Navaikulam, a small village in the Thiruvananthapuram
District of Kerala has a history as the place of Vedic studies. In ancient
days, there were many Vedic scholars who used to stay over here and conducted
classes. The word ‘Navai” is used to mentioned Vedic studies and the word “Kalam”
means “Place” in the local language Malayalam. Thus the village got the name
Navaikalam and later it has changed to “Navaikulam”.
Although this tiny village was once famous for Vedic
studies, the present reason for it is very famous is the presence of
Sankaranarayana temple. The concept of Sankaranarayana or a deity that has
both the divine power of Sankara or Shiva and Narayana or Vishnu has come up
during the 8th and 9th centuries. Many historians believe that
it has come up as a measure to solve the long-pending rivalry between the
Shivites and Vaishnavites. The legend behind this temple also points to the
same thing. The legend goes like this.
Once, Lord Shiva along with his wife Goddess Parvathi, son
Lord Ganesha and Sister Sri Bhagavathy went for darshan at Sankarankoil. On
their way back they reached a place called Darshanavattom, a nearby place to
Navaikulam. There Lord Shiva sent his sister Bhagavathi to search for an ideal
place for him to take rest.
During her search, she came to Navaikulam and liked the place
very much as it was full of sandal trees and flowers. Instead of going
back to Lord, she decided to be there. Lord Shiva got upset as his sister did
not return even after quite a long time. He asked Goddess Parvathy to remain
there and went on a search for his sister along with Lord Ganesha. They say
Bhagavathi taking rest at a place that has a serene atmosphere. Angry with her
action, Lord Shiva caught hold of her by legs and threw her away and took that
place. Bhagavathy fell a bit away from this place and got mutilated. She lost
one of her breasts and even now there is a Bhagavathi temple a bit away from
the Sankaranarayana temple. Goddess Parvathy remained at Darsanavattom and
there is a temple for her even now.
Years after, when the locals found a divine power in that
area, they tried to build a temple at that place. They approached the King of
Ayi dynasty who was running the area. King agreed and the work progressed. When
it comes to installing the idol, some people demanded Shiva and some others
for Vishnu. As a compromise, the King told them to install the idol of
Sankaranarayana in which the divine powers of Both Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu
will be there. Thus Sankaranarayana Temple came up.