Visit to Town of Varkkala Near City of Trivendrum in India

If you are fond of beautiful temples and the sea beaches, you must plan to visit south India. I had that opportunity and was able to visit many such places during my last visit to India in the year 2009. Out of so many such places visited, I will never be able to forget my visit to Varkkala, situated at the distance of around 34 miles from the city of Trivendrum in the State of Kerala. Varkkala offers the unique combination of holy temples and the beautiful sea beach to all the visitors.

The best way to reach Varkkala is by hired car or taxi from the city of Trivendrum. It hardly takes around one and a half hour to reach Varkkala from Trivendrum by road. The entire drive also offers beautiful views of the great ocean and the green forests. We reached Varkkala at around 9 am in the morning and went straight to see the most famous and ancient Janardan temple. As per the Hindu religion, Lord Janardan (Lord Krishna) had given his darshana to Lord Brahma here and then, he decided to stay here only due to the request of Lord Brahma. That is why there are two temples here at Varkkala. One main temple is of Lord Janardan and the other temple of Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma had also performed a big yagna here at Varkkala showing his faith in Lord Krishna. The holy dhoop is still available at this place by slightly digging under the ground. This holy dhoop is used to cure various ailments of eyes. The statue of Lord Janardan is black in color having four hands. This four feet high statue is really worth seeing. There is a small lake here, which is called Chakratirtha. The visitors take a holy bath in this lake and then, enter the holy temple for darshana of Lord Janardan. There is a beautiful sea beach just opposite to this temple. There are five small water falls falling in the open sea on the sea shore near the temple. These five small water falls are known as Papmochan, Runmochan, Savitri, Gayatri and Sarswati. The view of these five small water falls is really beautiful. The visitors take holy bath in these water falls and enter the temple. The pilgrims are able to see ancient temples of Lord Shiva and Lord Brahma here in the same temple complex, which is the most unique feature of this temple.

The next place to be visited here is the seat of Lord Vallabhacharya, situated in the middle of town Varkkala. The place called Engelo is also situated in this small town. Engelo was the place where Britishers had first established their commercial center in South India in the seventeenth century. The fort, built by Britishers in the seventeenth century, is also worth seeing here at Varkkala. There is also a grave of holy saint Narayana Guru Swami here at Varkkala.

Varkkala is a small town and there are very few restaurants available for the visitors. Such restaurants serve traditional South Indian food delicacies to the visitors. Such food items are extremely spicy and one must be careful while having food here. It would be better to carry your own food and the mineral drinking water with you. It may not be necessary to stay for the night halt here at Varkkala. Most of the visitors come here in the morning from the city of Trivendrum and reach back to Trivendrum by late evening after visiting all the sightseeing places at Varkkala.

If you want to have combined fun of beautiful sea beach and the famous ancient temple of Lord Janardan, you must plan a visit to this lovely town of Varkkala, situated near the city of Trivendrum in the State of Kerala in India.