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Peringottukara Somasekhara Temple Information - Festival - Sree Narayana Ashram - Vavu Bali Rituals

Peringottukara Somasekhara Temple is located in Thrissur District and is around 5 km from Triprayar. The annual festival in the shrine is observed in Malayalam Kumbham month. The weeklong festival attracts scores of devotees. The Shiva Linga pratishta in the temple was performed by Sri Narayana Guru on February 11, 1919 ( kollavarsham 1094 Kumbham 9). The shrine is famous for performing rituals for departed ancestors especially on Karkidaka Vavu Bali day in Karkidakam month.

This is a well maintained shrine with a nalambalam, temple pond and kodimaram. A Shivling is worshipped in a square sanctum sanctorum.

During the festival period, the temple is traditionally decorated with plantain, coconut leaves, flowers, leaves, traditional lamps and lights.


Melam, caparisoned elephants, fireworks are part of the festivities. Traditional performing arts, music and dance are staged during the period.

Various unique offerings are made at the shrine during the period.

The festival ends with Arattu. The utsava murti of the deity is taken out of the shrine for ritual bathing on the final day. Caparisoned elephants and melam are part of final day rituals. 

The festival is annually observed on Chothi Nakshatra in Kumbham Month as per traditional Malayalam calendar followed in Kerala.

The shrine performs pitru tarpanam. The important days of this temple are the prathista din, Maha Shivaratri, Sri Narayana Guru's birth and samadhi days.

Peringottukara Sree Narayana Ashram

Peringottukara is associated with Sri Narayana Guru, spiritual guru and social reformer of Kerala. He visited peringottukara along with Kumaranasan in 1903. He started an ashram here and appointed his first discipline Sri Shivalinga Das as the Madathipathi. For a decade Sivalinga Das lived in the same ashram and then moved manathala, near Chavakkad and attained samadhi in the year 1919. 

Guru installed Somasekhara in Peringottukara on the 41st day of Sivalinga Das's samadhi.