Next stop after the beach was the Sri Krisha temple in Udupi -- one of the most popular shrines dedicated to Lord Krishan in Southern India.
Built in the 13th century -- the temple is famous for having an idol that can be viewed from the outside. Legend has it that in the 16th century, a pilgrimager named Kanakadasa came to Udupi to worship Lord Krishna. He was not allowed inside the temple since he was from a lower caste. Sri Krishna, pleased by the worship of Kanakadasa created a small hole in the back wall of the temple and turned to face the hole so that Kanakadasa could see him. This hole (window) is now known as Kanakana Kindi.
We didn't go into the temples -- not dressed appropriately and in some cases not the right caste (which triggered some interesting conversations!) --- so we just walked around.
We were lucky though to be there for the nightly cart procession. Every night at the temple, there is a parade with elephant/s, musicians, and a cart that contains a processional idol of Lord Krishna made of panchaloh (alloy of 5 metals - gold, silver, copper, zinc, tin). The parade stops at intervals along the route for the lord to be entertained by fireworks or worshipped with offerings by his devotees.
Good photo opp -- except for when the elephant started coming at me -- I don't think he liked the flash on my camera (well I think that's what his handler was yelling at me). I just scurried back a bit -- didn't think too much of it --- my co-workers who were behind me thought I was going to get trampled!
Side note: according to some Hindi literature there are 330 MILLION Hindi deities -- click here for a partial list.
No comments:
Post a Comment