The Palkulangara Bhagavathy temple is located in the heart of the Trivandrum city, near Passport Office and approximately 3 Km from the Central Bus Station and Central Railway Station. The principal deity is Goddess Bhagavathy is Chathurbahu( having four arms) called dearly as 'Palkulangara Amma', where the goddess is depicted as showing 'Abhaya-Varada mudra' with two bottom hands and holding the divine goad and noose with the other two, while, the 'Ooruttamma' is depicted as having a lotus flower and green sugarcane in hands instead of Abhaya-Varada Mudra. It may be because Ooruttamma is worshipped also as Sri Lalitha Parameswari.
The temple is thousands of years old and it is believed that the middle Pandava of Mahabharata epic, the Kurukshetra war hero, Arjuna had performed rituals here. He created the temple pond called as Paalkulam (Milk Pond) by hitting the earth with his divine arrow for collecting the available milk required for performing the rituals. Hence the place got the name Palkulangara which means 'a place on the banks of the milk pond'.
The principal deity faces west and usually Goddesses who were installed facing west are considered more powerful deities and worshiping them will give all prosperity for the devotees. The temple is of typical Kerala architecture having Gopuram on the entrances and is having an elephant portico in the front. The temple is having a copper-cladded flag mast. The sanctum sanctorum is of old style and is very much attractive.
The sub-deities of the temple are Lord Ganapathy, Serpent Gods and Yakshi. The Yakshi is worshipped near the Eastern entrance below the Palm tree (Karimbana). According to historians the Ganapathy idol was once worshiped by Sugandhavalli also called as Sundara Lekshmi (the second wife of Swathi Thirunal Maharaja) and was moved and consecrated
at the Palkulangara Temple in Trivandrum during the 19 th century.
The main festival, called as Meena Bharani, falls in the malayalam month of Meenam, March-April and is celebrated with all splendour.
