Sri Lakshmana Perumal Temple

Temple tradition holds that Rama's brothers Lakshmana and Bharata worshipped Vishnu at this site, and that the presiding deity here took on the form and identity of Lakshmana in response, giving the temple its distinctive name and character among the Divya Desams. Both Nammalvar and Thirumangai Alvar are counted among the Alvars who sang mangalasasanam here, placing the temple among those glorified by more than one of the twelve poet-saints in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham.

A separate and older layer of legend accounts for the place name itself: sage Hareetha Maharshi is said to have performed penance to Vishnu on the banks of the nearby river (identified variously as the Chalakudy or Poorna), and Vishnu, pleased with his devotion, appeared and counselled him on overcoming the difficulties of the Kali Yuga. This spoken counsel is remembered as "Thirumozhi" (sacred words), and the place took the name Thirumozhikalam, which softened over time into today's Thirumoozhikkulam.

The temple has long been an active centre of Kerala Vaishnava worship on the Angamaly–Aluva road corridor and is today administered by the Travancore Devaswom Board. Its double legendary foundation (the Ramayana-era Lakshmana association layered over the older Hareetha Maharshi story behind its very name) reflects a site with a long and layered devotional history even where a precise founding date is not recorded.

The temple follows Kerala's distinctive low-rise Dravidian style rather than the towering Tamil gopuram tradition: sloping roofs covered in terracotta tiles and copper sheeting, extensive wooden carving, and a horizontal spread across five prakarams (enclosures) bounded by granite compound walls. The sanctum itself is unusual in plan, a circular, two-tiered (dwi-tala) structure facing east, raised on a granite adhishthanam (base plinth) with moulded detailing, its walls built in laterite finished with traditional plaster. The temple is also one of the few in Kerala where Koodiyattam, the ancient Sanskrit theatre tradition recognised by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, continues to be performed.

The two principal festivals here are Vaikunta Ekadashi and Thiruvonam, alongside a ten-day annual festival held each year in the Malayalam month of Medam (roughly April–May). The temple also falls on the route of the Nalambalam Yatra, a pilgrimage to four Ramayana-linked temples undertaken by many devotees during Karkidakam (mid-July to mid-August), the month traditionally observed in Kerala as Ramayana Masam.

Daily worship follows the customary Kerala temple schedule under Travancore Devaswom Board administration; visitors during Karkidakam should expect a noticeably higher volume of pilgrims travelling the Nalambalam Yatra circuit.