ISKCON Temple Chennai
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ISKCON Temple Chennai, also known as the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Mandir, is a
Gaudiya Vaishnavism Gaudiya Vaishnavism (), also known as Chaitanya Vaishnavism, is a Vaishnavism, Vaishnava Hindu denominations, Hindu religious movement inspired by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534) in India. "Gaudiya" refers to the Gaura or Gauḍa region o ...
temple in
Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
, India. The temple is dedicated to Supreme Lord
Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...
and His divine consort
Radha Radha (, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. In scriptures, Radha is mentioned as the avatar of Lakshmi and also as the Prak ...
. It was formally inaugurated on 26 April 2012.


History

ISKCON founder
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (; ) (1 September 1896 – 14 November 1977) was a spiritual, philosophical, and religious teacher from India who spread the Hare Krishna mantra and the teachings of "Krishna consciousness" ...
, wanted to establish ISKCON centers in
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. In 1971, when he returned to India after his success with spread of ISKCON in the Western world, he directed Giriraj Maharaj to go to Madras and preach activities, resulting in many enlisting as life patrons. Prabhupada wrote in a letter, Prabhupada visited Madras in February 1972 and delivered lectures. In 1975, a centre was opened at 50 Aspiran Gardens, 2nd Street,
Kilpauk Kilpauk is a semi residential area located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The distance from Chennai's city to Kilpauk is about 6 km. The region is situated off the Poonamallee High Road in the west. Adjacent areas of Kilpauk include Chet ...
, which was later shifted to Kilpauk Garden Road. In 1988, the centre moved to T. Nagar, where the congregation of Chennai ISKCON increased greatly. During a morning walk on 18 December 1975, Prabhupada remarked: "Now our European and American boys are preaching in South India and big, big acaryas have received them." In January 1976, Prabhupada visited Madras again and lectured in AVM Rajeswari Kalyana Mandapam, Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai and in the house of the then Chief Justice Veeraswamy. Inspired by the positive response to Krishna consciousness in Madras, Prabhupada wrote a letter to his disciples in Madras: However, the effort to fulfill the desire of Prabhupada to build a "gorgeous temple" in Chennai did not prove fruitful until 2000 when devotees serving under the leadership of Bhanu Swami located 6.5 acres of land in
Injambakkam Injambakkam is a locality in the south of Chennai in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu. Being a part of the Walajabad block of the district, its Panchayati raj in India, panchayat is part of Walajabad panchayat un ...
and acquired immediately for construction of the temple. The temple was built solely on donations received from people in Chennai. The construction of the first phase of the project began on 17 March 2002. The temple has been built with the support of about 8,000 life patrons and contributions from devotees. Built on 45,000 sq ft of land, the temple cost 100 million. The ''prana pratishtha'' (deity installation) ceremony, when the deities of Lord Krishna and Radha and their ''sakhis''—Lalitha and Vishaka—were installed in one of the three teak-wood altars in the main hall, and ''Kumbhabhishekam'' were performed on 26 April 2012. After the ''Kumbhabishekam'' and ''Maha mangala arati''—the first decorated darshan of the deities—flowers were showered from a
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...
over the ''gopurams'' built in the Kalinga style with a Sudarshana Chakra on the top of the tallest tower. The deities in the temple on Burkit Road, T. Nagar unit have also been shifted to this temple. At the time of inauguration, the temple was still under construction with a 90-ft-long construction, which was to function as the kitchen and ''annadhan'' hall, nearing completion.


Structure

ISKCON Temple Chennai is part of the Centre for Spiritual Art and Culture and is located off the
East Coast Road East Coast Road (ECR), combination of SH-49, NH-332A, NH-32, officially known as Mutthamizh Arignar Kalaignar Road, is a two-lane highway (now being partially widened to four lanes from Chennai to Mamallapuram) in Tamil Nadu, India, built alo ...
at the Hare Krishna land,
Sholinganallur Sholinganallur, also spelled Solinganalloor or Sozhinganalloor, is a southern suburb of Chennai, India. Etymology The etymology given by Tamil scholars is "Chola" + "Angam" + "Nallur", which indicates that Sholinganallur was once part of a Ch ...
. The deities worshipped in the temple include those of Radha Krishna Lalita Vishaka, Jagannath Baladev Subhadra, and Sri Sri Nitai Gauranga. Spread over an area of over 1.5 acres, the temple is constructed on five levels. There is a 7,000 sq ft temple hall on the first floor, an auditorium for cultural and spiritual programmes on the ground floor and a prasadam hall in the basement. In the temple hall, there are three teak-wood altars which house the deities of
Lord Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is wi ...
with his chief consort
Radha Radha (, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. In scriptures, Radha is mentioned as the avatar of Lakshmi and also as the Prak ...
rani and their assisting friends Lalita and Vishaka,
Lord Chaitanya Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (; ), born Vishvambhara Mishra () (18 February 1486 – 14 June 1534), was an Indian Hindu saint from Bengal and the founder of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mode of worshipping Krishna with bhajan-kirt ...
with Lord Nityananda and Lord Jagannath, Baladeva and
Subhadra Subhadra (, ) is a character in the ancient Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. She is a princess from the Yadava clan and the sister of Krishna and Balarama. Subhadra married Arjuna, one of the Pandava brothers and had a son named Abhimanyu. Sub ...
. These deities have been sourced from
Jaipur Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...
and
Orissa Odisha (), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is a state located in Eastern India. It is the eighth-largest state by area, and the eleventh-largest by population, with over 41 million inhabitants. The state also has the thir ...
. Designed under the guidance of Sri Bhanu Swami, the temple has imbibed various attributes from
Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed ...
scripture and is inspired by the
Pallava The Pallava dynasty existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a significant portion of South India, the Deccan, also known as Tondaimandalam. The Pallavas played a crucial role in shaping in particular southern Indian history and heritage. The ...
and Kalinga architecture. The entrance to the temple is marked by the representation of the ''bhu-mandala'' or the
universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...
on the marble floor. According to the
cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...
of ancient Vedic puranas, the universe is described as series of circular islands surrounding a central pillar called
Mount Meru Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु)—also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru—is a sacred, five-peaked mountain present within Hindu, Jain and Buddhist cosmologies, revered as the centre of all physical, metaphysical and spiritua ...
. The design on the floor at the entrance depicts the same universal pattern. There is also a life-like statue of a cow feeding its calf at the portico. The primary purpose of the temple to transform the material self-centred identity into a spiritual identity of unconditional love is graphically represented by means of a magnificent chandelier that projects various colours on the walls and ceiling. The chandelier has 500 Himalayan
quartz crystals Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical fo ...
supposedly meant to intensify the spiritual energy in the temple. The temple also visually displays various
vastu shastra Originating in ancient India, ''Vastu Shastra'' (, ' – literally "science of architecture") is a traditional Hindu system of architecture based on ancient texts that describe principles of design, layout, measurements, ground preparation, ...
features. A booklet explaining all these features is available at the book shop, which is located near the portico. Here you can find books and souvenirs on spirituality and Hindu philosophy. The temple is open from 7:30 am to 1:00 pm and from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm. However, the last ''aarati'' (worship), called the ''sayana arati'', is at 9:00 pm, which lasts about 15 minutes.


Gallery

File:ISKCON Chennai LordKrishna Radharani.JPG, Statues of Lord Krishna and Radharani, along with their sakhis Lalitha and Vishaka File:ISKCON Chennai LordChaitanya LordNityananda.JPG, Statues of Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda File:ISKCON Chennai LordJagannath BaladevaNSubhadra.JPG, Statues of Lord Jagannath, Lord Baladeva and Mother Subhadra File:ISKCON Chennai Facade.JPG, The newly built temple soon after consecration


See also

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Religion in Chennai Chennai is religiously cosmopolitan, with its denizens following various religions, chief among them being Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism. Chennai, along with Mumbai, Delhi, Kochi, and Kolkata, is o ...


References


Further reading

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External links


Iskcon Chennai Website
{{List of Hindu temples in Tamil Nadu Radha Krishna temples Hindu temples in Chennai 21st-century Hindu temples International Society for Krishna Consciousness temples 2012 establishments in Tamil Nadu