Mysore Palace is one of India's most spectacular and prominent sites. Besides the main palace, the complex has several other structures and twelve temples. Among them, Sri Prasanna Krishnaswamy Temple is a prominent one. It is located near the current exit gate of the main palace. Hence, it is the first destination after one finishes visiting the palace, and hardly any visitor misses visiting this temple.
The presiding deity is Krishna. It may not sound unique, as there are millions of Krishna temples across the country. But, this icon is rare - it is Bala Krishna, the infant Krishna, found in a crawling posture. He is called Ambegalu Krishna. The image is made of a special kind of rock called chlorite schist. And it is incredibly and incomparably beautiful.
There is an interesting legend about this deity. It states that the Mysore king Krishnaraja Wodeyar III was fascinated by the crawling Krishna icon in a temple in a place called Mallur. He wanted to shift the same to his palace. After his people tried in vain to lift the deity from Mallur, the King gave up this idea. Instead, he installed a similar image in the palace and built this temple.
Well, keeping the legend aside, as per the historical records, the King built this temple started constructing the temple in 1825, and completed the same in four years. The sanctum has a lengthy inscription detailing the philanthropic acts of this King. He also presented 40 bronze icons, which remain the main highlight of this shrine. They include images of the same King and his two queens. They are under worship nowadays.
It is believed that the stone images of Perundevi and Andal were brought from Kanchi and kept in a village called Terakanambi. Later they were shifted and installed on shrines that flank the main sanctum. Perundevi is worshiped as Rukmini, and Andal is worshiped as Satyabhama. Bhama is in the Standing Posture and Rukmini is found seated (of course, as per the iconography of Andal and Maha Lakshmi).
Varadaraja in the standing posture, Cheluvaraya Swami in the standing posture, Rama with Sita and Lakshmana, Narasimha with Sudarshana, Venkataramana in the standing posture, and Ranganatha in the reclining posture accompanied by his consorts Sri Devi and Bhoo Devi - all these Murtis are found in separate sub-shrines situated in Navaranga or Mahamandapa.
The outer mandapa (Mukhamandapa) has four shrines enshrining Ramanuja, Paravasudeva, Anathasayana and Rajamannar.
Vishnu's holy feet, called Vishnu padam is under worship on the circum ambulatory path. The figure of Atri Rishi, the Gotra sage of Mysore Kings, is also seen here.
Another major highlight of the temple is the central pillared hall, which has traditional Mysore paintings done on the walls. The images portray the stories of Bhagavata Purana. They were all done in the 19th century CE.
Hanuman (and not Garuda) is seen facing the presiding deity.
The temple is architecturally beautiful. All sub-shrines have prominent superstructures (Dravida vimanas), which are clearly visible from the prakara.
Happy travelling.
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