Mannarasala Temple

Mannarasala Sree Nagaraja Temple, in Haripad municipality, Alappuzha district, is a forest-ringed shrine to the serpent gods, with Nagaraja as the main deity. More than 100,000 snake images line the paths and stand among the trees, and it is the largest temple of its kind in Kerala. Couples wishing for a child come to pray, then return after the birth for thanksgiving, often bringing new snake images, and a turmeric paste from the temple is believed to cure.

Legend links it with Parashurama: when the land of Kerala rose from the sea too salty to farm, he prayed to Nagaraja to make it fertile and asked him to stay as its protector. A later story tells of Vasudeva and Sreedevi, a childless Brahmin couple who tended serpents burnt in a forest fire; Nagaraja was born to them as a five-hooded serpent son and is believed to remain in the family house in samadhi. The missionary Samuel Mateer visited in 1880, and the main festival is Mannarasala Ayilyam.