page_title: History and culture of Thrippunithura
section_title: Bigger Temples
hierarchical_section_title: History and culture of Thrippunithura / Bigger Temples
caption_attribution_description: Caparisoned elephants during Sree Poornathrayesa temple festival, Thrippunithura, Kerala, South India.
context_page_description: There are many stories that describe the origin of the word Thripunithura. Some latter day Sanskrit enthusiasts ascribe the origin of the name to "Poorna Veda Puri" - the town of Vedas in its entirety. Another possible origin to name comes from the meaning "the land on the shores of Poorna river".
  Other stories play on the pun of "Pooni" or "Pooneeram" which means quiver. One of them relates that Arjuna - one of Pandavas - who once visited Lord Vishnu was given an idol and Arjuna carried it in his "pooni". While searching for a place to install it, he met Lord Ganapati and sought help. Ganapati found this place and the idol was installed. Another story of the same variety is as follows. At the end of Dvapara Yuga, the period of Lord Krishna, the Lord himself presented an idol to Arjuna, one of the Pandavas, and asked him to install it in a proper place. He kept the idol in a bag used to keep arrows, which was called Pooneeram in local language. When he reached the place, he shouted Pooneeram Thura means 'open the bag' in local language. Thus the name Poonithura has come, according to this story.
caption: Caparisoned elephants during Sree Poornathrayesa temple
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