Karyat Vishnu temple is located at Purameri on Vadakara – Kuttiyadi road in Kozhikode district, Kerala. The shrine is dedicated to Vishnu Bhagavan and darshan is towards west.
The 9-day annual festival ends with Arattu on Thiruvonam nakshatra day in Kumbham month.
The Upa Devatas worshipped in the temple are Ayyappan, Bhagavathy and Paradevata. The temple also has a dedicated Goddess Saraswati sankalpam.
As per history, the temple belonged to Brahmins and later it came under the control of Kadathanadu Ilayarajavu.
The sanctum sanctorum is square shaped with the basement in granite; the walls are in laterite and traditional roofing in wood covered by copper plates.
Around the Sanctorum is the Nalambalam and outside the Nalambalam is Balikkal pura. The inscriptions on the basement of the flag post indicate that the flag post is dedicated by Krishna Varma Thampuran of Ayancheri Kovilakom.
Karyat Vishnu Temple Murals
The murals at Karyat Vishnu temple are best example of the Kerala style murals. Experts are of the opinion that the influence of different mural styles that had existed in different places in Kerala are clearly seen in these paintings at this temple and these murals might be at least 200 years old.
The entire walls of the sanctum sanctorum are filled with traditional paintings depicting variety of characters and themes from Hindu scriptures. All of the paintings are created based on Dhyana Sloka, the stanzas describing the character. Some of the important mural paintings are:
- Bhagavan Vishnu with four hands,
- Shakti Panchakshari
- The family of Shiva
- A scene from the story Gajendra Moksham,
- Vimsa Thyakshari
- Sri Krishna with eight hands surrounded by eight Gopikas,
- Avahandi
- Vishnu with consort Sridevi,
- Kamadevan
- Pradosha Nritham - Dancing Shiva,
- Goddess Bhadrakali with Bhoothaganagal,
- Goddess Saraswati
- Shiva and consort Parvati in tribal form
- Vettaikaran
- Ganapathy.
Apart from these figures, designs like Veerali, Ghanadwaram, Pakshimala etc. which are described in the ancient texts can also be seen on the borders and on the sides of the door.