Lokanarkavu Temple is an ancient Hindu temple situated in Memunda 4 km from Vatakara, in Kozhikode District, North Malabar region of Kerala state of south India. Lokanarkavu is a short form of Lokamalayarkavu which means lokam (world) made of mala (mountain), aaru (river) and kavu (grove). The closest railway station is at Vatakara, which is 5 km from temple. The nearest airport is Kannur airport which is 54 km away. Pooram is the important festival here and it is conducted with great pomp and show. The week-long festival begins with Kodiyettam (flag hoisting) and concludes with Arattu. The temple dedicated to goddess Durga has great historical importance as Thacholi Othenan, the legendary martial hero of Kerala, used to worship here every day.

Thirty days Mandala Utsavam in Malayalam month Vrischikam (November–December) and pooram in Malayalam month meenam (March–April) are the annual festival at the Lokanarkavu Bhagavathy Temple. This is the only temple where a peculiar folk dance called Poorakkali is presented during festivals. The dance, resembles the martial art Kalarippayattu. Even today, all Kalaripayattu artists seek the blessings of the deity before their debut due to the association of Lokanarkavu Temple with legendary hero thacholi othenan. Yet another story is that a group of merchants of Kollam , belonging to caste of Ravari Nayars (see the write up on Pisharikkavu) migrated to Malabar and brought with them the idol of this Goddess. It seems they wanted to settle in a place , where people are truthful. Wherever they went they gave a pot of Sugar for safe keeping in a house. Inside the sugar , they hid a bar of gold. Wherever they gave this, the people stole the gold bar and returned the vessel to them. But in Badagara , a family called “Puthu panathu”, returned the gold along with the sugar. It seems these Ravari nayars settled down in that place and built a temple for their goddess in Lokanar Kovil. It seems later this group of people had a quarrel with the local population and shifted to a place called Nada Puram. It is also believed that this entire community was converted in to Islam after the conquest by Tipu Sultan.

There is one yearly pooram festival in the month of Meenam (March-April) and It is celebrated for a period of eight days On the fifth and sixth day there is a dance by Theyyambadi kurup which attracts a large crowd. On the eighth day there is arattu( Ceremonial bath of the deity in the river). On this day the Goddess is taken to the nearby Shiva temple and the story of the Goddess is sung there (Poora Pattu).There is also performance of a dance form resembling Kalari Payithu called “Poora Kali” The month of Vruschigam (October-Novamber ) is celebrated as “Mandala Vilakku” . The Three thousand oil lamps which are there in the outer walls of the temple are lit during this time.  Source : Wikipedia

Trasnport

By Road: Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and several other private buses operate frequent bus services to Memunda which is 6 Km from Vadakara where the temple is located. From the Vadakara New Bus Stand head south towards Edapally-Panvel Highway Turn left onto Edapally-Panvel Highway passby Canara Bank on the right and turn right at Jubilee Textiles onto Vadakara – Thiruvallur – Perambra Passby Vijaya Bank on the left turn left onto New Bus stand Govt Hospital Road passby Galleria Color Lab on the right and turn right onto Memunda road passby Juma Masjid Makkoolpeedika on the left in 1.5 Km then turn right onto Kavil road and you will find the temple.
By Train: From Vadakara railway station head north towards footover bridge and turn right toward old bus stand railway station road and take slight left at Muthappan Temple on to Old bus stand – railway station road passby Sree Gokulam Ayurvedic Hospital on the right and take the first left onto Main road passby City Medicals on the left take the first right onto market road/Vadakara-Villapally Road and continue to follow Vadakara-Vilalapally Road passby Apsara Gold on the left and turn right onto Memunda Road passby Adakkatheru Juma Masjid on the right and turn right onto Kavil road and you will find the destination on the right.
By Air: Kozhikode (Calicut) has an international airport which is some 87 Kms from Memunda.