Thrippunithura

Thrippunithura or Tripunithura is a suburb of the city of Kochi in the state of Kerala, India and a part of the Kochi metropolitan area. In local administration it is a municipality named Tripunithura Municipality. In the state administrative structure, Thrippunithura is part of the Ernakulam District in the state of Kerala.

Thrippunithura was the capital of the erstwhile Kingdom of Cochin. The descendants of the Cochin royal family still live here. The Hill Palace situated near Thripunithura was the palace of Maharaja of Cochin, the ruler of Kingdom of Cochin.

Etymology

There are many stories that describe the origin of the word Thripunithura. Some latter day Sanskrit enthusiasts ascribe the origin of the name to "Poorna Veda Puri" - the town of Vedas in its entirety. Another possible origin to name comes from the meaning "the land on the shores of Poorna river".

Other stories play on the pun of "Pooni" or "Pooneeram" which means quiver. One of them relates that Arjuna - one of Pandavas - who once visited Lord Vishnu was given an idol and Arjuna carried it in his "pooni" (quiver). While searching for a place to install it, he met Lord Ganapati and sought help. Ganapati found this place and the idol was installed. Another story of the same variety is as follows. At the end of Dwaparayuga, the period of Lord Krishna, the Lord himself presented an idol to Arjuna, one of the Pandavas, and asked him to install it in a proper place. He kept the idol in a bag used to keep arrows, which was called Pooneeram in local language. When he reached the place, he shouted Pooneeram Thura means 'open the bag' in local language. Thus the name Poonithura has come, according to this story.