Well Organised Pious Temple.
Better known as Sri Krishna Matha, this temple, dedicated to Lord Krishna, is very well organised and systematic in its arrangements for the devotees to have a good spiritual experience. It was founded by the Vaishnavite saint Srila Madhavacharya in the 13th century CE. It is believed that he found the idol of Lord Krishna in a lump of clay from a stranded ship which was sailing from Dwarka, which he rescued.
We visited the temple on a weekday so there were not too many devotees, and the queue was quite short. There are many free parking lots around the temple complex and we parked in one of them and walked for about 500 metres to the entrance of the main temple. We had to leave our footwear in one of the many tagged shoe racks. There was a very orderly queue along a ramp next to a sacred tank. There is a dress code till 12 noon but after noon you can enter with normal but modest attire, as long as you are not wearing shorts or sleeveless tops. We heard that even lungis are not allowed. Photography is also not allowed inside the temple.
We had a good darshan of Lord Krishna, looking in through a silver plated latticed window with nine apertures known as the ‘Navagraha kindi’. We then bought some special prasadam called ‘sampoorna prasad’ and then we went to the ‘bhojanalaya’ (dining hall) where all the devotees are given a free meal known as the ‘maha-prasad’ between noon and 2 pm. We sat on the floor like everyone else and had our sambar, rice and curd in a steel thali.
The whole area around the Sri Krishna Temple is free of vehicles. There are 8 other temples also known as the ‘ashta mathas’ surrounding the main temple, which are responsible for the administration of the Udupi Sri Krishna Temple by a formal rotation scheme called the ‘Paryaya’, which happens every two years.
There is a parade on Car Street just outside the temple, almost every evening between 8 pm to 9.30 pm. The procession stops at intervals along the route and the Lord and his devotees are entertained by displays of fireworks and worshiped by offerings.
Udupi Sri Krishna Temple is one of the few places left in India where devotional spiritual traditions are still practiced intact. We were here for just a couple of days but would definitely like to come back again and again.
We visited the temple on a weekday so there were not too many devotees, and the queue was quite short. There are many free parking lots around the temple complex and we parked in one of them and walked for about 500 metres to the entrance of the main temple. We had to leave our footwear in one of the many tagged shoe racks. There was a very orderly queue along a ramp next to a sacred tank. There is a dress code till 12 noon but after noon you can enter with normal but modest attire, as long as you are not wearing shorts or sleeveless tops. We heard that even lungis are not allowed. Photography is also not allowed inside the temple.
We had a good darshan of Lord Krishna, looking in through a silver plated latticed window with nine apertures known as the ‘Navagraha kindi’. We then bought some special prasadam called ‘sampoorna prasad’ and then we went to the ‘bhojanalaya’ (dining hall) where all the devotees are given a free meal known as the ‘maha-prasad’ between noon and 2 pm. We sat on the floor like everyone else and had our sambar, rice and curd in a steel thali.
The whole area around the Sri Krishna Temple is free of vehicles. There are 8 other temples also known as the ‘ashta mathas’ surrounding the main temple, which are responsible for the administration of the Udupi Sri Krishna Temple by a formal rotation scheme called the ‘Paryaya’, which happens every two years.
There is a parade on Car Street just outside the temple, almost every evening between 8 pm to 9.30 pm. The procession stops at intervals along the route and the Lord and his devotees are entertained by displays of fireworks and worshiped by offerings.
Udupi Sri Krishna Temple is one of the few places left in India where devotional spiritual traditions are still practiced intact. We were here for just a couple of days but would definitely like to come back again and again.
Ask EkMusafir about Sri Krishna Temple
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
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