Heritage

The most famous document of his reign is the Tharisapalli copper plate grant, also known as the Quilon Syrian Christian copper plates. This record is dated to the fifth regnal year of Sthanu Ravi, around 849–850 CE, and is one of the most important early medieval documents in Kerala history. It was issued at Kollam by Ayyan Adikal Thiruvadikal, the Venad chieftain under Chera authority, in favour of Mar Sapir Iso, a Christian merchant-leader connected with the establishment of a church and trading settlement at Kollam.

Tradition places Kulasekhara in Chera Nadu, the western land of mountains, rivers, ports and temples that corresponds broadly with Kerala. Sri Vaishnava tradition says he was born in the Chera country, came to the throne after his father, and became deeply devoted to Sri Rama. The Koyil Divya Prabandham tradition associates him with Thiruvanjikkalam, presents him as a Chera king, and remembers him as a ruler whose mind moved constantly towards Rama, Srirangam and the service of Vishnu. The traditional biography even says that when he heard the Ramayana narrated, he reacted as if the events were happening before his eyes. This is the key to understanding him: for Kulasekhara, sacred memory was not literature alone; it was living presence.

The presiding deity of the temple is Goddess Rajarajeswari, worshipped here as a powerful form of Bhagavathy/Durga. Kerala Tourism describes the temple as a grand Kerala-style shrine where Goddess Durga is the main deity, with other deities including Hanuman, Ganesha, Krishna, Ayyappa, Nagaraja and the Navagrahas also worshipped within the temple complex. The temple is believed to be around 500 years old, making it one of the important historic temples associated with Alappuzha’s religious landscape.