Thekkinkadu Maidanam | |
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Location | Thrissur city, Kerala |
Coordinates | 10°31′30″N76°12′52″E / 10.5249°N 76.2144°E Coordinates: 10°31′30″N76°12′52″E / 10.5249°N 76.2144°E |
Area | 65 acres |
Created | Rama Varma Sakthan Thampuran |
Operated by | Cochin Devaswom Board |
Open | All year |
Thekkinkadu Maidanam is situated in the middle of Thrissur city of Kerala state in India. This hillock which seats the Vadakkumnathan Temple, is an open ground in the centre of the Thrissur city which is under the custody of the Cochin Devaswom Board (CDB). [1] It hosts the spectacular cultural festival Thrissur Pooram, which is considered the Mother of all Poorams in Kerala.
Thekkinkadu Maidan was a dense forest in olden days. All kinds of wild animals used to roam in the forest where wanted criminals of Thrissur were executed. The soldiers used to push the criminals in to dense forest from one of the Vadakkumnatha Temple gates. Later, Maharaja of Cochin, Rama Varma Sakthan Thampuran cleared the Thekkinkadu Maidan despite the resistance of Brahmin priests and other orthodox section of people. [2] Till 1970, there were no teaks in the Maidan. In the 1970s Cochin Devaswom Board planted some teaks trees. Till 1928, the Thekkinkadu Maidan was with the Sanitary Board. In 1928 it was handed over to Thrissur Municipality when it was formed. In 1934, Diwan Paruvakad Narayanan Nair gave the Maidan to Cochin Devaswom Board. The only condition for the transfer was that any organisation can organise meeting or festival without any problem. [3]
The Thekkinkadu Maidan is 65-acre (260,000 m2) in area and is encircled by Swaraj Round, Thrissur to all sides. It houses Vadakkunnathan Temple, Nehru Park, Thrissur, Kerala Water Authority office and water storage tanks and seven wells. The whole of the city branches from Thekkinkadu Maidan through nine roads, including most of the important roads like the M.G road and the M.O road. These roads further form junctions to make the spread of the city a circular one.
A wide range of activities are visible. There are many card players and chess players in the maidan in the evening. Political debates also take place here every day. Students Corner, Labour Corner and Nehru Mandapam are the famous spots where historical events had taken place. Famous people like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, C. Achutha Menon and E. M. S. Namboodiripad have given speeches in the Students Corner. Joseph Vadakkan, a politically active priest held the controversial Holy Mass in the maidan, which led to suspension from the church. It is a major spot for gatherings and festivals in the district, including the Pooram festival and the Thrissur Motor Show (organised by students of Government Engineering College, Thrissur). [4] Nehru Mandapam was named after India's first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru when he visited Thrissur city in 1952, and made a speech in Thekkinkadu Maidan. In 1982, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, another Prime Minister of India also gave a speech in Thekkinkadu Maidan. [5]
Thrissur, formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the third largest urban agglomeration in Kerala after Kochi and Kozhikode, and the 21st largest in India. The city is built around a 65-acre (26 ha) hillock called the Thekkinkaadu Maidaanam which seats a large Hindu Shiva Temple. It is located central of the state, and 304 kilometres (189 mi) north-west of the state's capital city, Thiruvananthapuram. Thrissur was once the capital of the Kingdom of Cochin, and was a point of contact for the Assyrians, Greeks, Persians, Arabs, Romans, Portuguese, Dutch and English.
The Thrissur Pooram is an annual temple festival held in Thrissur, Kerala, India. It is held at the Vadakkunnathan (Shiva) Temple in Thrissur every year on the Pooram day—the day when the moon rises with the Pooram star in the Malayalam Calendar month of Medam. It is the largest and most famous of all poorams in India.
Swaraj Round or Thrissur Round is the local name for a circular road which is about 2 km long in the centre of the city of Thrissur in Kerala, India, surrounding the 65-acre (260,000 m2) hillock called the Thekkinkadu Maidan which seats the Vadakkumnathan Temple. Swaraj Round is the biggest Roundabout in South Asia. It is a financial, commercial and business center in Kerala. Seventeen roads connect to it. Encircling the Thekkinkadu Maidan, Swaraj Round surrounds the small hillock on which the Vadakkunnathan Temple dedicated to Shiva is built. It is the largest circular road surrounding a ground in India and the second largest roundabout in the world.
Vadakkumnathan Temple is an ancient Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva at city of Thrissur, of Kerala state in India. This temple is a classical example of the architectural style of Kerala and has one monumental tower on each of the four sides in addition to a kuttambalam. Mural paintings depicting various scenes from the Mahabharata can be seen inside the temple. The shrines and the Kuttambalam display vignettes carved in wood. The temple, along with the mural paintings, has been declared as a National Monument by India under the AMASR Act. According to popular local lore, this is the first temple built by Parasurama, the sixth avatara of Vishnu. Thekkinkadu Maidan, encircling the Vadakkumnathan Temple, is the main venue of the renowned Thrissur Pooram festival.
Elephants found in Kerala, the Indian elephants, are one of three recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant. Since 1986, Asian elephants have been listed as endangered by IUCN as the population has declined by at least 50% over the last three generations, estimated to be 25,600 to 32,750 in the wild. The species is pre-eminently threatened by habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation. Along with a large population of wild elephants, Kerala has more than seven hundred captive elephants. Most of them are owned by temples and individuals. They are used for religious ceremonies in and around the temples, and some churches, and a few elephants work at timber yards.
Rama Varma Kunji pillai Thampuran (1751–1805), or Rama Varma IX, popularly known as Sakthan Thampuran, was the ruler of the Kingdom of Cochin. The current southern Indian city of Kochi was part of the erstwhile princely state of Kochi. He resided at Vadakkechira Palace in Thrissur. The city of Thrissur is referred to as the Cultural Capital of Kerala owing to its many traditional festivals and historic temples. Sakthan Thampuran is considered the architect of the city of Thrissur. The festival Thrissur Pooram was started by him.
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The magnificent ancient Devi temple is situated in Urakam, a serene village, located approximately about 12 km from Thrissur city and almost the same distance from Irinjalakuda town when one travel towards Thrissur.
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All India Agricultural, Industrial, Educational and Cultural Exhibition or commonly called the Thrissur Pooram Exhibition is an exhibition organised jointly by Paramekkavu Bagavathi Temple Devaswom and Thiruvambadi Sri Krishna Temple Devaswom, ahead of Thrissur Pooram in Thekkinkadu Maidan in Thrissur city. It is usually conducted over a period of 40 to 50 days during the Thrissur Pooram.The exhibition is the largest in Kerala in terms of attendance and floor space.
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