A visit to a major temple in Kerala is unlike a wander around a cathedral or an important church in Britain. You cannot visit just as a tourist to admire the architecture and artwork.
You must visit as a worshipper.
Some temples insist that only Hindus can enter the temple. Most temples insist on particular forms of dress for people wanting to enter. The Kanyakumari temple, for example, on the southern tip of India requires men to be bare-chested and women to wear saris. The Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Trivandrum requires men to wear a dhoti or mundu (similar to a sulu) and the upper body may be covered by a type of shawl. No shoes are worn inside the temple.
The Padmanabhaswamy Temple is devoted to the god Vishnu. It is among 108 sites, Divya Desams, that have a special significance to Vishnu worshippers.
But apart from its spiritual significance it is believed to be the richest religious site in the world, with a 2011 Supreme Court-directed survey of vaults in the temple complex revealing artefacts, precious stones and gold worth a minimum of £15bn. And that was in only four of the six vaults that were opened.
I was told the temple opened to worshippers at 4am and that an early-morning visit would be the best. We arrived near one of the four entrances (North, South, East and West Nada) just before 6am.
Cameras and mobile phones are banned in the complex, and I walked barefoot into the temple.
There is strict security all over the temple. At the entrance an official with a hand-held scanner checked me all over, I was reminded that I couldn’t take in certain items, and then moments later asked by another official if I was carrying anything like a mobile phone or camera.
Later I would see police dressed the same as devotees except for “Kerala Police” stamped on their shawls, mingling with worshippers, or helping to direct and guide the crowds of believers.
Inside there was a hive of activity with priests and acolytes busy with rituals and chanting. There were fire ceremonies with flames being carried around and people pausing respectfully and in prayer as the bearers passed by in the open corridors.
Temple workers, men and women, busied themselves cleaning paths and sweeping floors, while others seemed to be preparing food in kitchens.
I joined a host of pilgrims queueing for “Darshan” (the act of the viewing of a deity or sacred object or divine person). They were contemplative and expectant, and the queue, three or four persons wide, extended for at least 100 metres. Groups of pilgrims sat on the hard stone floor ahead of me, as they waited to move forward toward the holy of holies.
From behind me there would be occasional outbreaks of chanting, with the name of a Hindu deity being called out. Sometimes these chants would be taken up by those in front of me and passed on further, eventually subsiding in the crowd ahead.
The queue, quite eager yet disciplined, moved about five yards every 10 minutes or so. As the morning temperature rose we appreciated the open sides of the corridor which allowed some free circulation of air. The queue occupied half the width of the corridor, allowing other worshippers to travel the other way, including the group who were obviously doing some sort of circuit of the temple, their fervour, chanting and walking speed increasing each time they went past us.
All along the corridor were ornate sculpted stone pillars depicting religious icons, each pillar also supporting the carving of a woman holding an open-flame lamp – there are nearly 400 of these granite pillars supporting the roofs of the four corridors leading into the centre.
Eventually the 4-to-5 wide queue was forced into a narrower corridor, and jostling and shoving, the mass of believers surged toward the objects of their fervour and passion.
It was a little frightening at times, and a little claustrophobic, especially as one woman decided to go against the throng and head the “wrong” way, only to return a few minutes later with a companion.
All around me the excitement increased as we got closer to the centre of things, and finally the crowd was released from the queue with people spreading out in a much bigger room which held various objects of adoration and reverence. The mass of worshippers swirled around a man prostrate on the floor in front of an idol of a deity and others pausing in contemplation before other items of worship. They flowed around and past a woman, her palms pressed together and head bowed in prayer before another idol on a pedestal. Individuals paused at times to acknowledge holy men or to place gifts before them or to buy offerings to present at other opportunities elsewhere in the temple.
At one stage voices, and possibly a fist, were raised momentarily as a worshipper lingered longer than maybe he should have, thus delaying another pilgrim from getting as close as he wanted and as quickly as he wanted to the object of his adoration.
But in the main it was a co-operative, amicable and fervent event as people participated in their own way and together in a ceremony they regard as very significant.
And for many worshippers, the Padmanabhaswamy Temple is only one stop on a pilgrimage that could include several temples around Kerala – temples such as Sabarimala (the most popular pilgrim site), Guruvayoor near Thrissur, and Mahadeva Temple in Ettumanoor.
