Wadakkunathan Temple (Malayalam: വടക്കുന്നാഥൻ ക്ഷേത്രം) is an ancient Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva in city of Thrissur, Kerala State in India. The temple situated in the very centre of town on an eminence commanding a view of neighbouring areas all around. No historian or scholar has been able to ascertain the time when this temple came into existence. Our knowledge of the origin of this temple comes from legends. According to legends the original “Prathishta” was done by Lord Parasurama, an incarnation of Vishnu and it must have been done at least four thousand years ago. This temple is a classic example of the architectural style of Kerala and has imposing towers on the four sides and also a marvellous temple theatre called “koothambalam”. Mural paintings depicting various episodes from the puranas can be seen inside the temple.

The Shrines and the “Koothambalam” display vignettes carved in wood. “Tekkinkadu Maidan” encircling the Wadakkunathan Temple, is the main venue of the Thrissur Pooram. The main deity of the temple is Lord Siva, other idols installed in the temple are those to Sree Parvati, Ganesha, Sankaranarayana and Sree Rama. Parvati, is sanctify in the sanctum of Lord Shiva it self in opposite direction. There are separate sanctum for Krishna, Rishabha, Simhodhara, Dharma sastha Vettakkara, Dharmasastha, Naga Devatas and Adhishankara on the circumambulatory path. There are places to remember Parasurama, Kasinatha, Chithambaram, Ramaswaram, Kodungallur Bhagavathy,Urakathamma, Koodalmanikyam,vyasa and demise of Adhishankara. A mural painting of “Nrithanantha” is offered daily poojas.A white bull known as “Nanthikeswara” and rare painting of “Vasuki Sayana” are special attraction here.

The story of the origin of the Wadakkunathan Temple is briefly narrated in “Brahmanda Purana”. Parashurama exterminated Kshatriyas twenty one times. In order to expiate the sin, he performed a “yajna” at the end of which he gave away all the land to Brahmins as “dakshina”. He wanted to retire to some new land to do and so he requested the sea god Varuna to throw up a new piece of land from the sea. According to another version, some sages approached him at the end of the yajna and requested him to give them some secluded land. Parashurama then made the request to Varuna for their sake. Varuna gave him a winnow (surpa) and asked him to hurl it into the sea; as he did a large territory of land was at once thrown up by the sea; this territory that rose out of the sea was Kerala. It was then known by the name "Surparaka", from the word, "Surpa" meaning winnow. According to some other version Varuna asked Parashurama to hurl his axe into the sea. Parashurama now wanted to give a divine attire to this new land. So he went to Mount Kailash to his guru, Lord Shiva and requested him to take abode in Kerala and thereby bless the region. Shiva accompanied by his wife Parvati, his sons Ganesha and Subrahmanya and his parshadas went along with Parashurama, to satisfy the desire of his disciple. Shiva stopped at a spot, now Thrissur, for his seat and later he and his party disappeared and Parashurama saw a bright and radiant Shiva “linga” (aniconic symbol of Shiva) at the foot of a huge banyan tree. This place where Shiva first manifested his presence through the “linga” came to be called the “Sreemoolasthana”. This is enunciated as the story of beginning of Sree Wadakkunathan Temple.

For sometime, the linga remained at “Sreemoola Sthana” at the foot of a huge banyan tree. Later a ruler of Cochin State,of which Thrissur formed a part, then decided to shift the “linga” to a more convenient place and build a temple. Arrangements were soon made to reinstall the idol in the new place. But there was an initial difficulty. The “linga” could not be removed without cutting off a large part of the banyan tree. While cutting the branches of the tree, there was the danger of a piece of it falling on the idol and damaging it. When the ruler and the others did not know what to do, the “Yogatirippadu” came forward with a solution. He lay over the idol so as to cover it completely and asked the men to cut the tree. The cutting began and to the wonder of all not a piece of the tree fell anywhere near the idol. The idol was removed with all due rituals and installed in the new place where it has remained till now.