Sree Sundareswara Temple, Kannur

The Sree Sundareswara Temple stands at Talap, a suburb of Kannur, roughly 2 km from the railway station and 3 km from the Thavakkara bus stand. Its main deity is Shiva in the form of Sundareswara. It is one of two prominent temples in Kannur district consecrated by Sree Narayana Guru, the other being the Jagannatha temple at Thalassery.

The temple grew out of a reform movement within the Thiyya community of Malabar. Varathoor Kaniyil Kunhi Kannan travelled to meet the Guru at Shivagiri and persuaded him that a Malabar temple of the kind he had founded in southern Kerala would help lift the community away from practices such as animal sacrifice. With prominent members of the community he formed a committee, the Guru visited Kannur in 1907, and on 16 February 1908 the Sree Bhagaval Bhakti Pradeepa Yogam was formally set up to carry the project forward.