This temple is at Kurichi formerly known as Gurusreepuram. There is a legend behind the name of the temple. Indal in Malayalam means sorrow and pride. The Lord who destroys both these emotions in the devotee is named Indalayappan. This is connected with the story in the Mahabharatha where the Pandava prince Arjuna goes to observe penance to win Pashupathasthram from Lord Siva. The Lord with Goddess Parvathy appeared before him as a hunter and huntress. He wanted to remove the pride in Arjuna’s mind. He fought with Arjuna and defeated him. Then Arjuna realised that the Lord had been fighting with him. The Lord gave more him the divine weapon before disappearing. This Kirathamoorthy removes all bad emotions from the minds of the devotees that have been consecrated as Indalayappan here. Though no authentic documents are available to determine the age of the temple, the Prabha, halo, that has been offered to the temple bears the date of its offering which shows that it was done 800 years ago.  So, the temple must be older than that. According to astrologers, people have been living in this area since antiquity. The Brahmins used to worship Lord Siva, such as Kirathamoorthy, Sree Bhadrakali, Sree Mahavishnu, Sree Durga, and Sree Dhamashastha. As they left the place later on this area became a forest. Forest dwellers who came to occupy this area started worshipping Serpents, Naga Chamundi and Yakshi with offerings of meat. They used to perform exorcism also there.  Later they too left the place. Once some Latans (wandering medicine men) were collecting medicinal plants from the forest when they saw an old man sitting on a rock. He asked them for food as he had not eaten anything for a long time. They gave him Varapodi (powdered paddy) which they were carrying for their use. The man disappeared immediately after eating it. The Latinas were terrified and informed the Naikkars, the rulers of the area about it. An astrological consultation revealed that it was Kirathamoorthy who had appeared as the old man and instructed for poojas with Varapodi as Naivedyam. The forest was cleared and the idols were recovered. Responsibility for the conduct of the daily rituals was given to a Brahmin family. But soon the ruling Naikkar also had to leave the place.  They entrusted the Nair family of Pullaployil to look after the affairs of the temple. Later on, they gave the rights to the Brahmin family who was conducting the poojas. Though it is Lord Siva as Kirathamoorthy that has been consecrated here, the presence of Dharma Shastha of Sabarimala is also found in the idol. The structure of the temple building, the practice of observing the Mandala period as in Sabarimala, some of the special poojas and the anointing of the idol with ghee as in Sabarimala support this belief. There is a story that supports this belief. Once the priest of the temple and some devotees of Indalayappa were going to Sabarimala.  A tiger came in front of them. The terrified men called out “Swaamiyee Saranam Ayyappa “as they used to do every day. Suddenly a hunter appeared there and put a flaming torch in the tiger’s mouth and drove him away. It was revealed to the devotees that it was Indalayappan who had saved them and that it was enough to worship here instead of going to Sabarimala. According to old timers no one used to go to Sabarimala from Kurichi after that. Today the temple is getting more popular as women who are prohibited from going to Sabarimala can worship the Lord here. Thus this temple is a rare place where the effulgence of Siva, Vishnu and Bhadrakali remain together.