A rare sight was witnessed at Kerala’s Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple on September 23 when, during the equinox, the setting sun aligned perfectly with the temple’s giant entrance tower. The video was shared by Anand Mahindra on his social media account, where he called it “magnificent”.
Rare Sun Alignment At Kerala’s Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple
Today is the Equinox.
At the magnificent Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala, the setting sun performs a spectacle its builders engineered centuries ago by appearing, one by one, through the openings of its precisely aligned gopuram.
Ancient astronomy & engineering but… pic.twitter.com/iclzz2nHbE
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) September 23, 2026
The equinox at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala is a beautiful event where the setting sun beautifully and perfectly aligns with the temple’s giant gopuram. This happens only twice a year, around March 20-21 and September 22-24, on the days of the equinox.
Now, you must be wondering what happens during the event. The sun moves through the five vertical windows of the temple’s towering gateway, called the Gopuram. As the sun sets, it passes directly behind the Gopuram. The sunlight appears to peel precisely through the top window first, then every five minutes it lowers through the next window until the sun disappears.
Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mahindra Group, also posted about this rare event on social media and wrote, “At the magnificent Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala, the setting sun performs a spectacle its builders engineered centuries ago by appearing, one by one, through the openings of its precisely aligned gopuram. Ancient astronomy & engineering but incredible precision.”
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Classic Example Of A Scientific Marvel
According to WION, the windows of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple are perfectly aligned on an east-west axis. This makes it one of the most well-known examples of ancient Indian archaeoastronomy. The temple’s tower design is also linked to the position and movement of the sun, and its alignment allows the sun to appear through the windows.
It is definitely an example of a scientific marvel because hundreds of years ago, builders engineered the temple with the exact east-west alignment. And this is why the sun aligns with the windows only during these two specific periods of the year. On other days, the sun sets too far to the north or south, and the tower blocks the light.
Netizens were quite stunned by the spectacle. They wrote comments like, “Astonishing,” and “That’s the greatness of our rich heritage, culture and scientifically ancient knowledge.”
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This is amazing, right?
Cover Image Courtesy: @anandmahindra/X and Kerala Tourism/X
FAQs
Where is Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple?
Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple is located in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
What is an equinox?
An equinox is when day and night are nearly equal in length.
Who is Anand Mahindra?
Anand Mahindra is the chairman of the Mahindra Group.
