Udupi - Lord Krishna Temple

Date: 20.09.2007

The town of Udupi, is the head quarters of one of the 27 districts of the state of Karnataka in south India. The name of the district is the same as that of the town itself. Earlier it was a part of South Canara district of Karnataka. The town of Udipi is mainly inhabited by Tulu speaking people. The cuisine of Udupi is quite famous throughout the state of Karnataka as well as in other parts of India.

More than the cuisine, the first thing that would strike many people's mind soon after hearing/encountering the name of the town is the temple enshrining Lord Krishna, one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu, the principal deity of the Vaishnavaites.

Let me now narrate one of the stories associated with the temple. There lived a staunch devotee of the Lord by name Kanakadas, who was also well-versed in playing the musical instrument called "Thambura", who hailed from a lower caste family. During the days of Kanakadas, caste discrimation was at its ne plus ultrum. As a consequence of which, he was forbidden from stepping into the temple by the people of the upper caste. Such an inhuman act made him to go and stand in front of the rear side wall of the temple everyday and made him to worship the Lord from there by playing thambura and singing devotional hymns in praise of the Lord.

This act of Kankadas was incessantly continuing until the day on which the following miracle happened:

On that day, amidst several hundred devotees, who were thronging in the temple to worship the Lord, four bricks from the rear side wall got dislodged completely and fell off and the entire statue of the Lord turned exactly 180 degree facing Kanakadas!!!

Even today we can find the doors opening into the sanctum sanctorum of Lord Krishna remaining shut. And whoever wishes to worship the supreme Lord has to worship Him by viewing Him through the space created by the dislodged bricks.

As a mediocre human bieng, I don't know whether the aforesaid is actually a true incident or a tall story. But unmindful of the authenticity of it, what I would like to say is, it actually corroborates the saying,

"God is one who neither likes nor loathes anyone"

The fourth couplet of the Tamil literary work "Thirukkural" also says,

"Those who bow down to His feet, who neither likes nor loathes anyone,
would never ever have anything called agony"

The town of Udupi is about 60 km from the town of Mangalore, which is the head quarters of the district of South Canara of Karnataka. People who wish to visit Udupi prefer to stay at Mangalore, where good hotels of moderate and affordable cost are available. Mangalore is well-connected by road, rail and air with Chennai, Mumbai, Goa etc. It is well-connected by road and rail with Coimbatore and other parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Plenty of buses ply in a day from Banglore to both Mangalore and Udupi.

Thus far I have visited the temple twice along with my parents. I wish that the Lord showers His Mercy on one and all in the world.