Chalakkal Perinchala Siva Temple is one of the oldest temples in Kerala. It is situated at Parappur, about 13 km west of Thrissur Corporation. It is consecrated to two main deities, Lord Siva and Lord Vishnu. The Sanctum Sanctorum of Lord Vishnu, a double-storied tower structure, shows the greatness of ancient architectural design. A careful study of this Sanctum Sanctorum shows that it was constructed centuries ago by expert craftsmen. The idol of Vishnu with four hands holding a Conch shell, Wheel weapon, Mace and Lotus is about 7 feet high and is one of the largest Vishnu idols in Kerala. The temple itself is dedicated more to Lord Siva. His Sanctum Sanctorum is rather small compared to that of Lord Vishnu. But the Chaitanya is superb. Devotees believe that the worship of Siva at Perinchala confers health and long life. Lord Vishnu of this temple confers wealth and progeny to devotees. There was a time when this temple used to be a great centre of Veda education and Veda chanting, so the place itself was called the Perumsala or big centre of education. Some kind of mispronunciation later changed the name to Perinchala. The legend talks about a temple festival held yesteryear with a procession of 101 elephants. The land in a 10 km radius in the periphery of the temple was dedicated to the temple with various segregated areas like panthoda - land for burning torch flames (pantham); cherathkol - land to light lamp, chandanali for sandalwood supply, chavattala for waste disposal, ashtagandhapuram - for supply of incense (ashtagandham) etc. There is a famous legend showing the greatness of the temple. A devotee from Parappur wanted to worship Kashi Vishwanathan. Owing to traffic constraints of those days, he had to walk the whole way which took him several months to travel. One day, when he almost reached the destination, he was taking a rest as the dusk fell. An old man appeared before him and enquired about his journey. The devotee said that he was from Parappur and the old man exclaimed “Why should a devotee from Parappur travel all the way to Kashi, when Lord has graced the Perinchala Temple in his magnificence”. Having said that the old man disappeared and the devotee was very sure that it was Lord Siva himself who instructed him to worship at Perinchala. This Siva temple had three trustees which are Chittoor Namboothiripad, Vadakkumbadu and Karekkadu. But economic crisis made it necessary for Chittoor Namboothiripad to assume the whole burden of administration. For a long time, the temple remained dilapidated owing to economic problems. Now renovation work is going on, to bring the temple to its past glory.