Tiruvithuvakkodu is one of the 108 Temples of
Lord Vishnu, revered by the Tamil
Alwars in 1st millennium CE. This temple is located at Tiruvinjikode, at a distance of 16 km from
Shoranur on the way to
Guruvayoor. The temple consists of shrines for both
Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. The temple has four images of Vishnu, believed to have been installed by the
Pandavas. Because of the five images, i.e. four Vishnu images and one Shiva image, the temple is also known as 'anjumoorthy koyil' (temple with five images) in
Malayalam.
The traditional story of this temple is that Lord Vishnu appeared in four forms, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, Sankharshana and Para Vasudeva, in response to worship by a devotee named Ambarishan who attained salvation here.
