Anantha Narayana Puram temple commonly referred as New Tirumala Temple, Alapuzha is situated at A.N Puram, about 1/2 km away from the NH47 highway. The Temple was established in 1852 AD.Presently the main prathista is Sree Narasimha Murthy in the Ugra form.

Devatha & Upadevatha

The present Pradana Devatha here is Sree Narasimha Murthy in the Ugra form. The simhasan inside the srikovil has Venkatachalapathy with Lakshmi Devi and Bhoomi Devi on his either sides at the top level. On the next step is Sree Narasimha Murthi with Mahalakshmi on the left lap. The Utsav deities are placed on the next step.

Unlike in other GSB temples the idols of Hanuman, Garuda and Ganapati are installed all together on a platform within the Srikovil.

History

During the Portuguese persecution at Cochin, the Venkateswara idol along with the idols of Lakshmi Devi from Cochin Gosripuram temple and Narasimha Moorthi from Thuravoor temple were shifted to Alapuzha Venkatachalapathy Temple (Old Tirumala Temple) and kept in the North Agrasala there for more than 60 years. Due to the presence of this divine idol Alleppey progressed in trade and commerce and became an important sea port. Meanwhile, with change of governance in Cochin, the new Raja of Cochin realized the importance of the idol and demanded it back.

But after seeing the progress of Alleppey due to the presence of the idol, Maharaja of Travancore denied the request and also made necessary arrangements for security and guard the Venkatachalapathy idol. He also wished to have this idol installed in a new temple, and then Deevan Krishna Rao acquired the land and provided the wood and money for construction of the new temple. Accordingly the temple was constructed in a new location about 1 km south of the old thirumala temple . Maharaja also gave the name Anantha Narayana Puram to this new temple area.

It is said that the original name was Akhanda Narayana Puram which became Anantha Narayana puram over the years. This is because the name suggested by the Maharaja of Travancore would be only Anantha Narayana with the relation to the royal temple of Anantha Padmanabha at Tiruvananthapuram.

The idols of Venkatachalapathy, Lakshmi Devi and Narasimha Murthi were moved from the Agrasala of the old temple and were installed in the new temple in 1852 A.D. by Srimad Bhuvanendra Tirtha Swamiji of Kashi Math. Just within ten months of the prathista, the Venkatachalapathy idol was secretly taken back to Cochin on the midnight of 7th Feb 1853. It was taken out of the Alleppey Ananthanarayana puram Temple at night in a basket covered by Naivedyam (Mooleepu) and carried back to Kochi by country boat via Aroor, beyond which was the Cochin State. The people of Alleppey came to know about this only in the next morning by that time the idol passed beyond the Travancore State boundary and they could not do anything.

The original idols of Laksmi Devi and Narasimha Murthi of Thuravoor are still at the Temple. A new idol of Venkatachalapathy was installed in this temple by Srimad Varadendra Tirtha in 1933 A.D.

The Temple Management

Ananthanarayanapuram Temple is managed by the Alleppey Ananthanarayanapuram Thuravoor Tirumala Devaswom. A Committe of 9 members, who are elected from Alleppey, Purakkad, Kayamkulam, Quilon, Kottayam, Shertallai, Thuravoor and North Parvoor (Two members from alleppey and one each from the other places) once in every five years.

Arratu Festivals

Orginally there were only two main festivals (each for a period of eight days) in a year - one in the month of Vrischikam (December), the Arattu day coinciding with the Chithra star. It was found that Lord Lakshmi-Narasimha was not pleased with this custom. So a third festival also came to be celebrated from 1088 M.E. (A.D. 1913) with the Arratu day coinciding with Narasimha Jayanthi on the Shuklapaksha Chathurdasi day in the month of Vaishaka (Medam). Thus at present three festivals are celebrated during each year.

Temple Layout

Map & Location