Seeing Spiritual India: A Guide to Temples, Holy Sites, Festivals and Traditions: 2020 Update by Knapp Stephen

Author:Knapp, Stephen [Knapp, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The World Relief Network
Published: 2008-06-29T16:00:00+00:00

MELKOTE (or MALAKOTE or MAILKOTE)

Melkote is a small town 48 km north of Mysuru. It has little in the way of accommodation, so it is best to be visited as a day trip from Mysuru or Srirangapatnam. It is a sacred hill shrine with a temple of Madhvacharya, which has a deity of Vishnu made of pure gold, standing one foot tall. Tiru Narayana is the name of the main temple. The Puranic names for Melkote are Vedadri (which means Veda Hill from which the avatara Dattatreya instructed his disciples), Narayanadri (the hill of Narayana), Yadavagiri (Yadu Hill where the Krishna and Balarama of the Yadu dynasty worshiped the Lord in Dvapara-yuga), Tirunarayanapura (abode of Lord Vishnu), Bhulokavaikuntha (the realm of Vaikuntha on earth), Doddagarudanahalli (place of elite warriors), Doddagurugalahalli (place of great teachers, Ramanuja), Jnanamantapa (house of knowledge), Vaikunthavardhana Kshetra (the place which increases the population of Lord Vishnu’s abode), Dakshina Badrikachalam (the southern Badrinatha), and Yathisailam.

The main deities are said to have been given to Brahma by Lord Vishnu Himself. Tradition, as the Naradiya Purana explains, is that Lord Brahma once performed penance here, and Lord Narayana responded by coming to Melkote and assumed the form of a divine temple. Also, many thousands of years ago, Brahma gave one deity to Sanatkumara. Lord Vishnu ordered Seshanaga to take the form of a hill at Melkote and wait for His arrival. Sanatkumara then installed the deity and the temple complex in Bhuloka, planet Earth, at Melkote for the benefit of all people. He later gave the deity to Lord Rama, and Rama worshiped this deity and later gave it to His son Kusha. Kusha also gave the deity as his daughter’s dowry when she married a prince of the Yadu dynasty.

When Lord Krishna appeared in the Yadu dynasty, He also worshiped this deity. It was during this time that, while residing in the milk ocean, Lord Vishnu’s diamond crown was stolen by Virocana, the son of Prahlada. Garuda killed Virocana and recovered the crown. However, while returning he saw Lord Krishna playing in Vrindavana with His friends. Garuda gave Lord Krishna the crown, known as Vajramukti. Krishna then gave the crown to the deity Ramapriya.

When Lord Balarama, Krishna’s brother, returned to Dwarka from one of His pilgrimages, he related to Lord Krishna that the deity in Melkote was the same as their own family deity. So, they took the deity to Melkote and found no difference between the two deities. Then Krishna installed the deity of Ramapriya in Melkote and the Yadu family regularly came there to worship that deity.

Later, the story goes that in the 11th century, the Jain King Bittideva embraced Vaishnavism with the training and influence of Sri Ramanuja, and changed his name to Vishnuvardhana. However, at that time, because of the Muslim invaders, Narayanapuram was in ruins. Both the main deity of Narayana and the smaller deity of Ramapriya were lost. But Ramanuja had a vision in which Lord Vishnu showed him where the deity could be found.

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