The Thiruvenkitachalapathy temple situated at Thiruvenkidom Desom which is one-kilometre northeast of the famous Guruvayoor Sree Krishna Temple is a great and unique shrine in many respects. The most noteworthy point is that the Deity worshipped at this temple is the same Lord Venkitachalapathy, worshipped in the world-famous Thirumala Thirupathi temple in Andhra Pradesh. As per astrological findings, more than one thousand years ago a sage from Thirumala came over to Guruvayoor and finding that there are already temples for Lord Krishna and Parthasarathy at Guruvayoor wished to establish a temple for Lord Venkitachalapathy also at Guruvayoor.  Subsequently, he brought an idol from Thirumala Thirupathi and established this more temple. To have the manifestations of the Lord as Sree Krishna, as Sree Parthasarathy and as Sree Venkitachalapathy at the very same place is unique in its own way.  This place has thus become a pilgrim’s paradise. The astrological findings are also borne out by the simple fact that the locality where this temple is established is known as Thiruvenkidom from time immemorial.  There is no doubt that in that distant past when communication and contact facilities were totally lacking, the sage could come and establish this temple here entirely due to the Lord’s will and blessings. This temple could very well be treated as established by the Lord himself, the sage being only an instrument in his hand. But here also man’s violence and maliciousness manifested.  After some years the sage was driven away.  Enemies of the temple mutilated the idol.  The head and right hand of the idol were cut off and later generations did not know whose idol it was and this continued till 1974.  In 1974 some devotees arranged the Deva Prasanam (Astrological Search) and came to know the real nature of the deity.  The devotees then went to Thirumala and arranged for a new idol from there, took it to all the temples in South India and finally brought it to Thiruvenkidom, Guruvayoor. Reinstallation was done in June 1977 in a grand ceremony by the Thantri of the Guruvayoor temple, Brahmasree Chennas Parameswaran Namboothiripad and Periya Jeer Swamy who is supposed to be the successor of the original founder of this temple. Thus, the Lord in his divine grace manifested himself again at Thiruvenkidom, Guruvayoor.  Now most of the devotees who come to Guruvayoor have darshan of Lord Venkitachalapathy also.  It is a rare experience to have darshan at all three temples in the very same place. Another unique feature of this temple is that about six hundred years after the original installation of Lord Venkitachalapathy an idol of Divine Mother (Bhadrakali) was also installed in this temple.  This Mother Goddess by her benign and generous blessings soon began to be worshipped as the ruling mother of the entire population and now has virtually become Thiruvenkitathamma  (Mother of Thiruvenkidom).  There soon grew an emotional tie between the mother and the devotees. After the idol of Lord Venkitachalapathy was mutilated it was the Mother’s shrine, which retained the tradition of this temple.  The Mother continued to be worshipped all through this cloudy period.  This is explained by the fact that for the local people, this is still the temple of the Thiruvenkitathamma, as the presence of Thiruvenkitachalapathy came to be known only in 1974. Now both Lord Venkitachalapathy and the Divine Mother have equal importance and are known among the devotees as Kshipra Prasadies as all the prayers of the devotees are granted without exception. The main Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum) is of Lord Venkitachalapathy.  Divine Mother’s Sreekovil is in the southeast corner of Vathilmadom.  Sree Ganapathy, Sree Saraswathy, Sree Ayyappan and Nagaraja are also worshipped as Sub-deities.  A separate Shrine is also built for the original founder of this temple Sree Ramanuja Swamy. Poojas are conducted three times a day for both Venkitachalapathy and the Divine Mother with Navakam and Milk Abhishekam for Lord Venkitachalapathy every day, befitting a great temple.  Poomodal (covering and submerging the idol with flowers) is conducted for the Divine Mother on almost all days as offered by devotees.  The offering is expected to yield all the desires of the devotees. This is proved by the fact that these offering stands booked up for many years.  Only one offering by one devotee is conducted per day and the devotee has the liberty to choose the date of the offering to coincide with any auspicious day in his life like birth star, birthday etc. Another important offering for the Mother is Muttirakkal which involves the breaking of a coconut in front of the Mother’s idol with suitable prayers and mantras.  This ceremony is expected to remove all obstacles and evil influences in the path of the devotee in all happenings and ventures in his life such as passing of the examination, fixation of marriages, success in curing health problems, obstacles in securing employment etc. This is an offering conducted on the spot and between 100 and 500 offerings are done in a day.