Unlock Your Holidays With Holiday Keys

Varkala is a coastal town in Thiruvananthpuram district situated in the Indian state Kerala. It
is the only place in Kerala where cliffs are found along the Arabian Sea, the city will also make
your holiday full joy with beaches, surfing, paragliding, and some archaeological historical
temples.
The Varkala beach is the only place where the cliffs are found along the Arabian sea, the
part of the Indian ocean. The beach is also known as Papanasam Beach which means to
pap sins and nasam kill or destroy. It is a gut believes in the people that a dip into
the holy water your all sins will wash away, and every person should dip into the water ones
in life. There are numerous water spouts and spas on the sides of these cliffs. You can check
in there and feel relaxed and enjoy the makeover. The beach is a haven for swimming and sun
bathing. Besides sun bath and swimming and climbs up on the cliff, you can take a view
from the sky by paragliding. The view from the sky will look so spectacular; the entire surface
area all around the beach looks so stunning. If you feel hungry now, then the several
restaurants, cafes and shops are also available beside the beach.

www.HolidayKeys.co.uk

www.HolidayKeys.co.uk

The Janardanaswamy Temple is close to Papanasam Beach, is religious place. It is

2000 old temple, also known as Varkala temple. Janardana is a form of Lord Vishnu. It faces
to the Varkala Beach, where devotees take bath to wash their sins. The presiding deity of
this temple is Sri Janardana Swami. The deity is found in standing position facing towards
the east. His right hand is positioned as if he is performing Aachamanam. His right
hand is raised towards his mouth and legends say that if his hand goes nearer to his
mouth, the world will come to an end. It is believed to happen at the end of the Kali Yuga.
It is an ancient temple, and many mythological stories are related to this temple.
It is a story behind the this temple that, once upon a time lord Vishnu heard the music
from Naradas and attracted towards the music he started to following and reached to
Satyaloka. Seeing Lord Vishnu, Brahma prostrated before him. Lord Vishnu soon realized
that he has reached Satyaloka but did not realize that Lord Brahma is prostrating before
him and left back to Vaikunta. It seemed as if Lord Brahma is falling towards the feet of
Narada and all the devas laughed. This made Brahma angry and he cursed devas to be
born as humans on the earth.

www.HolidayKeys.co.uk

www.HolidayKeys.co.uk

Devas repented their folly and begged to be forgiven. Brahma replied that the curse would
be withdrawn when they do a penance to please Lord Janardana. Devas asked where that
place is where they should do the penance. Brahma told them that the place where Sage
Naradas Vastra (costume) falls will be the sacred place. It is Varkala where his Vastra
fell and Devas did the penance accordingly to get relieved of the curse. This is an Ayurveda
treatment centre, if you have any kind of problem you can take the treatment, but it will
charged but at a very low cost.
There is a ten day festival Arattu is conducted on the Malayalam month Meenam on the day
of Uthram.
The other place after Janardana Temple next visit to Sivagiri mutt is a Samadhi place
where sage Shree Naryana Guru S tomb is located. Samadhi refers to the last resting place;
thousands of devotees come here every year during the pilgrimages days 30 December and
1 January.

www.HolidayKeys.co.uk

www.HolidayKeys.co.uk

After Sivagiri mutt you will love to go to the Kappil Lake is about 4 km from north of
Varkala Town. This calm estuary wind through dense coconut groves before merging into the
Arabian Sea. The tourism department provides boating here, so you can hire a boat and take
a journey with the waves. The view of the coconut groves along the coast gives beautiful
pictures in the evening.
Next place is a tunnel; Varkala Tunnel was built to ferrying the goods from north to
south Kerala through backwaters network. It was built in the 19th century. It was took 14
years to build, and it was built 1867, its length is 924 ft. You can visit this tunnel through the
boat. It is really fun to pass from the tunnel.
The next after the tunnel is Anjengo Fort near Varkala. It is also known as
Anchuthengu which means five coconut trees. It is a place of historic importance
and a beautiful nature scene. The fort lacks some typical look and characteristics of a fort. It
is more like an enclosed bastion with high late rite walls.

www.HolidayKeys.co.uk

www.HolidayKeys.co.uk

The fort also has some lookout points and their entrances on east and west. It was an
ideal destination of the trading of the from powers like the Portuguese, Dutch, and finally
it was granted on lease to the English East India Company by the Queen of Attingal in
1684. They also got a permission to build a fort in 1690 and the Anjengo Fort was
built in 1695. The settlement in Anchuthengu helped the Company promote its trade with
various countries, as the place supported water way communication to the North. They
also opened a depot to keep the military equipment at Anchuthengu. In short, this small
island soon became one of the major trading platforms of the British in India, after
Mumbai.
There was local unrest against the British in 1697 and the natives attacked the British
factory at Anchuthengu, but it was a minor unrest and could create no major ripples in the
political equation of the country. But the Attingal rebellion of 1721 has some historical
significance. The natives were very unpleasant due to the arrogant approach of the British
towards them and they were further distanced from them due to some new unjust
measures that the British tried to implement in the land.

www.HolidayKeys.co.uk

www.HolidayKeys.co.uk

But at the same time the British pleased the Queen with precious gifts. In 1721, the local
feudal lords demanded the British to give presents to the Queen of Attingal only through
them. The British refused to obey this and with about 140 English traders, they proceeded
to Attingal with the gifts for the Queen. The local people attacked the group and killed all
the English traders. They also sieged the Anjengo Fort. The attack was defended by Gunner
Inns and later the rebellion was defeated when more British force from Thalassery
reached Anchuthengu. This incident is known as the first collective move against the British
rule in Kerala. The fort played an important role during the invasion of Mysore king, Hyder
Ali too. During the Anglo Mysore wars in 18th century, the fort became the store house of
ammunition for the British.
The magnificent beaches and lavish greenery you cant find anywhere else. These are the
best tourist destinations in Varkala where will love to enjoy holidays. You go here
for kayaking, canoeing, parasailing, paragliding, boating anything you want. This trip is full of
adventures.

www.HolidayKeys.co.uk