Kaviyoor Mahadeva Temple

The Kaviyoor Mahadevar Temple, also called Thrikkaviyoor, stands on a small hillock in Kaviyoor near Tiruvalla, Pathanamthitta district, and is a special-grade temple of the Travancore Devaswom Board. The main deity is Shiva with Parvati, but the temple is best known for its Hanuman shrine, which draws more devotion than Shiva himself. Legend says Rama installed a linga moulded from earth here when Hanuman was late returning from the Himalayas, and that when Hanuman could not remove it the ground rose into the hillock. Sand and darbha grass are believed to form the linga, and a separate Hanuman sanctum was built in 1934.

Twenty-one wide steps climb to the east gopuram, and a golden flagmast stands in the eastern courtyard between two tall lamp-posts. A laterite wall encloses about two acres, with gopurams to the south and west. Below the complex to the west is the Keezhthrikkovil Vishnu temple, and a large lake, Polachira, lies to the west.