The Great Temple of Guruvayoor
The Historical Krishna temple in the town of Guruvayoor in Kerala is one of the five famous Krishna\Vishnu temples in India. The others are Jagannath Puri in Orissa, Venkatachalapati in Andhra Pradesh, Nathdwara in Rajasthan and Dwaraka in Gujarat. Of course there are many other famous ones of Vishnu as well as of Krishna but these are considered to be the most popular. Even though the idol in Guruvayoor is that of Vishnu it is still known as a Krishna temple since the boy Krishna is always said to be running around incognito in the temple precincts. Guruvayoor is known as “Bhuloka Vaikunta” or the abode of Vishnu on earth.
History.
The history of the idol goes back to the hoary past to the age of Dwapara when Lord Krishna was alive. His parents were Vasudeva and Devaki. She was the sister of Kamsa, the cruel king of Mathura. They two of them had been great devotees of Lord Vishnu for many ages. After assiduously wooing him for many births, the Lord had manifested himself to them and promised that he would be born as their son for three lives in succession. He promised them liberation at the end of these three births. This was their last birth as Devaki and Vasudeva in the clan of the Yadavas in the city of Mathura and Krishna was born to them as their eighth son. The idol of Lord Vishnu which is found in Guruvayoor is one which had been worshipped by Devaki and Vasudeva and one can easily imagine that it must also have been worshipped by Lord Krishna himself. This is the greatness and glory of this particular idol of Lord Vishnu – that Vishnu himself had done puja to it in his incarnation as Krishna.
The temple is classified as one of the Mahakshetras or “Great abodes of worship”. There are many such in the holy land of India but few which can claim to have all the ten qualifications of a Mahakshetra. The signs are: 1. antiquity (the temple is believed to be over five thousand years old. 2. Presence of records, (it has quite a few copper plates and palm leaf scrolls). 3. Origin in a forest (this place was a forest at one time). 4. Proximity to the sea, (it is near the Arabian Sea). 5. Royal connections (the royal family of the Zamorins of Calicut have been the custodians of this temple from ancient times). 6. Mention in ancient literature (it has been mentioned in the Mahabharata). 7. Grandeur of festivals (the temple has many grand festivals) 8. Situation at an elevation (this is not so but it has a large body of water beside it). 9. Grandeur of sculpture and architecture. (Even though the original temple did not have any great sculptures yet the walls of the inner courtyard has some extraordinary wall paintings made from vegetable dyes, which date to antiquity. The recent construction has plenty of sculptures). The temple now runs a school where this ancient art of wall painting called “chomiru chitram” is taught to young people and reproductions of the originals are made available to devotees. These are the material features which are to be considered in the classification of a Mahakshetra. Of course needless to say the temple should also have special spiritual significance and the presence of numerous devotees who have personally experienced the Lord’s grace.
At the end of his earthly sojourn, Krishna prophesied to his friend and devotee, Uddhava that the island of Dwaraka, which had been his stronghold, would be swept away by the sea, seven days after he left his mortal body. He instructed him to rescue the precious idol of Vishnu which his parents had worshipped, and hand it over to Brihaspati, the guru of the gods who would come to him. After seven days, the island submerged in the sea as foretold by Lord Krishna. Uddhava went sadly to the seashore and saw the idol bobbing up and down on the waves far out in the sea. He begged the wind god – Vayu to bring it closer to him. The wind wafted it gently to the shore and Uddhava picked it up lovingly and cradled it in his arms. As he was wondering how to contact the guru of the gods, he found that Brihaspati himself was walking towards him. Uddhava told him the whole story of how Lord Krishna had instructed him and Brihaspati who knew everything agreed to take it and install it at some special place. He was sure that he would be given further instructions.
Now Brihaspati asked Vayu, the wind god to transport him through the air so that they could choose a perfect spot for the installation. Carrying the precious idol in his hands, Brihaspati was wafted across the sub-continent of India till they came almost to the sea shore to the spot where the present town of Guruvayoor now stands. Looking down Brihaspati saw a beautiful lake filled with lotuses on the banks of which Shiva and Parvati were dancing. He was charmed by the sight and he requested Vayu to float him down. For some time he stood spell-bound by the dancing couple. When they had finished he prostrated to them and begged Shiva to tell him of a perfect spot to install the idol of Vishnu. Shiva said that this was indeed the ideal place. He told him to build the temple right there at one end of the lake where he and Parvati had been dancing. He magnanimously said that he himself would take up residence at the other end of the lake which was known as Rudrathirta. The temple of Mammiyoor to which Shiva shifted still exists. However during the course of time the lake dried up little by little and now only the temple tank adjoining the Guruvayoor temple remains to tell the tale of this ancient lake. The word Guruvayoor has special connotations. It is made up of two words “guru” and “vayu”. Guru means preceptor and vayu is wind. The idol was installed by Brihaspati, the guru of the gods and Vayu, the god of wind and hence came to be known as Guru-vayoor! The word also has an esoteric meaning. It stands for the body of the human being which is the abode of wind. The five pranas or vital breaths are what sustain the body and make it function properly.
Though the idol traces its antiquity to the Dwapara Yuga, the present temple is only about five hundred years old. However the shrine must have existed in some form or other even at the time of the Mahabharata. When the Pandavas departed from this world, they left their kingdom to Arjuna’s grandson, Parikshit who was their only surviving progeny. Parikshit died of snake bite and his son Janamejaya swore to take revenge on the king of snakes and carried out a huge sarpa yajna, or sacrifice of snakes, in which thousands of snakes perished in the flames. For this heinous crime he was cursed by the snakes and became a leper. Forced to leave his palace and his kingdom, he wandered miserably from temple to temple till he came to the shrine of Lord Guruvayoorappan. Here it is said that he did tapasya for many months and was eventually totally cured of his dread disease.
Temple Magazine.
Many cases of cures and miracles have been attributed to Guruvayoorappan. In fact the monthly magazine of the temple describes the personal experiences of many devotees that continue to take place even now. The temple opens at 3 AM and closes late at night very often at 10 PM or even later when there are special functions. One has to queue for hours to get a fleeting glimpse of the charming figure inside the sanctum sanctorum. The Lord is decorated in various ways during the different pujas. Early morning he is shown as a young child wearing only a small red kaupina and various bits of simple jewellery as befitting a child with a peacock feather in his coronet. He holds a ball of butter in his hand. For the next puja at 10 AM he looks a little older. He is fully adult by the noon puja which is the most elaborate. This ornamentation remains on him till the next morning. It is a strange experience of most true devotees that even though the crowds may be great somehow or other they manage to get a close up view of the Lord even though many people have to leave without being able to get inside. One of the striking features of this temple is that the idol has been so placed that it is visible from very far off, way beyond the main temple doors.
The web master, Arvind Burger being an American would not have been allowed to go inside since the temple is not open to non-Hindus, but in his own miraculous fashion, Guruvayoorappan literally took him by the hand and allowed him to have darshan from inside the inner courtyard without any of the guards noticing his white skin!!
