Thumpamon Vadakkumnatha Temple

Thumpamon Vadakkumnatha Temple is an ancient temple to Murugan (Subrahmanya) near Pandalam in Pathanamthitta district, one of the two major Subrahmanya temples of the district. It is one of the rare temples with two main images of Murugan, each in its own round sreekovil. The first holds Vadakkumnathan, the warrior Murugan, though some worshippers once took him to be a form of Shiva; the second, Thekkumnathan, is the child Balamurugan, believed to have been worshipped by Sakthibhadra, author of the Koodiyattam drama Acharya Chudamani. That sanctum is decorated with fine murals.

The temple follows the traditional Kerala pancha-prakara layout, in which the parts of the temple are read as the body of the deity, from the sanctum as the head to the gopuram as the feet. Its main festival, the Uthrada Maholsavam, falls on Uthradam star in the month of Meenam, and Mahashivarathri, Thaipooyam, Vishu and Onam are also celebrated.