Tuesday, March 2, 2010

ಉಡುಪಿ ಶ್ರೀ ಕೃಷ್ಣ RATHAS

I had visited the Sri Krishna Temple of Udupi before. But I had not taken any photos there. This time, when I had to chair a session on difficult cataract surgeries at the State Conference at Udupi in Oct 2010, I did not want to let go the opportunity. This time, I focussed on the Chariots (Rathas).



Udupi is a very quiet and cute town. Yet all kinds of amenities are available there. Surprisingly, even after it became a district head quarters, I did not see many new administrative blocks. All roads appear to be washed nice and clean everyday! Contrary to what I had expected, I did not find too many restaurants! Looks like they are all serving Bangaloreans! May be that is the reason why we do not see many overweight individuals in Udupi. Of course, constant sweating also helps in shedding calories any way.

The street leading to the Sri Krishna Temple is called the Car Street (Ratha beedi). It is named so because the cars (chariots) are pulled along this street during the Car festival. It was amazing to see seven chariots in one place! There are three wooden rathas namely Brahma Ratha, Madhya Ratha and Sanna Ratha, a Silver and aGolden ratha. I could only get the glimpse of these chariots by peeping through the window of the car shed. The latest addition, the Nava kanaka rathna chariot is parked next to the Anantheswara Temple. The golden and silver chariots are next to the Sri Krishna Temple.

The Nava kanaka rathna ratha (chariot) is the first of its kind in the country built of gem stones laid on intricately carved gold. It has been built using 12 kg gold, 18 kg silver and 500 kg bronze besides 1.25 kg precious gem stones. The cost of construction was approximately Rs 7 crore. The main architect behind the marvellous craftsmanship is Madurai Tangadorai. A team of 150 members have worked on it, sometimes in three shifts.1


The Navartathnas are Diamonds, Pearls, Emeralds, Opels, Ruby, Coral, Yellow Sapphire, Blue sapphire and Hessonite. The ratha has nine ridges around it, five on the bottom and four on the upper Mukuta; each circle has been studded with navarathnas. Rubies are in larger number which gives the glitter, while diamonds are placed in cluster between the navarathnas as mukuta. All other gems cover the rest of the area of this nine foot chariot. 2

The first one is the 500 year old Brahma Ratha, the biggest one. It is getting ready on the car street for the car festival. The second one is the Garuda Ratha. It is parked right in front of the Temple main entrance.
The third one is the Pushpaka Vimana parked next to the Ananteswara temple.All these are carved in wood while there are Golden and Silver Ratha also.3 The latter are parked beside the Sri Krishna temple. The other rathas are Mahapooja ratha (madhya ratha) and Pallakki.
There is also a pile of fire wood arranged in the shape of a chariot (kattige ratha) made on the day of Paryaya, on which the the right to worship Sri Krishna changes every two years. Looks like everything in Udupi resembles a Ratha!

The cars are pulled on several occasions. One of them is the day of Makara Sankramana, on which Sri Madhvacharya installed the idol of Sri Krishna. It is a seven day festivity. Two cars- Madhya ratha and sanna ratha are pulled during the night on five days previous to Sankramana. Three cars are pulled on the night of Sankramana and the following day. 4 I have decided to visit Udupi the next year. How about you?


Anantheswara temple: Legend has it that Sri Madhwacharya disappeared to the heaven from this temple. The locals say it has been existing for the last 2000 years.

1. http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=69897&n_tit=Udupi+Krishna+to+get+a+%91Navaratna+Ratha%92+on+Dec+24#comment_form
2.
http://roshandsouza.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=161058#commentbox
3. http://www.mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=broadcast&broadcastid=161842#commentbox
4. http://karnatakatemples.com/karnataka-temples/udupi/udupi-t/shri-krishna-temple-udupi/