Sri Visalakshi Sametha Sri Viswanathaswamy Temple is located in the Kalpathy village of Palakkad district in Kerala in India. The temple is also called by Kasi Viswanathaswamy Temple or locally as kundukovil. In this place, the yearly Kalpathi Ratholsavam is held, which is considered to be the famous temple festival of Kerala.
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Sri Visalakshi Sametha Sri Viswanathaswamy temple is considered to be an ancient temple of the early 15th century that is situated near the banks of the Kalpathy river called Nila Nadhi. As per mythology, the deity of Sri Visalakshi Sametha Sri Viswanathaswamy temple was brought from the holy Ganga river at Varanasi. Kalpathy Viswanatha Swamy Temple is related to the Kasi Viswanatha Swami Temple as the main deity Lord Siva and the temple is on the banks of river Kalpathy, similar to how Kasi is on the banks of river Ganges. Thus, there is a Tamil saying that Kasiyil Pathi Kalpathy, that is, half of Kasi is Kalpathy.
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The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and his consort Visalakshi, which is another name for Goddess Parvati. The temple is surrounded by four Tamil Brahmin agraharams or traditional villages such as New Kalpathy, Old Kalpathy, Chathapuram, and Govindarajapuram.
Kalpathi Ratholsavam, also called Kalpathy Theru is held for 10 days in November every year. This festival is held in the Tamil month of Aippasi (Malayalam month Thulam) for centuries. The Kalpathi Ratholsavam, which is also called the Car festival’s main centre is Kalpathy Sree Viswanathaswamy Temple. The three satellite temples in the village of Manthakkara Maha Ganapathy Temple (New Kalpathy), Lakshmi Narayana Perumal Temple (Old Kalpathy), and Prasanna Maha Ganapathy (Chathapuram) also observe the festival during this period.
Recently, the department of tourism of the Kerala government has started a Heritage Protection project at Kalpathy to maintain not only this beautiful temple but also the Brahman agraharams surrounding the same.
