[sri ramanuja] Shrines of Blessed Karnataka !

[Guest guest]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<0>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

God's accessibility.

Posted by: "Mohan Sagar" madhuriandmohan (AT) toast (DOT) net

Fri Sep 1, 2006 9:26 am (PDT)

 

Dear Sri Anil,

While there are no divya deshams in Karnataka, I think you will be happy to know that about 3 hours from Bangalore is Bhagavad Sri Ramanuja's favorite temple, Melkote. Here the famous Deity of Lord who climbed into Ramanuja's lap, Selva Pillai, resides as the Patron Deity. On the way you can visit Thondanoor, the place where Ramanuja defeated the Jains in debate and re-established the temple of Sri LakshmiNarsimhan.

adiyen

Mohan

 

Anil Sakhamuri wrote:

> Srimate Ramanujaya nama:<

Pranamam to All,

Now I am staying in Bangalore (RTNagar). I would like to know any

Srivaishnava Temples in and surround Bangalore.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Sriman Mohan svami,

Granted that Karnataka has no divya-desam history, I have yet discovered with indescribable excitement some of the Srivaishnava shrines located in this blessed State which are there in silent testimony of religious tranquility and unrivalled artistic excellence.

[i may like to say, in aside, that the rich and ivory-kind of delicate carving travelled all over the Indian sub-continent, as I now propose on the basis of my longtime visits ~ Orissa / kalinGa, Mehsana and Mt Abu in Rajasthan, Delhi (as in black basalt Janardana in National Museum in NewDelhi), the Pala images of Bengal, Pithoragarh in (to-day's) himachal mountain State of Koormachal, the great buDha neela-kAnta and the hill-top Chengu-naaraayan, to the west and east of Kathmandu, Nepal. The Hoysala signature and idiom are unmistakable in all these places ! I have no personal knowledge of the links in Andhra and Madhya Pradesh on this route.]

Sri Mani Varadarajan of San Francisco is perhaps most knowledgeable about the exciting vaishnava shrines of the State of Karnataka, especially in and around Bangalore.

The Commercial Street of B'lore Cantonment has a shrine of Narasimha, installed by the renowned Vaana-maa-malai Chinna Kalian Jeeyar Svami. Adjacent to it is one of Venugopala. Further down the street is an expansive shrine of Srirama which, I was told, was brought to prominence during Sri A. Ramaswami Mudaliar's tenure as Diwan (?) of Mysore. There is, of course, the well-known Venugopala / Krishna shrine of Malleswaram where one can worship the astonishing 'twin' dear Lord Selvappillai-Sampatkumara of Melukote. A recent shrine is of Mahalakshmi Mandiram (virtually replicating the shrine of Yadugiri-taayaar of Melukote) in Lower Palace Orchards, Vyaali kaaval, near to the Kaveri movie house.

There is then the Sveta-varaaha in the Mysore Palace Complex, and Keerti-narayana at Talai-kaveri. Kolar has a Narayana shrine. Mandya has its Hosa-holelu, the extraordinary Maadhava of Matthur, a mammoth Varadaraja (said to have been installed by the queen mother of Bitti-deva / Vishnuvardhana, the noble Hoysala, when she regained her eyesight after worshipping Sri Varadaraja of Kanchi, even like Sri Koorat-aazhvaan). A km or two away from Mandya bus station is Chenna Kesava, and east of Chenna-patna is Lord Sri Aprameya and Aravindavalli naaicchiaar at Dodda-malur. Bindiga-naviley (Mandya) has the extraordinary Garuda-vaahana made entirely of sandal wood. Karighatta is another hill-top shrine of Mandya offering a most tranquil view off the elevation. The very ornate Sri Chenna Kesava of Kaidali, off Tumkur, said to have been the last handiwork of the famed sculptor, Jakkanaachaarya, was recently vandalised. A hill-top Narasimha, a little distance away, is

also a period shrine.

Those who look for the 'classicals' should cover the great 'pancha-naaraayana' shrines raised by Hoysala Vishnuvardhana, under the supervision of Svami Mudali-aandaan. Melukote/Tirunarayanapuram of fragrant history is surpassed in rich carving in the shrines of Belur (Chenna-Kesava), Salagramam, Tondanur (Nambi-Narayana), and Gadag Veera-narayana.

And, who can forget the grand Lord at Srirangapatna?

[it takes some effort to reconcile to the fact that the so-called liberal ruler, Tipu Sultan, had erected his mosque with the sculpted pillars removed from the Lord's shrine. These pillars are still there to see ! This is also the case in Pondicherry where the statue of Dupleix stands on the support of sculpted pillars removed from a Vaishnava temple.]

aDiyEn rAmAnuja-dAsan,

tirumanjanam Sundara Rajan

(Srirangam

 

 

How low will we go? Check out Messenger’s low PC-to-Phone call rates.