Talakadu Keerthi Narayana Perumal

Hereditary Bhattars served at the temple during the 20th century at a monthly salary that did not exceed Rs. 30 

Much like many of the ancient and remote temples in Tamil Nadu, the Keerthi Narayana temple in Talakadu too found itself under financial stress for much of the 20^th century. The disciples of Vaishnavite Acharya Ramanuja have been performing the aradhana at the temple for several centuries. Srinivasa Bhattachar lived till the age of 97 and performed service at the temple for over 80 years. His son TS Krishna Bhattachar, who passed away a few years ago at the age of 96 too served all alone at the temple for 8 decades from a very young age. They were paid salary in two digits. At the peak of his service, Krishna Bhattachar was paid a salary of Rs. 30 on the pretext that there was no income from the temple. His son 69 year old Agama Vidwan K Srinivasa Rangachariar Bhattachar has now joined the service and has been performing aradhana for the last 10 years after taking over full charge from him after he touched 90.

The Pancharatra Agama based Keerthi Narayana Perumal temple in Talakadu is one of the Pancha Narayana Kshetrams  (http://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2013/04/thondanur-lakshmi-narayana-temple.html) in Karnataka (Ganga Desam) installed by Indra and renovated by Ramanuja just under 1000 years ago during his 12 year stay in Melkote/Thondanur.  

The Legend

At the end of the Dwapara Yuga, in the Sura Sura war, Indra was afflicted with Brahmma Hathi Dosham. To liberate himself from this, he undertook penance and invoked the blessings for Lord Vishnu. He was directed to install 5 Narayana Idols in this region to liberate himself from his dosham. 

Renovation 1000 years ago

Hoysala King Bitta Deva’s daughter had been struck with an illness from which he could not cure here despite the best of medicinal help. When he heard of the devotional powers of Vaishnavite Saint Ramanuja, he reached out to him in Thondanur. Ramanuja directed the king to take his daughter to the huge Eri (Sarovar) known as ‘Pancha Apsara Thataka’ and asked the king’s daughter to bathe and invoke the blessings of the Lord. At the temple, the Archaka placed the Narasimha Dhanda on the daughter and to the king’s surprise she was instantly liberated from the illness. To this day, one sees Yoga Narasimha holding this magical Dhanda in his right hand at the Thondanur Yoga Narasimha temple.

When the delighted king asked what he wanted, Ramanuja asked him to propagate Vishistaadvaitha. Bitta Deva became a Vaishnavite and changed his name to Vishnu Vardhan. As part of the direction, Vishnu Vardan supported and funded the entire renovation effort of Ramanuja at the Keerthi Narayana Temple in Talakadu. 

Given its architectural beauty, ASI has taken over possession of the temple. Every morning, much before the priest makes his way to the temple, an ASI staffer cleans the entire temple complex.

In the 2^nd half of the previous century, full time pooja had been closed at the temple for 2-3 decades with excavation work by the ASI. Only this decade, the Moolasthanam was fully renovated and devotees are now able to have darshan of the standing Moolavar Lord flanked by Sri and Bhoo Devi Thayar. Recently, the temple has been attached to the nearby Vaidhanathan temple, a Saivite temple that is quite popular in the region and whose finances are much better. With this recent development, the Bhattachar is hoping that a reasonable salary in line with the current cost of living will be paid to him. 

The madapalli and the utsava vahana mandapam need some improvement. There are also no toilets around the temple complex. This too has to be built. The priest is hoping that these can be undertaken with support from devotees.

Vedanta Desikar is also said to have visited this temple during his trip to Karnataka.

Festivals

Mesha Chitrai – Theerthavari

Mesha Uthiram – Brahmma Ratham

Ratha Saptami, Karthigai are celebrated in a grand way at this temple.

There are festivals all through the year.

Temple is open from 10am till 530pm ( till 630pm/7pm on the weekend). Contact Srinivasan Bhattar @ 99006 31011

How to reach

For long, there had been very little connectivity to this historic temple. Over the last decade, public bus services have seen an improvement in Karnataka. Almost all the historic temples are well connected by road.  While the road from Mysore via T. Narasingapur was the more popular route to Talakadu, the Karnataka Government has developed the highway from Maddur to Malavalli into a top road and increased the frequency of buses. From Malavalli, there are share autos/taxis at frequent intervals to Talakadu as well as buses starting 7am.

Talakadu is 50kms from Maddur via Malavalli. First bus from Maddur at 6am to Malavalli (will reach in 30mts). Bus service to Talakadu from Malavalli starts at 7am, reaches Talakadu at 730am. From Mysore, Talakadu is 50kms via T. Narasingapur. Buses ply every 15mts from Mysore to T Narasingapur. From there, one can take share auto or a town bus to Talakadu (10kms).