Trishala Bhagavathi temple is located 500 meters east of Mankavu junction on the Kozhikode - Meenchanda mini bye pass road in Kozhikode district, Kerala. Trishala. The 8-day annual festival in the temple is celebrated in such a manner that it ends on Karthika nakshatra with Arattu.
The main festival in the temple is the Thrikarthika observed on the final day of the annual festival. Other rituals during the festival are Kodiyettam, Utsava Bali and Pallivetta.
Baladurga is the deity worshipped in Trishala Bhagavathi temple. It is very rare to find temples dedicated to child form of Goddess Durga. The deity faces east. Devi is symbolically worshipped as a small girl playing with a ball in one hand. It is believed that Trishala Bhavathi is the younger sister of Sree Valayanad Devi, the family deity of the Zamorin’s Swaroopam.
The murti or vigraha of Bala Durga is carved in Krishna Shila and it has a height 37 cm. The murti is with four hands two hands displaying a conch and a disc while the other two show abhaya and varada mudras.
The sankalpa of the deity is that of the Devi of Kanyakumari, who is believed to bless children and maidens who desire to achieve excellence in education, art, and music. She is offered Alankara puja for early marriage and good alliance.
It is believed that there was an ancient temple of Bala Durga which was demolished by the army of Tipu Sultan. Years later when laborers were clearing the area to built a kovilakam, a hatchet of one of the labourers touched a stone and blood oozed from it. Seeing this strange phenomenon, the matter was reported to the local ruler. At the deva prasna it was revealed that the shila is the murti of Bala Durga. Accordingly the temple was built on the spot and worship began.
The temple belongs to Mankavu Kovilakam.
The temple complex has a sreekovil, namaskara mandapam, chuttambalam, nata-pandal, gopuras, bhagavathi kettu, and a tank. The square eka-thala sreekovil faces east.
The walls of the sanctum sanctorum (sreekovil) are painted with several mural paintings. On the eastern side, mural paintings depict dwarapalakas standing on serpents, with sword and soola in hands. On the southern side mural one can see Dakshinamoorthi (in meditating pose) and Ganapathi. The mural painting on the western side depicts the Mother Goddess with eight arms and weapons in hand, along with Narasimha, Brahma and Devas with folded hands. The northern side murals are are dedicated to Sri Rama and Lakshmana with bows and arrows and Sri Krishna.
The Upa Devatas in the temple are Sri Krishna, Ayyappa, Shiva, Nagaraja and Saraswathy, Vettekkaran, Verpadu Vishnu, Valayanad Bhagavathi and Subramanya.