Arangal Shri Mahadevar Temple under the Travancore Devaswom Board, is situated in Arangal,Athiyannoor village,Neyyattinkara Taluk, Thiruvanandthapuram District,Kerala.Sri Arangal Mahadevar temple having the oldness of centuries can be specified as ‘Kailas on Earth’. The customs and rituals in the temple, having the presence of the installed idols of Shiva-Parvathy along with the whole family, are different from those in many other temples.All rituals of shiva family are being performed here.
The main idol consecrated in the temple is the east-beholding Sivalinga. The idol of Sri Parvathy was also installed in the western entrance with westward direction.The temples erected with the idols of Siva-Parvathy in the same sree kovil are very rare.
Srikovil is circular in shape.’Namaskara Mandapam’ can be seen in the front.The real Nandikesan remains in Namaskara Mandapam, gazing upon Mahadevan. Copper-thatched roof adorns the top of Srikovil.The eastern doorway occupies the position of flag-staff.The idol of lord Vigneswara remains in the place adjoint to the southern area of srikovil in the temple.The idols of lord Dharmasastha and Balamurugan can be seen in the kannimoola and the north-western part of srikovil respectively.The Sapthamathakal have also been installed within the little wall. Outside the little wall Navaneetha Krishna with westward direction and Serpent-floor and its thicket with eastward direction in the north-west part are situated.
A devotee who encircles all installed figures seems to have the divine experience of moving around the real kailas family. The experience of the spiritual vision of Shri Arangal Mahadevar temple appears to be the gratest accomplishment of holiness to a devotee, where Siva-Parvathy as the main idols and Shri Ganapathy, Shri Ayyappan, Shri Murugan, Shri Krishnan,Serpant Gods and Sapthamathakal as the subordinate gods are gleaming with their divine presence.
Arangal sri Mahadevar temple is one among the few rare temples where Jaladhara in 108 pots is conducted during the period of 365 days in a year. Devotees conduct ‘Kalashadhara’ during 365 days as a part of their offering. Most of them reserves in advance in the month of Chingam to conduct ‘Kalashadhara’ in their natal star itself for one year. The experienced people consider this ‘Kalasadhara’ as the greatest pooja submission for the favour of Mahadevan. Due to this reason itself kalasadhara submission is attainable only with advance-booking.
