The Payammal temple, 6 km from Vellankallur along the Irinjalakuda-Kodungallur route, is one of the few Lord Shathrughna shrines in the State and is about 7 km from Iringalakuda Koodalmanikya temple in the Iringalakuda-Mathilakam route. Shathrukhna is considered to be the incarnation of Lord Vishnu's sacred Disc, the Sudarshana murthy.
Shatrughna was born to the virtuous king of Ayodhya, Dasaratha, and his third wife, Queen Sumitra. Dasharatha's other two wives, Kaushalya and Kaikeyi, had sons as well. Kaushalya had Rama and Kaikeyi had Bharata who were Shatrughna's half-brothers. Shatrughna also had a blood-brother, Lakshmana. Shatrughna's name means 'destroyer of enemies'. Shatrughna was married to Shrutakeerti, the daughter of King Kusadhbojan and his wife. Shrutakeerti was the cousin of Sita the daughter of King Janaka. Shatrughna has two sons, Chitraketu and Subahu. Although he plays a relatively minor role in the Ramayaṇa Shatrughna is important to the main story and goal of the epic. His chief role is the killing of Lavanasura the demon King of Mathura, who was a nephew of Ravana. Lavanasura was the son of Madhu, the pious demon king after whom the city of Mathura was named. Madhu's wife, Lavanusara's mother was Kumbhini was a sister of Ravana. Lavanasura was the holder of the divine Trishul (Trident) of Lord Shiva and nobody was able to kill him or prevent him from committing sinful activities. Shatrughna begged Rama and his elder brothers to allow him the opportunity to serve them by killing Lavnasura.
It is believed that the four idols retrieved from the sea by the fishermen were installed at Thriprayar, Thirumoozhikulam, Koodalmanikyam and at Payammal and of the four idols the idol at Payammal is the smallest. All the other three temples have circular sreekovils but at Payammal, the srikovil is in rectangular shape.
The Chathurbahu idol of Lord Vishnu worshiped as Lord Shatrughna is installed in a squarish granite sanctum sanctorum. During the period of Tippu Sultan's attack, this temple suffered severe damages. In order to protect the idol of Lord Shathrughna from Tippu's army, the temple priests took the original panchaloha idol from the srikovil and hided it in the temple pond in the western side of the temple. Later this temple was rebuilt by the joint efforts of the local people around the temple. By their initiative the temple festivals poojas and all other rituals restarted. Now it is working as a full fledged temple in all respects. The original Panchaloha idol has been untraceable although efforts have been made to retrieve the same from the temple pond. The existing idol made of granite also exudes a divine aura similar to the Panchaloha idol.
There are three main poojas in the temple, viz. Usha pooja, Utcha pooja and Athazha pooja in a day. The temple opens for worship at 4.30 am in the morning and closes by 10 am after Utcha pooja. The second session starts in the evening at 4.30 pm and remains open for worship from Deeparadhana to Athazha pooja and closes at 8 pm. A lamp is lighted behind the Sathrughna idol inside the Srikovil. It is believed that this lamp or Pinvilakku is for Sruthakeerthi, the wife of Lord Shathrughna. Lord Ganapathy is the sub-deity here. Ganapathi homam is a special offering conducted by the devotees.
Sudarsana Pushpanjali and submission of Sudarsana Chakram offered at this temple are considered to boost the prosperity of the family members. The five day long temple festival starts at Pooyam star of the month of Kumbha. The Ramayana month is celebrated with gaiety in the month of Karkkidaka.
'Nalambalam Yathra' ends with the visit to Payammal Sree Shathrughna Temple. People usually visit a temple of Lord Krishna also named Elambalakkattu at Edakkulam while going to the Shathrughna temple.
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