Mr Gopala krishnan writes as written in Quora without checking facts and when I write gets wild. Aug 2024 stat shows average per day as under and where many temples written by Mr G goes out of board as usual.
THE HIGHEST FOOT FALL Indian temples per day: 1 Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi. Ram Janmbhoomi Mandir, Ayodhya Dham. 100000 to 1 50 000 PD (as on aug 2024 stat) 2. Tirupati Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala, India 60-70000 perday 3. Siddhivinayak Temple, Mumbai, India 75000 to 90000 p d 4. Shirdi Sai Baba Temple, Shirdi, India 30000 to 100000 P D 5. Golden Temple, Amritsar, India 75000 to 90000 PD 6. Somnath Temple, Gujarat, India 30000 to 90000 (aug 2024 stat) PD 7. Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple, Kerala, India 30000to 90000 PD in season 8. Jagannath Temple, Puri, India 50000 to 100000 PD 9. Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Varanasi, India 1,50,000 average P D 10 Vaishno Devi Temple, Jammu, India 37000 to 44000 P D 11 AKSHARDHAM TEMPLE New delhi 25000 to 40000 p D 12 Vaishno Devi Temple (Jammu) Mata Vaishno Devi Temple, Jammu.25000 13 Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Thiruvananthapuram, India 789 to 15000 P D 14 Meenakshi Temple, Madurai, India 15000 to 25000 P D 15 Ramanatha swamy temple 10000 to 20000 P D xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx K RAJARAM IRS 28924 ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: 'gopala krishnan' via iyer123 <[email protected]> Date: Sat, 28 Sept 2024 at 18:49 Subject: [iyer123] CULTURAL QA 09-2024-28 To: Iyer <[email protected]> CULTURAL QA 09-2024-28 TEMPLES –Base Quora QA- Compiled Q Which 10 Indian temples get the most visitors each year?Can you provide legend about the temples in nutshell? A Srivathsan, Best place in the world are TEMPLES Jan 4 MADURAI MEENAKSHI TEMPLE The story of the figure of Meenakshi is also legendary. It describes a Pandya king, Malayadhvaja, who hoped for a son and heir. He carefully performed a fire ceremony requesting that the gods fulfil this wish. Instead, he was granted a daughter, Meenakshi, who was born with three breasts. The gods told the king not to worry, but to raise Meenakshi as a brave warrior, just as he would a son, and that when she grew up and met her true lover, her third breast would disappear. Meenakshi proved herself gifted in battle, conquering armies in all directions. When she sought to attack the north, however, she was confronted by the god Shiva, who dwells on Mount Kailasha, deep in the Himalayas. Upon seeing him, one of her breasts fell off and the prophecy was realized. Kumaraguruparar, a great seventeenth-century Tamil poet and devotee of Shiva, described this moment: When you saw Shiva on the battlefield, your third curving breast disappeared. You bowed to him shyly and were amazed to see that suddenly you had only two breasts. Your heart was filled only with him. You looked at him sweetly with a nectar-like side glance, and felt shy. Another principal god in the Hindu pantheon, Vishnu (in the guise of Meenakshi’s brother), presided over the wedding of Shiva and Meenakshi, and the divine couple made their home in Madurai, where they ruled (and continue to symbolically rule) as queen and king. SABARI MALA The Pandya dynasty, expelled by Thirumala Naicker, found refuge in places like Valliyur, Tenkasi, and Sivagiri, later gaining influence in parts of Travancore. King Rajashekara, foster father of Lord Ayyappa, belonged to this lineage. Desperate for an heir, Rajashekara and his queen prayed to Lord Shiva. Simultaneously, demons caused havoc, leading to battles where deities sought Durga's help. Mahishi, seeking revenge, obtained a boon allowing only Vishnu and Shiva's offspring to defeat her. Vishnu, as Mohini, orchestrated the birth of a child, Manikandan, raised by Rajashekara. Manikandan, growing up exceptionally gifted, faced opposition, particularly from the ambitious Diwan. Amid plots and attempts on his life, Manikandan sustained an unhealable injury, cured by Lord Shiva. The Diwan, aspiring for his own candidate, manipulated the queen into feigning illness, claiming only tigress' milk could cure her. Manikandan fetched it, defeating Mahishi along the way. Returning, Manikandan revealed his divine nature to Rajashekara. Realizing the truth, the king sought forgiveness. Manikandan granted the boon of a temple, leading to the establishment of Sabarimala, a revered pilgrimage site for Lord Ayyappa devotees of all backgrounds. KEDARNATH TEMPLE Legend of Pandavas: It is said that the Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, built the Kedarnath temple as a way to atone for their sins. According to the legend, Lord Shiva tried to evade the Pandavas by taking the form of a bull, but was finally cornered by the Pandavas at Kedarnath. Lord Shiva then disappeared into the ground, leaving only his hump on the surface. The temple is believed to be built on the spot where Lord Shiva disappeared into the ground. Legend of Nara and Narayana: It is believed that the sages Nara and Narayana meditated at Kedarnath for many years, and Lord Shiva was so pleased with their devotion that he granted them a permanent dwelling place at the temple. Legend of the Lingam: The lingam, a symbol of Lord Shiva, at the Kedarnath temple is said to have been formed naturally by the elements of earth, air, water, and fire.Also the great ADI SHANKARACHARYA attained moksha here. VENKATESHWARA TEMPLE, TIRUMALA Srimad-Bhagavatam describes the history of Tirumala that during Satya yuga, Hiranyaksha, due to his exploitative activities created a situation where the earth was drowned to the bottom of the Garbhodaka ocean. At that time, the demigods approached Lord Brahma who prayed to Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu then appeared from the nose of Brahma in the form of Sri Varahadev. He killed Hiryanaksha and lifted the earth, ‘Bhudevi’ with His tusks, and brought her to a safe position on top of the Garbhodaka ocean. Bhudevi, the goddess of the earth, being an expansion of Goddess Laxmi was very much pleased to be reunited with Her Lord, Her eternal consort in the form of Sri Varahadev. In Vaikuntha ‘BhuVaraha’ resides eternally, so Bhudevi, who is the goddess of this earth, pleaded Lord Varahadev to remain with Her on this earth planet. Sri Varahadev decided to satisfy her desire and called for Garuda to fly to Vaikuntha and bring one of His favourite mountains down to the earth, so that He and Bhudevi could reside here together on that mountain. That mountain was brought down, and it is today called ‘Tirumala’. It is the mountain that was carried from Vaikuntha by Garuda himself. There is also a story of Sesa, the divine expansion of the Lord who sometimes appears as His couch, sometimes as His bed, and sometimes as His slippers, the same Adisesha incarnated on this earth as the seven hills in which Tirumala is situated. Therefore the seven hills are called Seshadari. Knowing that the Supreme Lord would come to live on these hills, Sesha wanted to be there to support His divine pastimes. As the narration continues, Narada Muni once approached great sages who performed yagna. Narada Muni enquired from them, “To whom are you offering the fruits of yagna? Of all the devathas or demigods, who is the greatest?” Some rishis considered Brahma to be the greatest of the gods, some considered Vishnu, and some considered Siva to be the greatest. In an intriguing dialogue that followed among them, to decide who is the greatest, they all concluded that the greatest of the persons must be one, who is completely transcendental to the modes of material nature. Thus they all unanimously elected Bhruga Muni to test these guna avatars, to see the greatest of the three. Bhruga rishi first went to the abode of Brahma. Brahma, the father was very happy to see his son, Bhruga Muni. But Bhruga Muni did not say anything to honour his father. In fact he outright ignored him. When Brahma understood that his son was completely breaching all etiquette and basic human manners, he became very angry. Still, somehow or other he contained his anger and didn’t say anything. But Bhruga Muni noticed that his father was very angry, and he left the place. Lord Brahma had failed the test, being come under the influence of anger. Then Bhruga Muni went to mount Kailash where Lord Siva sat with Mother Paravati. When Siva, Bhruga Muni’s elder brother, saw his younger brother, he came up saying, “Oh, Bhruga , I am so happy to see you. Welcome to Kailash.” He came to embrace Bhruga Muni but Bhruga Muni stopped him saying, “Get away from me. Don’t touch me. You smell terrible. You have ashes from dead bodies smeared all over your body. You wear skulls as garlands. You associate with ghosts and untouchables. If you were to touch me, I would have to immediately take bath in the Ganges, just to purify myself from the intense contamination. Lord Siva, upon hearing Bhrgu’s insulting words became very angry. He picked up his trident and was about to punish Bhrgu when Paravati intervened and said, “No, my Lord, he is your brother.” Lord Siva then cooled himself down and Bhrgu Muni left the place. Even Lord Siva had failed the test. Vishnu began to very gently massage the lotus feet of Bhrgu Muni, who being so treated began to weep, and tears flowed from his eyes as he spoke “You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. You are completely transcendental to the modes of material nature. You are all merciful,all compassionate even to an offender like me, please forgive me.” According to Sri Caitanya Bhagvat, after begging forgiveness, Bhrgu Muni seeing the qualities of Lord Vishnu, began to dance in ecstasy. He danced and wept and cried as his hairs stood on end and he went on loudly chanting theholy names Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Bhruga Muni then blissfully returned to all the sages and narrated his report. Everyone from that day on wards consistently worshiped Lord Vishnu by constantly hearing His glories and chanting His Holy Names. Everything was blissful, but Laxmi devi felt very depressed and angry. Although Lord Vishnu had tolerated the offence committed by Bhruga Muni with a very gracious heart, Laxmi devi being a chaste and faithful wife, could not tolerate the offence that was done to her husband. She said to Lord Narayana,“You may forgive this person for that is your nature. But I have seen this Brahmana whimsically kicking You right in the chest. And because I have seen this abominable act, I have incurred a very heavy unforgivable sin and the sin of witnessing You accepting this offence is so great that I cannot live here any longer. I must go away from here. I must perform severe penances in order to wash away the sin that was incurred by my seeing this offence to You. KASHI VISHWANTH TEMPLE It is believed that Varanasi is the first jyothirlinga to manifest itself. According to the legend, it was at this place that shiva (the Hindu god of destruction) manifested as an infinite column of light (Jyotirlinga) in front of Brahma (the Hindu god of creation) and Vishnu (the Hindu god of preservation) when they had an argument about their supremacy. In order to discover the origin of the luminous column, Vishnu took the form of a boar (Varaha) and tracked the column beneath the ground, while Brahma, who assumed the shape of a swan, scoured the heavens in an attempt to locate the apex of the column. However, both of them were unsuccessful in identifying the source of the luminous column. Yet, Brahma deceitfully asserted that he had discovered the summit of the column, while Vishnu humbly admitted his inability to find the starting point of the radiant column. Due to Brahma's deceit over the discovery of the origin of the luminous column, Shiva penalised him by cutting his fifth head and placing a curse upon him. This curse entailed that Brahma would no longer receive reverence, whereas Vishnu, being truthful, would be equally venerated alongside Shiva and have dedicated temples for eternity. Hindu scriptures describe Vishweshara as the sacred deity of Varanasi, holding the position of king over all the other deities as well as over all the inhabitants of the city and the extended circuit of the Panchkosi, an area (the sacred boundary of Varanasi) spreading over 50 miles. RANGANATHSWAMY TEMPLE, SRIRANGAM (TIRUCHIRAPALLI) According to the REGIONAL LEGEND, the deity Rama is regarded to have performed pooja to Vishnu's idol. He is regarded to have granted the idol to Vibhishana to take back with him to Lanka. Rama informed him that he could not set the idol upon the earth; if he did so, the idol would become bound upon the site. While travelling towards Lanka, he came upon the banks of the river Kaveri. He placed the idol on the banks while an utsavam was in progress. When the utsavam got over, the idol refused to move, according to some accounts because Vishnu grew fond of Srirangam. When Vibhishana requested the deity to come along with him, Vishnu refused, but promised to bless Vibhishana by always facing the south (the direction of Lanka, home to Vibhishana). It is due this reason the idol of the deity (in a reclining posture) is believed to face the south. The Chola kings Dharmavarcholan and Killivalavan developed the shrine into the present size of the temple, with the contributions of Thirumangai lawar. They built the basic foundations and main buildings. After the rise of the Vijayanagara empire, the emperor Krishnadevaraya offered his patronage to the city, treating it on par with Tirupati and bequeathing plenty of treasures, jewels and lands to the Srirangam temple. During his period the Srirangam temple was restructured, and many plans were executed for its growth and welfare of the people. KANCHI KAMAKSHI TEMPLE, KANCHIPURAM Counted among one of the Shakti Peetha’s, this is the place where the Navel or Nabhi of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu’s Sudarshana Chakra touched Goddess Sati’s body. The temple is also believed as the center of the earth or eastern hemisphere. There is a belief that after taking birth for killing Asur Bhandasur, Devi sat here taking “Kanya Swarup.” The idol is “Swayambhu,” which signifies it has appeared and not created. She is believed to have three Swarups in the temple. These include Sthula, Sukshama, and Shunya. Goddess Kamakshi created the mud idol of Lord Shiva in Kanchi to worship him. To test her worship, Lord Shiva incarnated himself as Kamba River that has high tides. But the Goddess did not let the mud idol erode away in tides. She grasped it closely with her hands. She also prayed on a needle tip that is surrounded by 5 fires (Panchakagni) to free her from the livelihood interest. Lord Shiva became happy with her worship and married her. There are various Shiva temples in Kanchi, but “Sri Kamakshi Amman Temple” is the only one with the Goddess Sanctorum. Eight Shakti Goddesses also surround the temple. There was a standing image of Kamakshi Devi in Gold. This is a pose in which she prayed and is called Bangaru Kamakshi. An attack was expected at the temple, so the image in Gold gets shifted to Thanjavur. Lord Shiva and Vishnu surround Kamakshi temple situated in the heart of Kanchipuram. On one side, there are various Shiva temples and few Vishnu temples and is referred as big or Shiva Kanchi. The other side of the Kamakshi temple has big Vishnu temples and some Shiva temples too. This side is known as small or Vishnu Kanchi. PADMANABHASWAMY TEMPLE, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM The origin of the Temple of Sree Padmanabhaswamy is lost in antiquity. It is not possible to determine with any exactitude, from any reliable historical documents or other sources as to when and by whom the original idol of Sree Padmanabhaswamy was consecrated. The Temple has references in Epics and Puranas. Srimad Bhagavatha says that Balarama visited this Temple, bathed in Padmatheertham and made several offerings. Nammalwar, 9th century poet and one among the 12 Vaishnavite saints of the Alvar tradition, has composed ten hymns in praise of Lord Padmanabha. Some well known scholars, writers and historians, like the late Dr. L.A.Ravi Varma of Travancore, have expressed the view that this Temple was established on the first day of Kali Yuga (which is over 5000 years ago). The legends of the Temple are handed down through the centuries. One such legend which finds a place in the old palm leaf records of the Temple, as also in the famous grantha entitled “Ananthasayana Mahatmya”, mentions that it was consecrated by a Tulu Brahmin hermit named Divakara Muni. On the 950th year of Kali Yuga a reinstallation of the idol was done. In the 960th Kali year King Kotha Marthandan built the Abhisravana Mandapam. My note- There is a legend associated with Vilwamangalam swamikal about the origin of the temple, known to most in Kerala. -- To go to your groups page on the web, login to your gmail account and then click on https://groups.google.com/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "iyer123" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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