Fw: Request for your help to bring up very age old temples in Melukote- Karnataka- India

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Srihi:

 

Respected Bhagavatha

 

The mail is self explanaotry can you all hel me.

 

Dasan

Lakshminarasimhan Sridhar

 

- Srihi

sathya

Cc: Sadagopan mama ; Anil T ; Haresh

Tuesday, June 29, 2004 7:52 PM

Re: Request for your help to bring up very age old temples in Melukote- Karnataka- India

 

Srihi:

 

Sriman Sathya

 

Namaskaragalu.

 

I am Lakshimnarasimhan Sridhar. this mail is in response to the instruction given by my Uncle Dr.V Sadagopan (USA) who is also my religious mentor. I am Honary Resident Representative of Tamil Religious Monthly magazine Gopura darisanam .My main work is to cover the Vaishnava temples in Karnataka. I know there are lot of Vaishnava temples in Karnataka. My article has come about the Venugopala swami temple in Maleeshwaram. In forth coming issue the article is coming on Dodda Mallur Aprameya Temple & Swamy Desikans temple in Sathyagalam near madya rangam ( Incidentally I have designed the website for Dodda mallur and Sathyagalam and hosted it in my cost which you might be aware). In a day or two i am hosting a website for Thooppul avathara Sthalam of Swami Desikan and after that Melkote's website i will launch. Now i have got an idea in melkote web site itself we can give the link to Thondannur temple and other temple. For melkote i have enough material and pictures of deity etc. , but i don't have the details for other two temples.( Infact in January 2004 i visited the temple along with my brother sriman Haarish from Singapore watchman and Bhattar did not allow to take picture nor gave the sthalapurana etc. If you can kindly help me in getting the full co-operation from bhattar for taking pictures and in obtaining sthala purana I assure i can bring these two temples to the knowledge of people and it is possible only with the blessings of my acharya Bhagvan Ramanuja and Swami Desikan . I want to build a web site and also publish in Tamil Magazine Gopura Darisanam.

 

Sri Parthasarathy is also known to me He writes article for our magazine also . He is going out of station and will be back after 2/3 months only.

 

Hope to hear from your soon.

 

If you are in Bangalore can we meet in person?

 

Eagerly awaiting to hear from you.

 

Warmest Regards,Lakshminarasimhan Sridhar-------------------------------Mail to:"Sriharitha" ( Behind Tank),I Cross, Sri Munieshwara Swamy Layout extension,Munnekolala, Marthahalli Post,Bangalore:560 037.Tel: +91 80 28475017 or 28476880 or 51169839Mobile:+91 9845 16 78 15e-mail: srihi. Webmaster ofwww.sathyagalam.comwww.doddamallur.comwww.gopuradarisanam.comwww.rangapriya.org

www.thooppul.com (Releasing in day or two)

 

 

-

sathya

LakshmiNarasimhan SrinivasaRaghavan ; ; srivaishnavarajayam ; srivenugopala ; Raghu Veeravalli ; vijaya ; With regards from Dr. Kilambi Ramakrishna ; ; rangapriya ; sandeeplaks2002 ; saranagathi ; sarathy1942 ; senkamalam44 ; Mandyam K Srinivasa ; Murali Srinivasan ; raja lakshmi ; Sowmya Laxmi ; sudarshan madabushi ; ; nama_singapore ; oppiliappan ; parakalamatham ; raghavan ramabadran ; andavan ; Akkarakkani Bharadvaj ; desikasampradaya ; Damana Krishna ; Srikanth Krishnamurthy ; Parthasarathy Srinivasan

Cc: sudarshan madabushi ; tiruvenkatam ; ; oppiliappan ; Ramanbil

Monday, June 28, 2004 10:27 AM

Request for your help to bring up very age old temples in Melukote- Karnataka- India

Dear Mr. Parthasarthy,Your work really needs appreciation sir. Similarly, there are 3-4 very old temples which has its rich heritage & history beyond 1000-5000years.For those who are new to Melkote, I have attached some write-up ( copied from the internet) about Melkote temple and the temples in the nearby Thondanur where Sri Gopalakrishnaswamy temple and Sri Nambi Narayana Swamy temples are located opposite to each other. There is also a temple of Sri Yoga Narashima swamy along with Sri Ramanajar swamy in Shesha avatar. There is only one priest Sri Raghuram Bhat who shuttles between Sri Gopalakrishnaswamy temple and the Yoga Narashima swamy temple which is on the nearby hillock. And there is another single priest named Sri K S Seshadri Archakar.We understand that even for nitya Pooja there is severe shortage of money. I also understand that the Endowment board that is supposed to maintain these ancient temples gives only Indian ruppees eighteen only per month for the daily expenditure for these temples where great sages like Ramanujacharaya have performed poojas. These priests also are not paid monthly salary from the Govt. They have to depend only on the money that devotees put in the arathi plate. Now these temples are in a very pathetic condition for want for good administrators like you who can generate funds to bring back the glory these temples had long long ago. Even though these temples are very huge and big from outside, when you go in one will surely feel very bad why we Hindus donot know how to maintain and protect our dieties and temples.Like the work you are doing for this temple in tamilnadu. i also request your kindselves to do something for these temples also. Somebody Pl help. Pl help Pl help.Especially the significant temples like Yoga Narashima temple on the hillock where its said that Ramanujar had a debate with 1000+strong Jain monks and won over them and also converted them to vaishnavas. One has to visit Melukote and Thondanur to see this and experience this in person. Melkote Temples of Karnataka Melkote located near Mysore in Karnataka houses an ancient shrine to Vishnu, worshipped as TiruNarayana. This shrine is known for its long standing association with the spiritual leader Ramanujacharya. Melkote is also known as Yadavagiri, yatistalam, Vedadri and Narayanadri. The presiding deity here (moolavar) is known by the name Tiru Narayana, while the processional image of Vishnu goes by the name Selva Pillai or Sampath Kumara. Vishnu's consort is known by the name Yadugiri Taayaar. The image of Selvappillai is housed in the Rangamandapa. There are shrines to Yadugiri Taayaar and Kalyani Nachiyaar. The temple tank is known by the name Kalyani theertham. Legend has it this image of Vishnu was held in worship by Bhrahma. It is believed that the festival image Sampatkumara was worshipped by Rama and his son Kusha; hence the name Ramapriya. Legend has it that Krishna installed this image here at Melkote. Melkote has two distinct temples. The Tirunarayana temple at the foothills and the hill temple to Yoga Narasimha. Legend has it that the Yoga Narasimha temple image was installed here by Prahlada. King Bittideva of Karnataka who embraced the Sri Vaishnava way of life and patronized the saint Ramanujacharya, assumed the name of Vishnuvardhana and built five shrines known as the Panchanarayana temples. It is believed that at that time the Narayanapura shrine was in ruins and that both the images of Tirunarayana and Sampathkumara were missing and that Ramanujacharya discovered the image of Tirunarayana in the midst of Tulasi shrubs on the Yadavagiri hill and installed it back in the temple. Legend has it that during the Muslim raids of South India, the festival image of Melkote was stolen and taken away and that Ramanujacharya restored it from the court of the ruler. It is said that it a muslim princess had gotten attached to the image of Selvappillai and that being unable to part with it, she followed the Acharya to Melkote and then merged into the shrine there. In honor of this, there is an image of Bibi Nachiyar here. This temple is known for its Vairamudi Sevai in the month of March-April, when the image of Selvappillai is adorned with a diamond crown and taken out in procession. It is traditional belief that this crown is not to be looked at when it is not worn by the festival image; hence each year, during the occasion, the officiating priest picks up the crown from its chest with his eyes blindfolded and then places it upon the head of the image of Selvappillai. Thousands congregate to celebrate this occasion each year. Such was the hospitality of the residents of Melkote that they were reluctant to let Ramanuja leave for Srirangam. Hence, Ramanujacharya made an image of himself and left it behind. It is to be noted that Ramanuja's body in its preserved state is maintained at Srirangam and that there is another image of Ramanuja at Sriperumpudoor near Chennai. A write up to explain about the origination of Sri Nambi Narayana Swamy temple:Bitti Deva was the ruler of this place ( a Jain follower)Ramanuja traveled eastward and came to Tondanur, the second capital of the Hoysala Empire. Bitti Deva (Vittala Devaraya) was the name of the Hoysala ruler. His daughter was suffering from a mental illness. Ramanuja by now had become famous as the man who cured the illness of the Chola princess. When the king sent for Ramanuja, he did not go at first. But when a disciple,Tondanurunambi, assured him that the Hoysala king was not a fanatical tyrant like the Chola king, Ramanuja agreed to go. He cured the illness of the princess, to the delight of the king. He was drawn to Ramanuja's faith and became a Srivaishnava. He then onwards came to be known as Vishnu- vardhana. In memory of this great event, the king built five Vaishnava temples Channiganarayana temple at Belur, Nambinarayana temple at Tondanur, Kirtinarayana temple at Talakad, Veeranarayana temple at Gadag and Chaluvanarayana temple at Melkote. These temples are lasting monuments of Karnataka culture and architecture. Ramanuja b With Best Wishes & RegardsG. SATYA NARAYANAN- "Parthasarathy Srinivasan" <chandraparthasarathy"LakshmiNarasimhan SrinivasaRaghavan" <lsriniva; ; <srivaishnavarajayam >; <srivenugopala >; "Raghu Veeravalli" <vvraghuja; "vijaya" <vijaya1989; "With regards from Dr. Kilambi Ramakrishna" <kramakrishna; ; <rangapriya >; "sandeeplaks2002" <sandeeplaks2002; <saranagathi >; <sarathy1942; "senkamalam44" <senkamalam44; "Mandyam K Srinivasa" <msrinivasa; "Murali Srinivasan" <mambalammurali; "raja lakshmi" <psree19662000; "Sowmya Laxmi" <laxmisowmya; "sudarshan madabushi" <mksudarshan2002; <malolan_ Friday, June 25, 2004 17:26 VILAKKOLI DHITTAM> DEAR BAKTHAS,> > ADIYEN IS GREATFUL TO THOSE WHO CONTRIBUTED FOR ABOVE SCHEME.> ADIYEN HAD DECIDED TO ADOPT THE TEMPLE OF SRI ANANDAVALLI SAMETHA VAIKUNDAVASAR IN ARUMBULIYUR ON BANKS OF PALARU NEAR THIRUMUKKOODAL ENROUTE CHINGLEPUT- KANCHIPURAM LINE.> THE SAID TEMPLE WAS NOT OPEND FOR THE LAST NINE YEARS FOR NITHYA POOJA, AN ONE CAN IMAGINE THE CONDITION OF THE TEMPLE TODAY. TO RENOVATE, START THE DAILY POOJA ALL THE VAISHNAVAITS ARE REQUESTED TO SEND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS LIBERALY BY BANK DRAFT IN THE NAME OF PADMASHREE ANMIGA SEVAI( REGD ) A/C VILAKKOLI DHITTAM, PAYABLE AT CHENNAI TO MS R. RAJALAKSHMI, 108, NEW STREET, MANNADY, CHENNAI-600001.> > DASAN,> POIGAIADIAN> > > > > Mail - You care about security. So do we.> >