At Thrikkakara near Kochi in Kerala stands the Vamanamoorthy temple, one of the very few and the most important temples dedicated to Vamana, the dwarf-brahmin avatar of Vishnu, and the sacred heart of Kerala's great festival of Onam. Its legend, told in the Bhagavata Purana, recounts how Vishnu, as the small Vamana, sought three paces of land from the mighty and generous asura-king Mahabali; growing to cosmic size as Trivikrama, he measured the heavens and the earth in two strides, and with the third sent the humbled king to the netherworld — granting him the boon to return to visit his people each year at Onam.
The temple's very name, Thrikkakara ('the place of the holy foot'), recalls this deed, and it is honoured as one of the 108 Divya Desams, tradition holding it was founded by Parashurama. Thrikkakara is the spiritual home of Onam and a cherished shrine of the Vamana avatar.
