History

According to the Historian Shankunni Menon, this city was created by Parasuram, and the earliest name given to this place was Sree Varthamanapuram. In fact, this place became Kalkulam later. In 1744 A.D., the king Marthanda Varma made Kalkulam the capital of his Kingdom and renamed as Padmanabapuram.

There is a fort around Padmanabapuram which contain several temples including the famous temple of Ramaswamy. The seventh Temple, dedicated to Lord Neelakanda, is constructed after the style of Temples in Tamil Nadu. Probably, this is the only temple built after such a fashion.

There are separate sanctorum for the main deitys in front of the sanctorum of Devi is known as Anandavalli Amman, in the same appearance of Madurai Meenakshi Amman. In the sanctorium for the Amman , the statue of Thirumalai Nayaker is carved.

According to the stone carvings, the main deity is known as Kalkulam Mahadever. There is a holy pond near the Temple with Mandapas. In the Ramaswamy Temple here, the story of Ramayana is sculptured in 145 Panels.

This is a fine illustration of Ramayana story in wood. In the 19th century, the Poet Neelakanda Sivam lived in Padmanabapuram and wrote 2000 Keerthanas in Tamil.