The sights and sounds of Guruvayur
In the years that have gone by, temples have been the centers of maximum “foot-fall” in any given region – a metric that the retail industry uses today to identify location of malls and marquee stores. Not surprisingly, in addition to being a visible emblem of religion and philosophy, social and cultural activities also revolved around and scaled with the splendor of temple. This tenet holds particularly true for the ancient and magnificent Sri Krishna temple at Guruvayur – a place that is often referred to as Bhooloka Vaikuntam.
Deep roots that have stood strong for a long time
As always, there are conflicting records of how old the temple is! Legend talks about the deity being there for more than 5,000 years. There are evidences of Brahmin and vedic settlements in this area since the period of Chandragupta Maurya but there is no clear reference to this temple. One of the earliest recorded evidence was found in an early 16th century Malayalam poem called Chakravakasandesa¸ which refers to a place called “Kuruvayaur beyond the village of Mammiyur.” To provide some context, this was just about the time when the Mughal Empire was being established in North India.
Since that time, the fortunes of the temple have ebbed and flowed considerably. Nestled in the leafy environs of present day Kerala, the Guruvayur temple has enjoyed the patronage of the Zamorins of Calicut. The Zamorins were not only devotees of the Lord, but also were on a mission to “sanskritize” the Dravidian regions. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the temple endured several attempts to destroy it. Surviving the Dutch expeditions, 
the iconoclastic fury of Tipu Sultan, the feuds amongst the Malabar chieftains and a debilitating fire, which was doused by timely yet unanticipated rains, only embellished the temple’s glory. During every single occasion, there was a spontaneous and large contribution from an influential member of the community and very quickly the temple was restored to its original glory. Eminent historian, Prof. K.V. Krishna Iyer gives a detailed and a very interesting account of the temple’s history in his 1986 book titled ‘History of Guruvayur’. 
The temple has consistently attracted pre-eminent musicians and artists and they have contributed significantly to spreading the fame of the temple to other parts of the country. Most notable amongst them was Melpathur 
Sri Narayana Bhattathiri. His 16th century devotional composition Narayaneeyam condenses the Bhagavata Purana into 1036 verses. Sri Bhattathiri, a student of Sri Achyuta Pisharati, was part of the Sangamagrama school of astronomy and mathematics. He composed these verses when his Guru was struck with paralysis. In addition to its immense popularity, the work occupies a very high place in Sanskrit literature, both because of the intense devotional fervor of the verses, and because of their extraordinary literary merit. 
The poignant story of the musical doyen, Sri Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar is intricately
linked to the Guruvayur temple. Sri Chembai was noted for his powerful voice and majestic style of singing.
In 1931, at the age of 35, Sri Chembai’s musical concert was organized at Calicut under the auspices of the
Zamorin King on the Ekadasi day. However, when he entered on the platform, he found that he could
not utter a single word. The performance had to be postponed. Sri Chembai rushed to Guruvayur and
he said to have poured his heart before the Lord. A non-descript Namboodiri whom he met there administered
some medicine. He regained his voice immediately and gave the performance in Calicut out of schedule.
Since then Sri Chembai made it a point to conduct a musical concert on the Ekadasi day. Upon death in 1974,
his disciples and Guruvayur Devaswom decided to commemorate Chembai's name by conducting the Chembai
Sangeetholsavam every year during Ekadasi, a music festival that lasts up to 15 days.
Kalabham- the sandanam (sandal paste) that has adorned the Lord- made out of sandal paste with a generous sprinkling of panneer and a dash of kunkuma poo (saffron). Obviously with such special and exotic embellishments, the fragranceof the kalabham is wonderful and also is spiritually uplifting! 
Then there is the large uruli filled with bright red manjadikuru seeds. Repeatedly rolling your hands around a vessel full of bright seeds will certainly bring out the hidden child! Legend has it that these seeds have twelve miniature 
elephants hidden in them, good for a dozen wishes!
And, of course, there are more than a dozen real elephants camping not too far away from the temple. These are the descendants of the celebrated Guruvayur Keshavan! Taking a tour of their fortress in Punnathurkotta and listening to their ‘thumping’ stories is a jolly good experience. Certainly look out for one Mr. ‘Ramachandran’, the octogenarian pachyderm who has actually met the Guruvayur Keshavan! 
