati and Vayudeva, so that it may be installed in a suitable place. Sage Parashurama advised them to install the idol in Bhargava Kshetra, the land made by him with his axe.


Parasuram led Guru & Vayu towards the southern region. They saw Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati dancing on the lake shore where the idol had to be installed. Since then the place came to be known as Guruvayur, and the deity came to be known as Guruvayurappan.


Later Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati shifted themselves to Mammiyul, a place on the opposite bank of the lake in the form of a Swayambu Linga. Guruvayur is the Vaikuntha on earth, thus it’s called 'Bhuloka Vaikuntha'. The journey to Guruvayur is incomplete without worshipping Lord Shiva in Mammiyur.