Haripad Sree Subrahmanya Swamy Temple

The Sree Subrahmanya Swamy Temple at Haripad, also called Kerala Palani or Dakshina Palani, ranks among the area's oldest and biggest temples and is the largest temple to Subrahmanya in Kerala. Believers hold that it predates the Kali Yuga. Legend says the idol was once set down for half an hour under a banyan belonging to the Tharakan, a Christian family, where a small shrine called Ara Nazhika Ambalam now stands. After a fire in Malayalam year 1096 the temple was rebuilt under Sree Chithira Thirunal, its golden flagstaff and koothambalam having survived.

The four-armed Karthikeya, about six feet tall and facing east, holds the vel and a thunderbolt, and is believed to embody Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma as well. The complex has four gopurams, a round sanctum, the golden flagstaff on the east, said to be the longest of its kind, and a koothambalam counted the third largest in Kerala temples. Peacocks, Murugan's mount, live within the grounds.