The story of Jagannatha Temple in Thalassery

The temple where the deity has a caste title is quite unique, but the story of the Jagannatha temple in Thalassery is not just about the idol, but also about a history of incidents that make the temple a must visit for all. A landmark of Thalassery, this beautiful temple is designed resembling the Puri Jagannatha temple & is the first place where devotees from all castes were allowed to worship when other temples only allowed higher caste members to enter Hindu temples. The temple was consecrated by the most revered social reformer Sree Narayana Guru in the year 1908.

The social fabric of Kerala in the 19th century was quite weak as the lower castes were shunned from all privileges by the upper caste; the social evil of untouchability was more prevalent in the south of Kerala. Sree Narayana Guru emerged as a great soul who worked at uplifting them by providing education & social welfare. The most discriminatory evil prevalent was the denial of the right to worship to the Ezhava & other lower caste communities at temples. Gurudevan as he was fondly called consecrated temples for the lower caste masses where they could worship, when asked who gave him the right to build temples he would reason with the people & make them understand. His way of idol consecration was quite unique as he valued the importance of devotion & not the Brahminical belief of idol worship. His work was mostly in the Travancore region & people of Malabar were attracted to his teachings. The Ezhava’s in North Kerala were also suffering the discrimination & wanted a person like Gurudevan to help them consecrate a temple in Thalassery. An ardent devotee of Sree Narayana Guru by the name of Kanniyil Kunhikannan decided to convince Gurudevan & set on a journey to Sivagiri. He requested for a meeting with Gurudevan which was granted, he tried his best to convince Guru to help the people in Thalassery build a temple. To this request Gurudevan is said to have smiled & asked why people in a place which is considered to be very educated & having better standards of living wanted a place for worship. This thought of Gurudevan was not wrong as the British had their stronghold in Malabar & people around North Kerala had better living conditions than the ones in the South. The access to better education & employment made the local masses much more efficient. To this, Kunhikannan replied that living standards may be better but people still haven’t attained better spiritual standards due to no access to temples. Gurudevan was convinced & he is said to have asked his disciple, the great poet Kumaranasan to travel North & help the people there to build a temple. Kumaranasan came to Thalassery & met another ardent disciple of Guru, Moorkothu Kumaran & both had a great friendship which helped them acquire land from a landlord by the name of Cheruvari Krishnan. Gurudevan, when appraised about the land, is said to have given approval for building the temple at this place.

Sree Narayana Guru had heard about the Puri Jagannatha temple which also follows the ritual of entry to all & so he decided to call this temple in Thalassery the same. The idol of the temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva but when the local higher caste Hindus objected to the consecration of the idol, Gurudevan said the idol is not as per their understanding but of Ezhava Shivan which made the idol belong to the lower caste devotees. Guru also asked his disciples & the Ezhava community to allow higher caste devotees entry to the temple which was a first in the social culture of Kerala.

The temple other than the history of its consecrations is also a place of great architecture & beauty. The temple is close to the railway track & the drive to the temple itself is a beautiful sight. The temple is also considered to be the abode of Lord Shiva where he is present along with his family as Lord Ganesha & Lord Subramanya are the upadevatas. The temple is adorned with beautiful wood carvings which one can see on the ceiling of the temple. The rituals of the temple are conducted by Non Brahmins & entry to the Srikovil is allowed only to the priests. The Srikovil inside the Nalambalam has no windows. The temple has a huge mukha mandapam with tall pillars which is a later addition & used for conducting annual festival ceremonies & marriages. The colour of the temple is based on the colour of turmeric which was liked by Gurudevan following Buddhist monks’ attire. The whole architecture of the temple is based on the Kerala style, many additions have been made to the temple over the years & one such addition is the gopuram which houses the most majestic statue of Sree Narayana Guru. This statue is said to have been installed while Guru was alive & is a beautiful work of art. The statue which was the first statue ever made of Gurudevan was shipped from Italy & was sculpted by the famous Italian Thavarali who used a photo of Guru as the reference & completed the sculpture in Panchaloham. It is said that on his voyage to Kerala, Guru saw the sculpture in Ceylon & when his disciples asked his feedback, Gurudevan in his usual charm said “it does not need food, so it will live”. The idol was installed in 1927 & when the members of the temple asked Gurudevan to be present for the ceremony, he again with his charm said “there is no need of me, I’m already there”. There is also a museum here for all to view some of the most unique texts & portraits that relate to Sree Narayana Guru.  

The temple has also been a place of tragedy in history & it's related to the annual festival which happens in the Malayalam month of Kumbham & lasts for 8 days. In 1986, during such a festival night the tracks along the temple were crowded with local villagers who were enjoying the fireworks display. The villagers who were sitting & standing along the railway tracks did not hear or see the train plying along the tracks due the firework’s loud explosions & lights. The engine driver cleared for the track honked desperately on seeing a crowd on the track but unfortunately the brakes could not slow the train & it hurled into the villagers. The place which was a venue for celebrations turned to tragedy as around 27 people died & many suffered grave injuries. This incident was a major rail tragedy in Kerala & it paved the way to open a railway crossing at the spot, one now sees a small station called Temple gate which was the place of the incident.

The temple for over a century has been a place where no person is discriminated against by caste as God is accessible for all. Somewhere down the years, the temple placed a notice stopping people from the Muslim faith entering the temple but objections towards such a decision finally opened the temple for all. The pious soul of Gurudevan blessed this land & people should all come to know more about him on their visit here.