South India is well known for its culture, natural beauty, and various temples. These magnificent temples portray the rich cultural heritage of the land, which remains unchanged even in these modern times. It is not only the fine architecture of the temples that makes them unique but also the legends and history associated with them. The mythological tales of each temple carry a lasting impact on the thousands of devotees who visit them annually
One such temple is the Shri Krishna Temple of Karnataka, situated in Udupi, a town in Mangalore. Udupi is also referred to as the ‘Mathura’ of Southern India. The temple, popularly known as ‘Shri Krishna Matha’ (meaning monastery), is an important pilgrimage site in South India and has intriguing legends associated with it.
The History of Udupi Shri Krishna Temple
Shri Madhavacharya, a renowned Vaishnava saint and the founder of Dvaita philosophy, founded the Udupi Shri Krishna temple in the 13th century. It is widely believed that the learned saint found Lord Krishna's idol buried in a large stone ball of sandalwood.
The story behind the formation of the idol
According to Hindu mythology, Shri Krishna’s wife Rukmini asked him for an idol of Balkrishna. Thus, the Lord entrusted Vishwakarma, the divine architect of the Gods, with the task of designing the idol. Vishwakarma made a beautiful childlike idol of Lord Krishna and gave it to Rukmini who began worshipping it.
Over time, hundreds of devotees at Dwarka worshipped the idol by applying sandalwood paste to it. As a result, the idol became entirely covered with this paste.
As the end of Lord Krishna's era neared, the city of Dwarka was completely deluged by a massive flood. Consequently, the sandalwood that covered Lord Krishna's idol was washed away. To this date, locals believe that the same idol is worshipped in the temple.
The discovery of the idol by Shri Madhvacharya
Many centuries later, a sailor found the idol in the shape of a rock on an island. He started using the rock to balance his ship. One day, his ship was caught in a colossal sea storm. Shri Madhvacharya, who was meditating on the shore of Malpe beach at that time sensed the danger and implored Lord Vishnu to calm down the raging weather. Then, he gestured to the sailor to sail onto land. Upon reaching the shore safely, the sailor expressed his appreciation to the saint and appealed to him to accept something from his ship as a token of gratitude.
Saint Madhvacharya accepted the sandalwood rock. A few days later, when he was breaking the rock, the idol of Balkrishna appeared from it. The saint was ecstatic and overjoyed as he realized that this was the same idol that Rukmini worshipped. Instantly, he decided to bring home the idol to his Matha (monastery) in Udupi, roughly 4 km from the shore where he was meditating.
A Unique Way of Worshiping:
In the Udupi Shri Krishna Temple, the idol of Lord Krishna is that of a small boy (Balkrishna). Although visitors cannot view the idol directly, it is known to be very beautiful. Instead, devotees can look at the deity through a silver-plated window with nine holes, called ‘Navagraha Kitiki’. These holes depict the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Another unique characteristic of the Shri Krishna temple is that unlike other temples where the idol is placed facing East, the idol in the Shri Krishna temple faces West.
The Legend of the West-Facing Balkrishna Idol
In earlier times, people belonging to lower castes were forbidden from entering temples. Kanakadasa, a pious devotee of Lord Krishna, longed to get a glimpse of his lord. However, he was denied entry because he belonged to a low caste.
Undaunted in his devotion to Lord Krishna, he ran to the West side of the temple and peeped through three holes in the wall. Unfortunately, Balakrishna's idol faced the East wall and Kanakadasa failed to see Lord Krishna's idol. Nevertheless, Kanakadasa began to pray passionately to Lord Krishna to appear before him.
Impressed by his devotion, Balkrishna's idol turned to the west and made itself seen to Kanakadasa through the nine-holed window and the opening on the wall beyond. This story explains the peculiar west-facing position of the idol. Eventually, it became a tradition to offer prayers to the Lord only through this nine-holed window on the western wall of the temple. And the hole came to be known as ‘Kanakana Kindi’.
AUTHOR
Ria Kanchan
Pratha Content Writing Intern
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