Thrikkakara Temple

The Thrikkakara Vamanamoorthy Temple, near Kochi in Kerala, is one of India's principal shrines dedicated to Vamana, the dwarf avatar of Vishnu, and is counted among the 108 Divya Desams. Tradition ascribes its founding to the sage Parashurama.

The main icon shows Vamana about to set his foot on the Asura king Mahabali. Legend tells how Vamana was granted three paces of land, grew to gigantic size and strode across earth and heaven; Bali offered his head for the third step and was granted the underworld for his humility.

Onam, Kerala's harvest festival, welcomes Bali's annual return. The temple is its ceremonial centre, and its records preserve the earliest known mention of the festival, dated to 861. In the eighteenth century, after Marthanda Varma of Travancore and the East India Company annexed the territory from the Kingdom of Kochi, local chiefs conducted celebrations under the Maharaja of Travancore.