Vizhinjam Cave Temple, Kerala

Address

Vizhinjam Cave Temple Vizhinjam Police Station, Kovalam, Vizhinjam, Kovalam, Kerala 695521

Diety

Pasupathadana Moorthy

Introduction

Vizhinjam Cave Temple is an 8th century AD cave temple at Vizhinjam, near Trivandrum in southern Kerala, India. The granite cave encloses a one-celled shrine with a loose sculpture of Vinadhara Dakshinamurti. The outer wall of the cave depicts unfinished reliefs of Siva as “Tripurantakara” on the left and as “Nataraja” with Parvati on the right (the unfinished Pallava dvarapalakas The temple is located about 17 kilometers from Trivandrum city centre. Vizhinjam served as headquarters of the Ay kings who ruled the southern parts of Kerala. in the 8th century. Considered to be the smallest rock-cut shrine in southern India, The shrine has a central cell with an independent sculpture of Dakshinamurthy and on either side of the cell are unfinished sculptures of Siva and Parvathi. It is believed to be one of the earliest rock-cut cave temples in Kerala. This rock cut cave is now a protected monument under the control of the Archaeological Survey of India since 1965. The idol of the temple is Pasupathadana Moorthy. The cave temple is made by cutting a rock having about 4.5 m height and 6.0 m diameter in size. On either side of the front face of the rock the figures of Siva and Sivaparvathi can be seen. The cave is made by cutting the rock to a depth of 70 cm and 80×150 cms width and height. At the centre of the cave the Goddess Saraswathi with veena is placed.