Kottarakkara Sree Mahaganapathy Kshethram
It is one of the old and famous pilgrim centre in South India. This Ganapati temple is located in Kottarakkara which is 25 km from Kollam.The deities of this temple are Parama Shiva,Parvati Devi, Sree Maha Ganapati, Sree Murukan, Sree Ayyappan, and Nagaraja. Even though main deity is Parama Shiva, main priority is given to Sree Maha Ganapati. The main offerings of the temple are Unni Appam and Pushpanjali.The thiruvathira festival at the famed Kottarakara Ganapathy temple is held in the Malayalam months Meenam/Medam (April). This well-known temple has a rare specialty that makes it different from many other ganapathy temples. The fact is this is a Siva temple, but it is not known by the principal deity's name. The principal deity here is Paramasiva having an eastward darshan and ganapathy is in fact an upadevan here. Moreover, the Ganapathy idol here was not installed according to the tantra rituals. Still people generally know this temple as a ganapathy temple. Legend has it that it was it was Perumthachan who installed the ganapathy idol here.