Varkala carries two borrowed titles: Dakshina Kashi, the Kashi of the South, and sometimes the Gaya of the South.
Both are borrowed from the north, and both are borrowed for one specific reason. Varanasi and Gaya are where Hindus go to perform rites for the dead. Calling Varkala by their names is not a general compliment about holiness — it is a statement about what this place is for.
The temple and the shore are one site
Most visitors treat the temple and Papanasam Beach as two attractions a short walk apart. In practice they are one ritual arrangement with two halves.
Worship is offered above, at the shrine of Vishnu as Janardana Swami. The rites for the dead are performed below, at the waterline. Families descend from one to the other, often guided by a priest, to carry out pitru tarpanam and shraddha — the offerings owed to parents and forebears — pouring water and sesame at the edge of the sea.
The name of the beach states the premise: Papanasam, the destruction of sin. The belief is that the water here carries the offering and cleanses the living and the dead together.
Karkidaka Vavu
The rites happen year-round, but there is one day when the whole arrangement becomes visible at once.
Karkidaka Vavu is the new moon of Karkidakam, the last month of the Malayalam calendar, falling around July or August. It is the principal day for ancestral offerings in Kerala, and at Varkala the beach fills — families in rows along the sand, priests working through the ritual, offerings going into the surf.
Karkidakam is also the depth of the monsoon: the leanest month traditionally, the month of rain and of Ramayana recitation. Remembering the dead in the hardest, wettest stretch of the year is not an accident of the calendar. It sits with everything else that month is for.
If you are visiting for the cliff and the cafés, it is worth knowing this date exists. The beach on Karkidaka Vavu is not a sunbathing beach.
Visiting a shore that is doing this
Papanasam is a public beach and a working ritual site simultaneously, and nobody will stop you being on it. But the ordinary courtesies apply, and they are easy.
Do not photograph families performing rites. Give the groups at the waterline room rather than walking through them. Keep swimwear for the stretches away from where the ceremonies are happening. And if the beach is crowded with families and priests on a particular morning, the cliff above is the better place to be.
None of this requires you to believe anything. It is the same consideration you would extend at a funeral you happened to walk past, which is in fact what you are walking past.
The other hill
One more layer sits behind all this. A short way inland is Sivagiri, where Sree Narayana Guru — the social reformer whose campaign against caste exclusion reshaped Kerala — established his hermitage in 1904. He died in 1928 and his samadhi there is now a major pilgrimage site in its own right.
So within a couple of kilometres Varkala holds an ancient Vishnu temple, a shore for the dead, and the resting place of the man who did more than anyone to open Kerala’s temples to those who had been kept out of them. Pilgrims routinely pair them, and the pairing is the most interesting thing about the town.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Varkala called the Kashi of the South?
Because of what happens here rather than the temple’s size. Varanasi and Gaya are where Hindus perform rites for the dead, so borrowing their names marks Varkala as one of Kerala’s principal sites for ancestral offerings — pitru tarpanam and shraddha, performed on the beach below the temple.
What is Karkidaka Vavu?
The new moon of Karkidakam, the last month of the Malayalam calendar, falling around July or August. It is the main day for ancestral rites in Kerala, and Papanasam Beach fills with families and priests. Dates shift each year, so confirm locally.
What does Papanasam mean?
Destruction of sin — papa, sin, and nasam, destruction. The belief is that bathing here dissolves wrongdoing and that the water carries offerings made on behalf of the dead.
Can tourists visit the beach when rites are happening?
Yes, it is a public beach, but treat it as you would any funeral. Do not photograph families performing rites, give the groups at the waterline space, keep swimwear away from the ceremonies, and consider the cliff above if the beach is busy with families.
How does Sivagiri fit in?
Sivagiri is a short way inland, where Sree Narayana Guru founded his hermitage in 1904; he died in 1928 and his samadhi is a major pilgrimage site. Visitors commonly pair it with the temple, which puts an ancient Vishnu shrine and the reformer who fought temple exclusion within a couple of kilometres of each other.