The Sree Balakrishna Swamy Temple, Kuzhuppilly of

Goud Saraswat Brahmin Gaud Saraswat Brahmins (GSB) (also Goud or Gawd) are a Hindu Brahmin community of the north. The Konkani speaking Gaud Saraswat of Goa and southern India claim to be descendents of these Gaud Saraswat Brahmins of the north that migrated to K ...

(G.S.B.) community is in

Kuzhuppilly Kuzhuppilly is a suburb of Kochi city and a tourist destination in Vypin Island in Kerala, India. The areas in Kuzhuppilly village are Pallathamkulangara, Cheruvaipu, Thundippuram, Manappally, and Ayyampilly. Statistics The total population per ...

village,

Vypeen Vypin (Malayalam: വൈപ്പിന്‍, Cochin Portuguese: Isla Santa) is one of the group of islands that form part of the city of Kochi (Cochin), in the Indian state of Kerala. Vypin forms a barrier island which lies between the Ar ...

Island,

Ernakulam district Ernakulam, ; ISO: ''Eṟaṇākuḷaṁ'', in Malayalam: എറണാകുളം), is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala, that takes its name from the eponymous city division in Kochi. It is situated in the central part o ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The temple in the present form was completed in 1964 A.D.

Other deities and Sub-temples

There are sub-temples for

Hanuman Hanuman (; sa, हनुमान, ), also called Anjaneya (), is a Hindu god and a divine '' vanara'' companion of the god Rama. Hanuman is one of the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He is an ardent devotee of Rama and on ...

Garuda Garuda (Sanskrit: ; Pāli: ; Vedic Sanskrit: गरुळ Garuḷa) is a Hindu demigod and divine creature mentioned in the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain faiths. He is primarily depicted as the mount (''vahana'') of the Hindu god Vishnu. Garuda is a ...

Ganapathy Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is found throughout India. Hindu d ...

Laxmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...

Navagraha Navagraha are nine heavenly bodies and deities that influence human life on Earth according to Hinduism and Hindu astrology. The term is derived from ''nava'' ( sa, नव "nine") and ''graha'' ( sa, ग्रह "planet, seizing, laying hold of, ...

and

Nagaraja Nagaraja ( sa, नागराज ', ) is a title used to refer to the nagas, the serpent-like figures that appear in Indian religions. It refers to the kings of the various races of the nāga, the divine or semi-divine, half-human, half-serpen ...

History

During the exodus of

s from

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

in the 16th century, many families settled down in and around Cochin. A prominent person among them (Venkateswara Pai alias Vensu Pai) settled in Kuzhupilly in the land given by the Raja of Cochin. Vensu Pai's son Anatha Pai once on his pilgrimage to Tirupathi, purchased some metal idols and dolls for his kids. There was an idol of

Balakrishna Bala Krishna ( sa, बाल कृष्ण, lit=child Krishna/divine child Krishna, translit=Bālakṛṣṇa). Present day Krishna worship is an amalgam of various elements. According to historical testimonies Krishna-Vasudeva worship alread ...

among them. The children used them in their play and made pooja to these idols. However, the children started to become sick regularly and used to have many health complaints. The elders considered that, it was due to not keeping the idol in sacred form, and started pooja. But the pooja was neither regular nor as per

sastra ''Shastra'' (, IAST: , ) is a Sanskrit word that means "precept, rules, manual, compendium, book or treatise" in a general sense.Monier Williams, Monier Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Article on 'zAstra'' The wo ...

. The suffering of the children continued and also there were some child deaths in the family. The worried Anantha Pai approached a known

Astrologer Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Dif ...

Sri Adoor Chakrapani for a solution. The astrological prasnam and prediction revealed that a separate temple is to be built for the Balakrishna idol and regular poojas to be conducted. Sri Anantha Pai considered Balakrishna as his child and divided his properties among his children and Balakrishna. A small temple was constructed in the land given to Balakrishna and Prathista done in 1895 AD. Over the period, there were internal conflicts in the family of Vensu Pai and the rituals in the temple suffered. The number of GSB families in the area also increased. It was felt that the community should have a common place for worship. Accordingly, the Balakrishna temple was offered to the community and the management was vested with the community in common. However, the Vensu Pai family was given a special status in the affairs of the temple. The samaj members proposed to construct a new temple in a more convenient location. About one and half acres of land was given free by A. Govinda Shenoy and the work was started. But the progress was in snail's pace due to non-cooperation and lack of initiative among the members. It remained incomplete for more than 35 years. Later, a group of youth formed a Seva Samithi and took the lead. They completed the work of

Garbhagraha A ''garbhagriha'' or ''sannidhanam'' is the ''sanctum sanctorum'', the innermost sanctuary of a Hindu and Jain temples where resides the ''murti'' (idol or icon) of the primary deity of the temple. In Jainism, the main deity is known as the '' ...

through free service and the

Murti In the Hindu tradition, a ''murti'' ( sa, मूर्ति, mūrti, ) is a devotional image such as a statue, or "idol" (a common and non-pejorative term in Indian English), of a deity or saint. In Hindu temples, it is a symbolic icon. Thus ...

was shifted to this new temple in 1964 AD facing east. The improvements in the temple was a continuous effort. In the late eighties, the Aanapandal was constructed with decorated pillars. The committee members also took up construction of a shopping complex and

Kalyana mandapam ''Kalyana Mandapam'' () is a 1971 Indian Telugu-language film produced and directed by V. Madhusudhana Rao. A remake of Puttanna Kanagal ''Gejje Pooje'' (1969), the film stars Sobhan Babu and Kanchana; Jaggayya, Anjali Devi, and Gummadi pla ...

. There are extensive paintings of

Daśāvatāra The Dashavatara ( sa, दशावतार, ) are the ten primary avatars of Vishnu, a principal Hindu god. Vishnu is said to descend in the form of an avatar to restore cosmic order. The word ''Dashavatara'' derives from , meaning "ten", an ...

on the temple walls inside. The

Dhvaja Dhvaja (Sanskrit also ध्वज; ) , meaning banner or flag, is composed of the Ashtamangala, the "eight auspicious symbols". In Hinduism Dhvaja in Hinduism or vedic tradition takes on the appearance of a high column (dhvaja- stambha) er ...

pratishta was done on 18-1-1991. The Centenary of the pratishta was celebrated in 1995 A.D.

Other deities and Sub-temples

History

References

See also