Puraviyil Sree Chamundeswary Devi Temple is a Hindu Temple dedicated to goddess Chamundy Devi located at Venganoor in Thiruvananthapuram. Chamundi Devi is considered as the wrathful form of Durga, but at the same time, the goddess is kind to her true devotees. This temple, which is more than 650 years old is situated at Chavadinada, Venganoor, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, around 15kms south of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram. The temple enshrines an idol of the goddess Puraviyil Sree Chamundeswari Devi. The word “Puraviyil “means “gifted”. The belief is that the land where the temple is situated has been gifted by the Maharaja of Travancoreto the members of his Army who always protected him, for building a Temple for the Goddess.
There are many popular beliefs related to the origin of this temple. The prominent among is about a Karanavar of a well-known Tharavad of the area, who embarked on a pilgrimage for visiting various temples at Kolathunadu for studying the science of divinity. During his stay in Kolathunadu, he worshiped a Devi deity in a Temple there. He was a strong believer of that particular temple and his dedication and bhakthi in the divine powers of the deity had been the talk of the area. It is said that one day, the Devi came in his dream to say that she has impressed in his deep bhakthi and dedication and would accompany him soon to his native place. As per his inner persuasion he carried the power of Goddess in a pot(kalasam)and happily returned to his Tharavad at Venganoor with the sacred power in the vessel and started worshipping the Devi by placing the Pot in the nearby Sarpakav. It was later shifted to a Kottiyambalam and started offering poojas there. There after a small Temple in a thatched roof was made. Later this thatched roof temple was re constructed to a permanent tiled roof temple. The present temple was constructed eighteenyears back.
The Temple also believed to be the Temple of Venganoor Pillai, one of the members of Ettuveettil Pillamar. Hence the Temple is having a relation with Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple.
The Goddess in this Temple is believed to be an incarnation of Goddess Parvathi, the consort of Lord Shiva. Every year a large number of devotees visit this temple and they strongly believe that the Goddess fulfills their desires and aspirations. In the Malayalam month Midhunum of every year in Uthramnakshatram is celebrated as the annual Prathista Dhivasam, in which thousands of devotees used to attend the poojas here.