Edathpurath Temple

The Deity of Krishna was installed by Poonthanam Namboodri, the famous Bhaktha Kavi.  Melpathur Bhattathiripad was his contemporary. Once Melpathur had a dream in which God Krishna told him that he prefers the Bhakthi of Poonthanam better than all the knowledge that Bhattathiri possesses.Poonthanam wrote all his devotional poems in Malayalam whereas Melpathur wrore" Narayaneeyam" in Samscritam. Poonthanam used to visit Guruvayur once in every month. In those days he had no alternative but to walk all the distance ie from Angadipuram (where his illam is situated) to Guruvayur which by road now is about 60 kms. As he grew old, it became more and more difficult for him to walk the distance. Once when he got very tired he sat down and cried, “Oh Krishna! I cannot walk any further”. Krishna appeared by his side immediately and told him gently, “I am here with you. You need not go to Guruvayur to see me.”

Poonthanam installed the deity there. Since Krishna appeared on the left hand side of Poonthanam, the place was called Idath Puram meaning left side. He started pooja to the deity and soon there came up a small temple.

After Poonthanam passed away, people neglected repair of the temple and even daily poojas were not done at the temple for quite some time. The roof and part of the walls had also collapsed. Recently the temple is getting renovated and is managed by a committee.

Now there is daily pooja there and the poojari is Naduviledath Namboodri who is a relative of Poonthanam Namboodri. There is no direct inheritants for Poonthanam now.

The place is about a KM north east of Thirumandhamkunnu temple, Angadipuram and is connected by a motorable road.