Kalamassery Mahaganapathy Temple

Kalamassery Mahaganapathy Temple in North Kalamassery is dedicated to Ganesha. N. Reghunatha Menon, a local resident, built it in 1981, and for years it was a plain concrete building with shrines only for Ganapathy, Subramanian and the Navagrahas. In 2000 he began adding shrines and renovating in traditional style; after his death the next year his children carried the work on and set up a trust to run it.

The two original west-facing shrines sit side by side, with steps between them leading up to a raised structure holding shrines to Shiva and Parvathi, Rama, Dakshinamurthi and Chandikeshwara. The building, about 5,000 square feet, has no outer walls, and a peepal tree grows before the Ganapathy shrine. With the Eloor–Kalamassery road only about 30 feet away, the deity is nicknamed the Road-side Ganapathy. On the first day of Karkkidakam the temple holds an Ashta Dravya Maha Ganapathy Homam and Aanayoottu, the feeding of elephants, and a Gajapooja every four years.