Saturday, November 04, 2006

Temple of a Tortoise

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We have all heard of temples of Gods but in India there is a temple in which though God is worshipped but God is there in the form of a tortoise. It is the only temple in the country which is dedicated to lord Vishnu’s (A Hindu God) second avatar, the tortoise. It is there in Srikakulam town in northern Andhra Pradesh which is about 120 km from Visakhapatnam in South India.

The name of the temple is Kurmamnatha Swamy temple. Over here Devotees believe that by worshipping the tortoise avatar (the Kurma avatar of lord Vishnu) one can earn many spiritual benefits. As per the Devotees human being is purified of all sins and is freed from the cycle of rebirth by worshipping the tortoise avatar of God.

It is very old temple & rock edicts from 11 AD decorate the walls of this temple. More that 200 pillars and many inscriptions in Devanagari script dating between 11th and 19th century are there in the temple. The temple also looks like a tortoise on the move.

Some say that this temple was once a Shiva temple, the Sri Pathala Siddeswara Kshetra temple. It was later converted into a Vaishnavaite temple by Great saint Ramanujacharya in the 11th century.

To some it may look weird but story of God incarnating as Tortoise is very common in Hindu Mythology & Hindu religious books.

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3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Does Indian worship tortoise too.........really strange..............unable to comprehend...........Strange are the ways of faith.

9:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

actually god is everywhere and U can worship anybody to worship god, thats the thinking of indians. Thats why they worship their parents also as they are one form of god.

2:22 PM  
Anonymous david said...

I think you are from heaven because thats the only place where strange things doesn't happen......lol
I have visted almost europe and have seen a lot of strange things over there also so I conclude that it happens everywhere but appears in strange way in different places.

2:27 PM  

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