Antiquity and Dieties

It is believed that the Varahamoorthy temple at Panniyur of the district is the oldest temple in Kerala. The Department of Census, Government of India identified 48 temples of the district as very ancient having more than two thousand years of age.  93 temples were constructed between 1st and 9th Century AD. 1737 temples have been constructed between 10th and 20th Century AD. The department could not ascertain the antiquity of 84 temples. 

The deities of the district are mainly Goddess Bhadrakali or Bhagavathy, Lord Vishnu, Lord Siva, Lord Ganapathy, Lord Subramanya, Lord Sastha etc based on various kalpa or sankalpa (concept). Combination of sankalpa such as Sankara-Narayana, Uma-Maheswara, Lakshmy-Narayana, Siva-Parvathy etc are also there. Number of temples based on various sankalpa is given below: