Devalok
Temple legend · 1 telling · South India

The image that came from Vaikuntha to Guruvayur

An image made by Vishnu himself passes from Brahma to King Sutapas to Uddhava, who has Brihaspati and Vayu install it in Kerala after Dwarka sinks.

Who is in it

Places: Guruvayur, Dwarka

The story, beat by beat

  1. Vishnu makes an image of himself in Vaikuntha and gives it to Brahma.
  2. Brahma gives it to King Sutapas and his queen Prishni, who have won it by austerity.
  3. It comes down to Krishna, who worships it at Dwarka.
  4. When Dwarka sinks, Krishna's disciple Uddhava carries the image to safety.
  5. He entrusts it to Brihaspati and Vayu, who search for a site and install it in Kerala; the place takes their names, Guru-Vayu-ur.
  6. Shiva, who was there, moves to the neighbouring Mammiyoor shrine to make room.

lineage relic installation flood

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Temple tradition

Narada Purana, Gurupavanapura Mahatmya (temple tradition)

South India · Guruvayur, Thrissur, Kerala Vaishnava

The Guruvayur temple explains its name through the journey of its image. The four-armed figure of Vishnu, the tradition says, was made by the god himself in his own heaven and handed to Brahma; Brahma gave it to the king Sutapas and his wife Prishni as the reward of their penance, and it descended through the generations to Krishna, who kept it at Dwarka. When the sea took Dwarka, Uddhava, Krishna's companion, saved the image and gave it to the gods' teacher Brihaspati and to the wind, Vayu, to find a home for it. They chose a spot in Kerala where Shiva was already in residence; he withdrew to the shrine now called Mammiyoor, and the two installers gave the place its name. The temple adds that King Janamejaya was cured of leprosy here. The Narayaniyam of Melpathur and the Jnanappana of Poonthanam are the devotional poems that grew around the deity.

Guruvayur Temple — Wikipedia; Narayaniyam — Wikipedia; Poonthanam Nambudiri — Wikipedia

Sources: Guruvayur Temple — Wikipedia; Narayaniyam — Wikipedia; Poonthanam Nambudiri — Wikipedia

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