Sreevallabha Temple

The Sreevallabha Temple in Thiruvalla, Pathanamthitta district, is dedicated to Vishnu as Sreevallabha, consort of Lakshmi, and is one of the 108 Divya Desams praised by the Alvars. Legend says Vishnu appeared here for the sage Durvasa, and that he took the form of a brahmachari to slay the demon Thokalaasuran. By 1100 CE Thiruvalla was a centre of learning, and the temple ran a Vedic school with some 1,500 students and an ayurvedic hospital. Early Malayalam prose survives in the Thiruvalla inscriptions of the 12th century, recovered from the temple in 1915.

The temple covers 8.5 acres beside the Manimala River, enclosed by a granite wall with a two-storey gopuram on each side. A black granite Garuda flagstaff, 53.5 feet tall, now leans and is braced by a three-tier support. A carved, copper-roofed hall of 16 pillars holds the main altar, and the round sanctum is decorated with murals of Vishnu's avatars. Kathakali is performed here every day.