Varaha Kshetras in India

Panihati Chida-dahi Festival on June 21, 2013

Chanting is Medicine and Prasadam is Diet

We want to distribute our literature and books within as well as our prasadam, and injecting our Hare Krishna medicine within the ear. So, reading of the literature and hearing of the chanting is the medicine, and prasadam is the diet. So, if diet and medicine are properly administered the disease of maya will be cured. But the physician must be always healthy. People may not say, physician is ill thyself. That means the preachers must be of highly elevated character, following strictly the rules and regulations and chanting regularly in the temple.

Correspondence: June 27, 1968

Varaha Kshetras in India

Below is a description of few Varaha Kshetras in India...

Sri Varahaswami Temple, Tirupati

Sri Varahaswami Temple in Tirumala is to the north of the Sri Venkateswara Temple, on the banks of Swami Pushkarini.

Legend has it that Tirumala was originally Adi Varaha Kshetra (the home of Sri Adi Varaha Swami), and it was with his permission that Lord Sri Venkateswara took up residence here.

The Brahma Purana says that pilgrims should first offer naivedyam to Sri Adi Varaha Swami, before visiting the Sri Venkateswara Temple.

According to Atri Samhita the Varaha avatara is worshipped in three forms:
•   Adi Varaha
•   Pralaya Varaha
•   Yajna Varaha

The Deity of Sri Varahaswami in Tirumala is that of Adi Varaha, as it resembles the description of the Adi Varaha murti in Vaikhanasa Agama texts.

Adi Varaha Temple, Mathura

The Deity in this temple is one of the oldest in Mathura. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Maharaja visited the Adi Varaha temple. This Deity is also called Lal Varaha. Lal means “red” and this Deity of Varaha is red in color.

According to the Adi Varaha Purana, the story of this Deity is that Kapila Muni made this Deity of Varaha by his mind. Kapila gave this Deity to Lord Indra in Satya-yuga. Indra worshiped this Deity in his kingdom. When Ravana took over Indra’s kingdom, Ravana took this Adi Varaha Deity to his capital, in Lanka. When Lord Rama killed Ravana he installed Ravana’s brother, Vibhishana, on the throne of Lanka. Vibhishana offered everything to Rama. Rama said he did not want anything, except the Varaha Deity that was taken from the city of Indra. Vibhishana gave Rama this Deity. He carried the Deity back to Ayodhya and worshiped the Deity there for 110 years. When Shatrughna, Lord Rama’s brother, went to Mathura, to kill some demons, he brought this Deity with him and the Deity has been here every since.

Azheekal Sree Varaha Swamy Temple, Cherai, Kerala

This temple was established in 1565 A.D. by Azheekal Yogakkars and the Pratishta was done by Swami Yadavendra Tirtha, first Pontiff of Shri Kashi Mutt. This temple is under the Azheekal Sree Varaha Devaswom, Cherai. Presiding Deity: Sree Varaha Moorthy. Sree Venkatachalapathy with Lakshmi Devi and Bhoomi Devi on left/right side is also installed in the Srikovil.

Seven of the families who migrated to Cochin from Goa in the sixteenth century settled in Azheekal in the Vypeen island near Cochin. A new temple was constructed at Azheekal and the Deity was consecrated in 1565 AD by Sri Yadavendra Tirtha Swamiji, the first pontiff of Kashi Mutt. The temple came to be known as Sree Varaha temple. The Sree Varaha temple was situated one and a half km to the west of the present Mallikarjuna temple at Vypeen.

The Deities in the temple at Azheekal were stolen in 1723 AD and could not be traced. Efforts were made to cast new Deities in Panchaloha but were found defective. So, the mahajanas of Azheekal approached the Cochin temple and got two Deities of Venkatachalapathy and Mahalakshmi and were installed in the temple in 1724 AD. Extensive plots of land and properties were donated to the temple by 32 families of the Yogakkars for the daily expenses. Meanwhile, the stolen idols were recovered and it was also installed in the temple by the side of SreeVenkateshwara.

The temple at Azheekal was close to the sea shore. Due to continuous sea erosion and high tides, the temple and the local community suffered many losses. Many Yogakkars left the place in 1866 AD and purchased land in Cherai in 1867 AD and constructed Agrasala and installed the Deities shifted from Azheekal. The old temple at Azheekal was also dismantled and brought to Cherai.

A temple was then constructed and Prathishta done in 1880 AD. This was also attended by Paliyath Achan representing the Maharaja of Cochin. With the new Prathishta, Sree Venkatachalapathy was given more importance and the annual flag festival was celebrated only for Him. The famous Ratha or Vimana was dedicated to the presiding Deities in 1909.

The Varaha Temple, Khajuraho

This temple built in 900-925 AD is small and rectangular, and stands on a foundation of rock. It faces the southeast side of the Laxmana temple. Dedicated to Lord Vishnu, it has a phamsada or pyramidal roof of receding tiers supported by twelve pillars. There is a short frontal projection supported by two other pillars, which serves as an entrance. The shrine itself stands on ten foot high plain plinth whose lower half is made of granite and upper half of sandstone.

The seat slab of the parapet supports the fourteen pillars. The colossal Deity of the boar incarnation of Vishnu is carved out of a single sandstone slab and finished with a glossy luster. The Varaha is decorated with over six-hundred images of gods and goddesses. On the front of the nostrils of the boar is the image of Saraswati holding a veena. The nine planets are also carved into this image. Water divinities are carved near the hoofs to symbolize the emergence of the boar from the ocean. Closer to the mouth is a dwarf figure to whose left are the feet of Bhudevi, or Mother Earth. The left tusk of the boar is chipped off along with the image of Bhudevi.

Varaha Temple, Pushkar, Rajasthan

Originally built in the 12th century it suffered severe destruction at the hands of the Moghul emperor Aurangzeb. He disliked the life size image of Lord Varaha with the head of a boar and body of a man.

Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh later reconstructed this temple in the 18th century. The temple has beautiful carvings, sculptures and an embellished image house.