Located 29 km north-west of Thrissur District in God's Own Kerala, Guruvayur is one of the most important pilgrimage centers of South India. Guruvayur is also called the Bhooloka vaikunta - the heaven on Earth

The square Sreekovil is the sacred sanctum Sanctorum of the temple, housing the main deity of Lord Krishna, an incarnation of Lord MahaVishnu

It is at this temple that Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri composed his well-known Sanskrit devotional poem 'Narayaneeyam'. The temple is renowned for its healing powers. Several offerings are made to the deity here from the simple 'Archana' (offering of flowers) to the expensive and elaborate 'Udayastamana' pooja or 'Thulabharam' where a devotee is weighed against offering of bananas, sugar, jaggery or coconuts

Guruvayur is the site for weddings and Annaprasanam, the first feeding ceremony of a child.

The idol of Guruvayoor temple was carved out of "Pathalanjana Sila"and is considered extremely sacred. Mahavishnu in Vaikunta once worshiped this idol of Guruvayur. Vishnu handed it over to Brahma.

Legend has it that King Suthapa and his wife Prisna were childless.They worshipped Brahma devotedly for a child. Brahma then handed over this idol to them advising them to worship it ardently. Lord Vishnu appeared before them and blessed them that he himself will be born to them in three re-births, in thee different forms and in three different situations

Suthapa and Prisna gave birth to Prasnigarbhan , in their next birth, they were re-born as Kashyapa and Adithi, giving birth to Vamana. The third rebirth was as Vasudeva and Devaki. Lord Krishna was born as their eighth son. In the long run, the Lord Krishna himself installed this idol in Dwaraka and worshipped it.

Before leaving the earth to the heavenly abode, Lord Krishna told Udhava, his foremost disciple that he had installed the image of Lord Vishnu in the temple built by him at Dwaraka and that it should be entrusted to Brihaspathi( Guru of Devas) to take it to a sacred place so that people could worship it to attain salvation in the kaliyuga

There was a deluge in Dwaraka and Brihaspathi (Guru) recovered the idol with the assistance of his disciple Vayu (Wind God). Together, they traveled all over India in search of a holy place and finally reached Kerala. Here, with the help of Parasurama, they located a holy spot. Guru and Vayu installed the idol of Lord Vishnu (Lord Krishna).

Vishwakarma, the divine architect was requested to build a Temple , which he made in such a way that on the day of Vishu (Summer equinox), the sun himself makes his obeisance . The first rays on that day fall straight on the Lord's feet.As Guru and Vayu together founded the temple, the place came to be called 'Guruvayupura' in accordance with Lord Shiva's wish. Later the name was shortened to Guruvayoor.As the idol was once worshiped by the Lord Mahavishnu himself in Vaikunta

Punathoorkotta which is 2km from Guruvayur, is the largest elephant park in the world with over 60 elephants. The devotees of Guruvayurappan have donated all of them. Brought as ritual offerings to the temple, these elephants are groomed at this fort. It is an interesting site to visit as one gets to see at close quarters so many tuskers together

Punathoorkotta

By Air : Guruvayoor is situated at a distance of 80 km from the Kochi international airport (Nedumbassery) and 100 km from the Calicut (Kozhikode) airport. All major international flight services operate from these airports

By Rail : The Guruvayoor Railway Station is connected to the Madras-Mangalore main line at Thrissur. Those coming from the Madras/Thiruvananthapuram side can get down at Thrissur. From Thrissur Railway Station, there are regular bus services to Guruvayoor

By Road : Guruvayoor is well connected with the other parts of the country by road. Both the KSRTC bus stand and Private Bus stand are about 500metres from the temple. Several state owned and private buses, as well as taxis and other vehicles regularly ply between Trichur and Guruvayoor.