Thripaya Trimurti Temple, Irinjalakuda

Thripaya Trimurti Temple in Irinjalakuda, Thrissur district, is one of very few temples where the three gods of the Hindu triad are enshrined together on a single pedestal within one sanctum. Brahma sits on the left, Shiva at the centre and Vishnu on the right, representing creation, destruction and preservation.

Legend tells of a learned Namboodiri who carried a holy shell in which he had invoked the spirit of nearly every deity. At the Koodalmanikyam temple the shell fell and shattered. Saddened, he set out south towards Kodungallur, and on the way Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva appeared to bless him at Nadavaramba, beside a freshwater lake. The place was called Thiruprika, a name that over time became Thrippayya.