On the way to Mysore and in Mysore

On a Saturday morning we were all set for our journey. A day’s trip to Mysore. We have aleady visited Mysore and hence wanted to explore places on the way to Mysore trip, more on a religious footage. Often we have come across the name of “Lord Navaneetha Krishna” in the tamil magazine “Kumudam Jodhidam” and have been wanting to see him. Lord Navaneetha Krishna has his place in “Maloor Aprameya Swamy Temple, Doddamalooru” on the Bangalore-Mysore road in Channapatna. http://www.channapatnacity.gov.in/

We started from home around 6.15 Am by car with our little kid (yet to be 2). Packing and travelling with a kid is really difficult as you all know. My husband too had a stiff back and was not sure if we would travel or not till that morning. We were not sure what all we could cover but still started hoping to cover Doddamallur atleast. We reached Doddamallur around 7.20 AM. Doddamallur is about 63 Kms from Bangalore. It is on the banks of river Kanva. It is on the Bangalore-Mysore road (left hand side of the road when travelling from Bangalore towards Mysore) withing 2 Kms from the Channapatna bus stand. Dodda Mallur, or simple Mallur is where the 1600 years old temple of Lord Apprameya (the name finds place in Vishnu Sahasranama..”Apprameya Rishi kesho..”). The temple has the shrine of Lord Rama Apprameya, Goddess Aravindavalli and Lord Navaneetha Krishna.

The chief attraction of the temple is this krishna whose shrine is hand sculptured in saligrama stone. You could just see a 8 month old charming child crawling with his right leg on the air and butter (Navaneeth) in the right hand. With anklets in his legs and ornaments in his neck, this Krishna with his curly hair just takes away your heart as you see him.

We heard from the priest that Saint-Singer Purandaradasa composed his most famous song “Jagadodharana adisidalu yasoda” for this Krishna. For generations it is believed that this Krishna has the special power of blessing childless couples. Many childless couples come and worship him. They perform an archana for this Krishna and offer their prayers. Once they are blessed with a child, they could come back with the child to offer a cradle that is tied on the ceiling of Lord Navaneetha’s sannidhi.

The temple is opened between 8 Am and 12 noon , 4 Pm and 8.30 Pm. We could get the photos or idols of Lord Krishna in a small shop outside.

There are no public rest rooms available but a near by family has let their restroom to be used by the pilgrims visiting the temple. (So nice of them!! This too is a kind of service).

There is a board in the temple mentioning about 1200 years old Narasimha temple nearby (within 1 Km from there). We were not able to make it during this trip. Hope we will cover that too in our next trip.

More to come......