Padmanabhaswamy Temple
| Padmanabhaswamy Temple | |
|---|---|
Entrance of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Hinduism |
| District | Thiruvananthapuram District |
| Deity | Vishnu and Lakshmi |
| Governing body | Travancore royal family |
| Location | |
| Location | Thiruvananthapuram |
| State | Kerala |
| Country | India |
| Geographic coordinates | 8°28′58″N 76°56′37″E / 8.48278°N 76.94361°E |
| Architecture | |
| Type | Fusion of Kerala architecture and Tamil architecture |
| Website | |
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| Hinduism |
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The Padmanabhaswamy Temple (Malayalam: [pɐd̪mɐnaːbʰɐswaːmi]) is a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the state of Kerala, India. It is one of the 108 Divya Desams, considered the sacred abodes of Vishnu in the Sri Vaishnava tradition. Adi Shankara had created sacred hymns on Anantha Padmanabha and it is an important holy site for Smartha Tradition. The name of the city in Malayalam and Tamil translates to "The City of Ananta" (Ananta being a form of Vishnu). The temple is built in an intricate fusion of the Kerala style and the Dravidian style of architecture, featuring high walls, and a 16th-century gopuram. While as per some traditions the Ananthapura Temple in Kumbla in Kerala's Kasaragod district is considered as the original spiritual seat of the deity ("Mulasthanam"), architecturally to some extent, the temple is a replica of the Adikesava Perumal Temple in Thiruvattar in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu.
The principal deity is Padmanabhaswamy (Sanskrit: पद्मनाभस्वामि, IAST: Padmanābhasvāmi), a form of Vishnu enshrined in the "Anantashayana" posture, engaged in eternal yogic sleep on his serpent mount named Shesha. Padmanabhaswamy is the tutelary deity of the Travancore royal family. The titular Maharaja of Travancore, Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma, is the current trustee of the temple.