Ambalappuzha Sri Krishna Temple
SH 12, Ambalapuzha, Kerala 688561
Phone : 0477 227 2090
Ambalappuzha Sri Krishna Temple is a Hindu temple in Ambalappuzha, Alappuzha district of Kerala, in south India.
The Ambalappuzha Sri Krishna Temple is believed to have been built during 15th – 17th AD by the local ruler Chembakasserry Pooradam Thirunal-Devanarayanan Thampuran.
The idol at Ambalapuzha is likened to Parthasarathi with a whip in the right hand and a Shankhu (sacred conch) in the left. This temple is directly associated to the Guruvayoor Sree Krishna Temple. During the raids of Tipu Sultan in 1789, the idol of Sri Krishna from the Guruvayoor Temple was brought to the Ambalappuzha Temple for safe keeping.
The payasam served in the Ambalappuzha Temple is famous among Hindu devotees. This sweet pudding made of rice and milk has an interesting mythological legend behind it.It is believed that Guruvayoorappan reaches here daily at the time of Palpayasa Nedyam to have it.
According to the legend, God Krishna once appeared in the form of a sage in the court of the king who ruled the region and challenged him for a game of chess. The king being a chess enthusiast himself gladly accepted the invitation. The prize had to be decided before the game and the king asked the sage to choose his prize in case he won. The sage told the king that he had a very modest claim and being a man of few material needs, all he wished was a few grains of rice. The amount of rice itself shall be determined using the chess-board in the following manner. One grain of rice shall be placed in the first square, two grains in the second square, four in the third square, eight in the fourth square, sixteen in 5th square and so on. Every square will have double of its predecessor.
Upon hearing the demand, the king was unhappy since the sage requested only a few grains of rice instead of other riches from the kingdom which the king would have been happy to donate. He requested the sage to add other items to his prize but the sage declined.
So the game of chess started and needless to say the king lost the game. It was time to pay the sage his agreed-upon prize. As he started adding grains of rice to the chess board, the king soon realised the true nature of the sage’s demands. By the 20th square, the number had reached one million grains of rice and by the 40th square, it became one million million. The royal granary soon ran out of grains of rice. The king realised that even if he provides all the rice in his kingdom and his adjacent kingdoms, he will never be able to fulfill the promised reward. The number of grains was increasing as a geometric progression and the total amount of rice required to fill a 64-squared chess board is ((2^64) – 1) which is equal to the number 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 translating to trillions of tons of rice.
Upon seeing the dilemma, the sage appeared to the king in his true-form, that of God Krishna. He told the King that he did not have to pay the debt immediately but could pay him over time. The king would serve paal-payasam (made of rice) in the temple freely to the pilgrims every day until the debt was paid off.
Source : Wikipedia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rdG45cqhRo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC8gMany8zc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zXGPMTHhJI
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Visiting hours : 03.00AM to 12.00PM and 05.00PM to 08.00PM
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