ISKCON Temple Chennai
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

ISKCON Temple Chennai, also known as the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Mandir, is a
Gaudiya Vaishnavism Gaudiya Vaishnavism (), also known as Chaitanya Vaishnavism, is a Vaishnava Hindu religious movement inspired by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534) in India. "Gaudiya" refers to the Gaura or Gauḍa region of Bengal, with Vaishnavism meanin ...
temple in
Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
, India. The temple is dedicated to Hindu god
Radha Radha ( sa, राधा, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is worshiped as the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. She is the avatar of goddess Lakshmi and is also de ...
and
Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...
. It was formally inaugurated on 26 April 2012.


History

ISKCON founder
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami (; 1 September 1896 – 14 November 1977) was an Indian Gaudiya Vaishnava guru who founded ISKCON, commonly known as the "Hare Krishna movement". Members of ISKCON view Bhaktivedanta Swami as a repr ...
, wanted to establish ISKCON centers in
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 ...
. In 1971, when he returned to India after his success with spread of ISKCON in the Western world, he directed Giriraj Maharaj to go to Madras and preach activities, resulting in many enlisting as life patrons. Prabhupada wrote in a letter, Prabhupada visited Madras in February 1972 and delivered lectures. In 1975, a centre was opened at 50 Aspiran Gardens, 2nd Street,
Kilpauk Kilpauk is a semi residential area located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The distance from Chennai's city to Kilpauk is about 6 km. The region is situated off the Poonamallee High Road in the west. Adjacent areas of Kilpauk include Chetp ...
, which was later shifted to Kilpauk Garden Road. In 1988, the centre moved to
T. Nagar Thyagaraya Nagar, commonly known as T. Nagar, and historically known as East Mambalam, is a very affluent commercial and residential neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is surrounded by Nungambakkam in the North, Teynampet in the Ea ...
, where the congregation of Chennai ISKCON increased greatly. During a morning walk on 18 December 1975, Prabhupada remarked: "Now our European and American boys are preaching in South India and big, big acaryas have received them." In January 1976, Prabhupada visited Madras again and lectured in AVM Rajeswari Kalyana Mandapam,
Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai Doctor is an academic title that originates from the Latin word of the same spelling and meaning. The word is originally an agentive noun of the Latin verb 'to teach'. It has been used as an academic title in Europe since the 13th century, w ...
and in the house of the then Chief Justice Veeraswamy. Inspired by the positive response to Krishna consciousness in Madras, Prabhupada wrote a letter to his disciples in Madras: However, the effort to fulfill the desire of Prabhupada to build a "gorgeous temple" in Chennai did not prove fruitful until 2000 when devotees serving under the leadership of Bhanu Swami located 6.5 acres of land in
Injambakkam Injambakkam is a locality in the south of Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Being a part of the Walajabad block of the district, its panchayat is part of Walajabad panchayat union. Injambakkam is located along the ECR. Demographics ...
and acquired immediately for construction of the temple. The temple was built solely on donations received from people in Chennai. The construction of the first phase of the project began on 17 March 2002. The temple has been built with the support of about 8,000 life patrons and contributions from devotees. Built on 45,000 sq ft of land, the temple cost 100 million. The ''prana pratishtha'' (deity installation) ceremony, when the idols of Lord Krishna and Radha and their ''sakhis''—Lalitha and Vishaka—were installed in one of the three teak-wood altars in the main hall, and ''Kumbhabhishekam'' were performed on 26 April 2012. After the ''Kumbhabishekam'' and ''Maha mangala arati''—the first decorated darshan of the deities—flowers were showered from a
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
over the ''gopurams'' built in the Kalinga style with a Sudarshana Chakra on the top of the tallest tower. The idols in the temple on Burkit Road, T. Nagar unit have also been shifted to this temple. At the time of inauguration, the temple was still under construction with a 90-ft-long construction, which was to function as the kitchen and ''annadhan'' hall, nearing completion.


Structure

ISKCON Temple Chennai is part of the Centre for Spiritual Art and Culture and is located off the East Coast Road at the Hare Krishna land, Sholinganallur. The deities worshipped in the temple include those of Radha Krishna Lalita Vishaka, Jagannath Baladev Subhadra, and Sri Sri Nitai Gauranga. Spread over an area of over 1.5 acres, the temple is constructed on five levels. There is a 7,000 sq ft temple hall on the first floor, an auditorium for cultural and spiritual programmes on the ground floor and a prasadam hall in the basement. In the temple hall, there are three teak-wood altars which house the deities of
Lord Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one of ...
with his chief consort
Radha Radha ( sa, राधा, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is worshiped as the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. She is the avatar of goddess Lakshmi and is also de ...
rani and their assisting friends Lalita and Vishaka,
Lord Chaitanya Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (; born Vishvambhar Mishra) was a 15th-century Indian saint who is considered to be the combined avatar of Radha and Krishna by his disciples and various scriptures. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mode of worshipping Krishna ...
with Lord Nityananda and
Lord Jagannath Jagannath ( or, ଜଗନ୍ନାଥ, lit=Lord of the Universe, Jagannātha; formerly en, Juggernaut) is a deity worshipped in regional Hinduism, Hindu traditions in India and Bangladesh as part of a triad along with his brother Balarama, Ba ...
, Baladeva and
Subhadra Subhadra ( sa, सुभद्रा, Subhadrā) is a Hindu goddess mentioned in ancient Hindu scriptures like the ''Mahabharata'' and the ''Bhagavata Purana''. She is described as the favourite child of Vasudeva and the younger sister of de ...
. These deities have been sourced from
Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi Language, Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Rajasthan. , the city had a pop ...
and
Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Sch ...
. Designed under the guidance of Sri Bhanu Swami, the temple has imbibed various attributes from
Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
scripture and is inspired by the
Pallava The Pallava dynasty existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a significant portion of the Deccan, also known as Tondaimandalam. The dynasty rose to prominence after the downfall of the Satavahana dynasty, with whom they had formerly served as fe ...
and Kalinga architecture. The entrance to the temple is marked by the representation of the
universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Acc ...
or the bhu-mandala on the marble floor. According to the
cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount (lexicographer), Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in ...
of ancient Vedic puranas, the universe is described as series of circular islands surrounding a central pillar called
Mount Meru Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु), also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru, is the sacred five-peaked mountain of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmology and is considered to be the centre of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritu ...
. The design on the floor at the entrance depicts the same universal pattern. There is also a life-like statue of a cow feeding its calf at the portico. The primary purpose of the temple to transform the material self-centred identity into a spiritual identity of unconditional love is graphically represented by means of a magnificent chandelier that projects various colours on the walls and ceiling. The chandelier has 500 Himalayan
quartz crystals Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
supposedly meant to intensify the spiritual energy in the temple. The temple also visually displays various vastu shastra features. A booklet explaining all these features is available at the book shop, which is located near the portico. Here you can find books and souvenirs on spirituality and Hindu philosophy. The temple is open from 7:30 am to 1pm and from 4pm to 8:00 pm. However, the last ''aarati'' (worship), called the ''sayana arati'', is at 9:00 pm, which lasts about 15 minutes.


Gallery

File:ISKCON Chennai LordKrishna Radharani.JPG, Statues of Lord Krishna and Radharani, along with their sakhis Lalitha and Vishaka File:ISKCON Chennai LordChaitanya LordNityananda.JPG, Statues of Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda File:ISKCON Chennai LordJagannath BaladevaNSubhadra.JPG, Statues of Lord Jagannath, Lord Baladeva and Mother Subhadra File:ISKCON Chennai Facade.JPG, The newly built temple soon after consecration


See also

*
Religion in Chennai Chennai is religiously cosmopolitan, with its denizens following various religions, chief among them being Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism. Chennai, along with Mumbai, Delhi, Kochi, and Kolkata, is o ...


References


Further reading

*


External links


Iskcon Chennai Website
{{List of Hindu temples in Tamil Nadu Radha Krishna temples Hindu temples in Chennai 21st-century Hindu temples International Society for Krishna Consciousness temples 2012 establishments in Tamil Nadu