Does Sigmund Freud Share A Connection With Kochi Temple?

IS there a connection between Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, and the Sree Poornathrayeesa Temple in Tripunithura? Apparently so.

- RAJESH RAVI

An iconic statuette of Vishnu that adorned Freud's desk currently preserved at the Freud Museum in London -may have been modelled after the Kochi temple's deity. This white marble carving of Vishnu seated beneath the fiveheaded serpentine demigod Ananta Shesha was gifted to Freud by the Indian Psychoanalytical Society in 1931. The move came following the society's meeting at the University College of Science in Kolkata on May 6 that year "to celebrate the 75th birthday of the Vienna professor." A brass plaque at the statuette's base bears birthday greetings in Sanskrit, while the sandalwood base has inscriptions dedicated to Freud.