Aazhimala Shiva Temple

The Aazhimala Shiva Temple stands by a cliff above the Arabian Sea at Pulinkudi, Kottukal panchayat, 0.8 km off the Vizhinjam–Poovar road in Thiruvananthapuram district. Built in a style close to Tamil Nadu temple architecture, its outer wall and gopuram are crowded with brightly painted figures of Ganesha, Ayyappan, Vishnu, Kartikeya and Hanuman, and the shrines inside are decorated with carvings and murals. A devaswom trust runs it.

Its best-known feature is an 18 m concrete figure of Shiva as Gangadhareshwara by P. S. Devadathan, a local sculptor, begun on 2 April 2014 and opened on 31 December 2020. Seated on a rock 6.1 m high, the four-armed god holds a damaru and trident, one hand resting on his thigh and one raised into his matted hair where the Ganga flows. No other Shiva figure in Kerala is as tall. The annual festival falls in Makaram, and Tuesdays draw the biggest crowds of devotees.