Monday, February 16, 2015

Punar Prathishtha of Venkatramana Temple, Katapady

Last week we returned from our long vacation at our village in Katapady, Udupi district where we attended the “Punarpratishta of Lord Venkaramana” followed by Rathothsav festival or “Teru” as it is called in Konkani language. “Punarprathista” means re-installing the deity in the renovated temple.

I am told that this temple is about 300 years old. It was unanimously decided by the residents to renovate the temple for various reasons. The renovation work started ten months ago and was reopened on 22nd January 2015 by Srimad Samyameendra Thirtha, the junior Swamiji of Kashi Mutt with great pomp and celebrations which lasted for five days from 17th Jan to 22nd Jan 2015. Many dignitaries from the Karnataka Government as well as religious heads from nearby places graced the occasion and were awed by the wonderful carvings on wood as well as stone in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. The architect 25 years old, happened to be the youngest person to achieve this level of perfection.

We watched the actual ceremony of the “Punar Prathista” on the screen installed outside the temple as only a selected few (one of them was my senior brother-in-law) were chosen to participate in the ceremony.

Here are some of the glimpses of the the renovated “Garbha Gudi” and its peripheri. I regret not having taken our cameras. We took all the photos from our mobile phones. I hope we have done justice to the wonderful sculptures that depicted the “Dashaavtar” the intricate wood carvings and the “Vishnu Sahasnam” engraved on the four walls of the Garba Gudi which is unique to the temple.


Beautifully carved entrance door


The main entrance to the temple
Entrance to the Sanctum Sanctorum
The carved structures on the inside of the dome 

Some of the metal carvings inside the dome
Jaya  & Vijaya at the entrance 

Various carvings in the dome

Wooden carvings at the four corners of the Garba Ghudi walls
Close-up of the wooden carvings




                       








The above 10 stone carvings depicting, Dashavatar (Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narsimha, Vamana, Parshurama, Rama, Krishna, Buddha & Kalki) at the front wall of the temple.



The illuminated temple

"Teru" in front of our house "Doddamane" being welcomed with "aarti"

The temple premises lit with hundreds of diyas 


                                                                         
Beautifully done Rangoli

Another Rangoli under progress

During this period everyone who attended the function, were served varieties of breakfast items and sumptuous meals on all the days of the festivities. We all had a wonderful time.
















7 comments:

  1. Beautiful and stunning temple. Surely I am hoping I can visit it soon.

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  2. lovely cliks..thanks for sharing Shobha..

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  3. Very nice temple view and so nice clicks. My son and my daughter in law went there two years ago.Thanks for sharing the nice picture.

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  4. Thank you for the wonderful post:) It's like I almost visited the temple:)

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  5. The photos of the temple looks so good here. I have visited this temple for marriage function but never gave an eye for such details.

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