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High medieval · Hindu · India
Manikandeswaram Uma Maheswara Temple
Vadakkekad, Thrissur district, Kerala · 10.6538°, 76.0062°
Shiva and Parvati (Uma Maheswara), sharing one sanctumUndeterminedKerala
Sacred since
1000 CE
first attestation / structure
Standing structure
dating unrecorded; traditionally over 2,000 years old
Undetermined
History & significance
A Kerala-style temple at Vadakkekad unusual for housing Shiva and Parvati together in a single sanctum with Ganesha outside; it was attacked in 1790 by Tipu Sultan, who broke sculptures and carried off its valuables, and though land reform cut its holdings from some 800 acres it remains in daily worship under the Malabar Devaswom Board. The poet Vallathol Narayana Menon wrote parts of his work beneath its banyan tree.