Vellayani temple

The Vellayani Devi Temple is a highly revered shrine in Kerala, India. Shrine is situated in Vellayyani 1.5 km west of Vellayani junction, 12 km southeast of Thiruvananthapuram on the eastern bank of Vellayani Lake.The temple is under the management of Travancore Devaswom Board

The temple is constructed very beautifully having eastern and northern tower (Gopurams). Statues of different Gods were constructed in these Gopurams. The temple has a bronze roof with traditional art work and carries Dravidian architecture. The temple enshrines Goddess Bhadrakali as the presiding deity. The idol stands for Goddes Bhadrakali the daughter of Lord Shiva. Goddess Kali is situated towards north direction (vadakke nada). The idol is known in the local Malayalam language as Thirumudi. The idol of the Goddess in the Vellayani temple is one of the largest among the idols of Kerala Kali temples. The idol is four and a half feet in height as well as width. Pure gold and precious stones decorate the frontal view of the idol.
Other deities worshiped at the Vellayani Devi temple called Upadevatha's temples include Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesh and Nagaraja. The temple also has a small sub-temple where another deity Madan Thampuran is enshrined.
In the temple Antler is also worshipped. The circulating notion about this is that the antler serves as a medium to invoke the spirit of the divinity at a new-built temple. One of the antlers kept in the sanctum sanctorum oriented towards the east is from the Thekkathu.