Ornate pillars in a mantapa in the Cheluvarayaswamy temple at Melukote

Cheluvanarayana Swamy Temple, also known as Thirunarayanapura, is a temple in Melkote in the

Mandya District Mandya District is an administrative district of Karnataka, India. The district is bordered on the south by Mysore and Chamarajangar districts, on the west by Hassan District, on the north by Tumkur District and on the east by Ramanagara dist ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Kar ...

, India. The temple is built on rocky hills which overlook the

Kaveri The Kaveri (also known as Cauvery, the anglicized name) is one of the major Indian rivers flowing through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Kaveri river rises at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri range in the Western Ghats, Kodagu di ...

valley. It is about from

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

and from

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

Establishment

After Ramanujacharya was made the rajguru of

Hoysala Empire The Hoysala Empire was a Kannadiga power originating from the Indian subcontinent that ruled most of what is now Karnataka between the 10th and the 14th centuries. The capital of the Hoysalas was initially located at Belur, but was later moved ...

Lord Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Prese ...

in a dream ordered Ramanuja to move to Melkote, where he would find the holy earth. Traditional accounts mention that the reason for travel was to search for namam clay for Srivaishnava Urdhva Pundra which was abundant in Melkote. Upon traveling, he found the holy earth and a vigraha of the god which was installed as the deity Tirunarayana of Melkote. In the Bahudhanya year, Pushyamasa

Shukla Paksha Paksha (also known as ''pakṣa''; sa, पक्ष, Nepal Bhasa: ''thwa'' and ''gа̄''; ) refers to a fortnight or a lunar phase in a month of the Hindu lunar calendar. Literally meaning "side", a paksha is the period either side of the F ...

Chaturdashi, the deity was installed according to

Pancharatra ''Pancharatra'' (IAST: ''Pāñcarātra'') was a religious movement in Hinduism that originated in late 3rd-century BCE around the ideas of Narayana and the various avatars of Vishnu as their central deities.

agama. Ramanuja worshipped it for three days, followed by kumbhabhishekham and recited tamil vedas. Subsequently, the Yadugiri Yathiraja Mutt was established for a sanyasi to live and manage the affairs of the temple.

Temple complex

The temple is lined with carved pillars and features a dome-like top decorated with highly detailed sculptures. The presiding deity is ''Cheluvanarayana Swamy,'' also known as ''Unggasu Wiili'' (ತಿರುನಾರಾಯಣ) or ''Cheluvapille Raya (ಚೆಲುವಪಿಲ್ಲೆ ರಾಯ),'' a form of Lord

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within ...

. Inscriptions indicate that the deity was also known as Ramapriya. The ''utsavamurthi (ಉತ್ಸವ ಮೂರ್ತಿ),'' a metal idol sculpture used for processions and certain religious rituals, represents the deity ''Cheluvanarayana Swamy''. According to the legend, this metallic figure was once lost, but was recovered by Sri Ramanujacharya. The annual report of the Mysore Archaeological Department states that based on the strength of

epigraphic Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

evidence, the presiding deity of this temple was already a well-known object of worship even before Sri Ramanujacharya was worshiped at the shrine during the December 1098 CE period. This was also before Sri Ramanujacharya ventured to the Mysore region where he most likely would have used his influence to rebuild or renovate the temple. From the lithic records of the period, the existence of Tamil influence and

Vaishnava Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as ...

worship are also evident. All three crowns are kept in the custody of the government and are brought to the temple on a specific annual occasion to adorn the image of ''Cheluvanarayana Swamy''.

Gallery

Cheluvanarayana Swamy Temple 1.jpg Cheluvanarayana Swamy Temple 2.jpg Cheluvanarayana Swamy Temple 3.jpg Cheluvanarayana Swamy Temple 4.jpg Melukote- Sculptures at Cheluvanarayana Temple.JPG File:Gopura at the entrance.jpg, Gopura at the entrance

References

External links

Academy of Sanskrit Research
{{Hindu temples in Karnataka Vishnu temples Hindu temples in Mandya district Purana temples of Vishnu