Sree Ananteshwar Temple is situated in Manjeswar, a small town near Kasargod in Northern Kerala. It is the most ancient and the most important temple of GSBs of Kerala supposed to be existing since the 2nd century A.D. This temple was traditionally renowned as Manjula Kshetra and The Temple of 18 towns, indicating that for the GSB settlements of 18 different places this was the only temple available. The temple has hills on three sides and river Manjeshwar flowing by the other. The temple is about 1½ km from Manjeswar Railway station and a Kashi math branch is located near to the temple.
Dieties and Sub-temples
The temple has three principal deities, Shri Ananta, Shri Ishwar (Siva) (therefore Shri Ananteshwar) and Lord Bhadra Narasimha (an avatar of Vishnu).
The original temple had a swayambu Siva lingam, and later Ananta also was installed there making it the Ananteswar temple. However by the installation of Sri Bhadra Narasimha in the 12th century, the Temple has become a major pilgrimage center for Vaishnavites. There is also a legend that Lord Siva himself installed the image of Narasimha here for the worship of mortals in the Kaliyuga.
There are Lord Mukhyaprana, Lord Rudra, Devi Laxmi, Lord Maha Ganapathy and Lord Garuda as other deities in the Temple. There is a temple of Shri Subramanya installed in a declivity, in a surrounding lower than other surrounding area and full of serpent holes.