Guruvayoor Temple, Kerala:

Guruvayoor Sri Krishna Temple is a Hindu sanctuary devoted to the Hindu god Guruvayurappan (a four-armed connection of the Hindus god Vishnu), situated in the town of Guruvayur in Kerala, India. It is one of the important holy place for Hindus of Kerala and is frequently referred to as Bhuloka Vaikunta. which means the “Heavenly Abode of Vishnu on Earth”.

The directing divinity of the Guruvayur Temple is Vishnu, revered as Guruvayurappan. The main deity is a four-armed standing Krishna carrying the shankh Panchajanya, the Sudarshana Chakra, the gadha Kaumodaki and a lotus with a holy Tulsi garland. This image addresses the grand form of Vishnu as revealed to Krishna’s parents Vasudeva and Devaki around the hour of Krishna’s birth; subsequently, Guruvayur is otherwise called “Dwarka of South India”. He is currently revered by rituals laid down by Adi Shankara and later composed officially in the Tantric manner by Cennas Narayanan Nambudiri (brought into the world in 1427). The Cennas Nambudiris are the hereditary tantris of the Guruvayur Temple.

The temple (puja) schedules are completely followed. The tantri is accessible full-time at the Temple to ensure this. The Melsanti (Chief Priest) enters the sanctum sanctorum in the first part of the day and doesn’t drink anything up to the finish of “early afternoon worships” at 12:30 PM.

As per puranas, the Guruvayurappan here is over 5000 years of age. In the fourteenth century, “Kokasandesam” (a Tamil abstract work), references to a spot called Kuruvayur are made. As early as the sixteenth century (fifty years after Narayaniyam was made) many references to Kuruvayur are seen. In ancient Dravidian dialects, “kuruvai” signifies “ocean”, subsequently the town on the Malabar Coast might be called Kuruvayur. The earliest sanctuary records date back to the seventeenth century. The earliest mention of the numerous significant Vishnu temples of Kerala are found in the songs of Alwars, Tamil saints, whose time-line isn’t actually fixed. Mamankam was an extremely well known neighborhood occasion at Tirunavaya, on the bank of Bharatappuzha. The battles between the Kozhikode under Samoothiris and Valluvanad promoted Guruvayur Temple. Because of the delayed fights, individuals across the riverbank began leaning toward Guruvayur. Indeed, even the Samoothiri of Kozhikode became a devotee and accordingly his subjects followed him. The main temple that is seen today is said to have been rebuilt in 1638 AD. Before the finish of the sixteenth century Guruvayur had turned into the most well known pilgrimage place in Kerala.