About Us

Sree Irumkulangara DurgaBhagavathi Temple is an ancient pilgrim centre situated in Thottam, Manacaud, Thiruvananthapuram, . It is situated about two kilometres to the south east from Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram City. The Goddess Durga is the main deity in this temple. One important aspect of the temple is that, the deity appears as 'Durgabhagavathi' which is an avatar of 'AdiParasakthi'. 'Karthika' is considered as the star of the deity. Unlike other Durga devi temples, rituals like "Thottampaattu" and "Ottam" are restricted in this temple. Red coloured flowers except thetti, are banned here. Other flowers such as Tulsi, Jasmine, Lotus, Nandyarvattom etc are also used here

Sub-Deities

There are many upadevathas (Sub-Deities) adjacent to the temple,

The main Upadevathas in the temple premises are

1. Lord Ganesh
2. Nagaraja
3. Brahmarakshassu
4. Maadan Thampuran
5. Sri Bhairava Moorthy
6. Navagrahas

We can see a Kavu (a patch of small forest) at temple premises which houses the serpent Gods, and is common in Travancore. The temple Kavu was Awarded by Kerala Government Department of Forest and WildeLife as One of the Best maintained Kavu . Also Last Year the Temple created a ‘JanmaNakshtraVanam’, a novel concept to popularise tree planting. Astrologers believe that each star is associated with a tree. At temple premises trees associated with the 27 constellations or nakshatras have been planted having medicinal, social, aesthetic or economic value.

The 'Painkuni Mahothsavam', major festival of the temple is mostly held in the Malayalam month of Meenam(March-April), which lasts for 10 days and ends with Ezhunnallathu & Pongala for Madan Thampuran.

The other festivals in this temple are:

• Mandala Vratham - Festival in connection with the annual Utsavam of Sabarimala.
• Vinayaka Chathurthi - Pooja to the Lord Ganapathy.
• Pooja Vaypu - Identical to Dussera festival (Saraswathy Pooja and Vidyarambham).
• Karthika - Kazhchakula Samarpanam, Navakabhishekam, Karthika Pongala, Annadhanam (All Months).
• Ayilya Pooja - Milk, flowers etc. Offered to serpent God and special rites.
• Ayilyolsavam - Nagaroottu and Sarpabali in the month of Thulam
• Ramayana Parayanam & BhagavathiSeva - All days in Karkidakom (Evening).
• Vavu Bali - In the month of Karkidakom.

Lots of people arrive in this temple for performing the Karkidakavavu beli. After Sree Parasurama temple, Mithranandapuram and Sanghumughom, Sree Irumkulangara is the only other temple in Thiruvananthapuram which offers facilities for performing the "Vavu Beli".

Presently, the temple is under the control of Sree IrumKulangara DurgaBhagavathi Temple Trust. The temple has grown up in a quick manner in recent years. Several development activities were taken up. The temple has been recently renovated with a new chuttambalam and sivelippura which is an excellent example of Kerala Vasthu Vidya and temple architecture in new age.

The renovation was carried out under the guidance of noted Vastu Shasthra expert Sri Kanippayyur Krishnan Namboodiripad and the Temple architect Manacaud S Narayanamoorthy. The new facilities of the temple were inaugurated by Sree Uthradam Thirunal Marthandavarma Maharaja on December 25th, 2009. Sree Irumkulangara DurgaBhagavathi exists here with her charming face for the well being of her devotees and the temple attracts a large number of people from all parts of the district.