Tripunithura/Tripunitura, a land of temples, has its center marked with the Poornathrayeesa Temple with its history dating almost 10 decades back. This is supposed to be the only temple in South India where one gets to view the ‘Poornatrayeesa’ form of lord Vishnu.
Virschikotsavam is the grand eight-day long festival celebrated in this temple. It is set during the end of November, and this year it will be starting from 28/11, Monday onwards. The most striking part of this festival, or the highlight as we may put it, is the royal procession of 15 elephants, ‘The Ezhunnallippu,’ with the figurine of the deity held on top of the center elephant.
Yet another attraction is the “pancharimelam,” which is a traditional temple art form accompanying the procession, with instruments like Chenda, Kombu, Elathaalam etc.
Even though the procession is done every day, the fourth day, known as the triketta purapadu, is quite special. It was on this day, that we believe,� Vilwamangalam Swamiyar (considered to be a great saint in our history) made his visit. It is said that he found Lord Vishnu in the form of infant Krishna who was playing along with the elephants for the procession. On this day, offerings are made in a golden pot kept in front of the deity. This is believed to bring good luck to the people.
There is yet another story regarding the deity of Poornathayeesa here. It is said that the deity is afraid of firecrackers, which is why there are no ‘Vedi vazhipadu’ or crackers being used!