Paravur was once in Cochin State. Its local ruler, Paravur Thampuran was a great devotee of Goddess Saraswati and often visited the Mookambika temple in the north, When he became too old and weak he could no longer undertake the long journey to Karnataka. He prayed to the Goddess and cried out his heart that he could not have Her darshan. That very night he had darshan of the Devi in a dream. Accordingly he built a temple at Paravur itself and installed the Goddess there, thus enabling the Thampuran to have daily darshan of the Devi. In due course the temple which is in the centre of a lotus pond came to be known as dakshina Mookambika while the one in Karnataka was referred to as northern Mookambika.