Alaghu Mallari Krishna Swamy Temple – Mannaru Poluru
Historically renowned as ‘Manimadapa kshetra’, the temple of Sri Alaghu Mallari Krishna Swami along with His two consorts namely Sri Satyabhama and Jambavathi is situated at Mannaru Poluru near the river Kalingi which is at an approximate distance of five kilometres from Sullurupeta.
According to historical evidence, the temple was constructed in the 10th century by the Chola kings. In the thirteenth century, the temple reached its glory during the reign of Manumasiddhi kings who ruled Nellore. In the eighteenth century, five villages were given by the king of Venkatagiri as donations.
The celebrations of the Brahmotsavam in the temple will be held twice a year.
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Sthala Puranam (History)
King Satrajit had a rigorous penance to please Lord Surya. Lord Surya presented a precious jewel called Samanthakamani to him. The precious jewel has the power to give the king a quantity of gold that weighs eight ‘baruvulu’ every day.
One day the king went to the court of Lord Krishna wearing the costly jewel. Lord Krishna asked the king to give Him the jewel since it was necessary for a king to have sufficient financial resources for the social protection and the financial welfare of the people. But the king rejected the proposal of Lord Krishna. The king gave the jewel to his brother Prasena for wearing around his neck in order to save the jewel from Lord Krishna otherwise He might steal the jewel from him at any time.
One day, Prasena went to the forest for hunting the animals wearing the jewel around his neck. Meanwhile, a lion killed Prasena and took away the shining jewel. After sometime, Jambavantha killed the lion and took away the scintillating jewel. He gave the jewel to his dear daughter Jambavathi. King Satrajit waited for the arrival of his brother for a long time. But he concluded himself that Lord Krishna might have killed his brother for the sake of the jewel and blamed Lord Krishna.
To rule out the false blame, Lord Krishna prayed to Lord Vinayaka on the Vinayaka Chavithi and started His search. On seeing the traces of the dead body of Prasena and the dead lion, Lord Krishna found the way that led to the cave of Jambavantha. He saw the jewel around the neck of Jambavathi.
On seeing Lord Krishna, Jambavantha got angry and invited him to wrestling. After a long battle, Jambavantha was defeated. In Treta Yuga, Jambavantha requested Lord Sri Rama to fight with him. His desire was fulfilled in the Dwapara Yuga. After knowing that both Lord Krishna and Lord Sri Rama were the same as they were the ‘avatars’ of Lord Vishnu, he prayed to Lord Krishna and asked His pardon. He arranged the marriage of his daughter with Lord Krishna along with the precious jewel.
Later, Lord Krishna handed over the jewel to Satrajit. After his atonement, the king wanted to wash away his sin and gave his daughter, Satyabhama to Lord Krishna in marriage along with the jewel. Devotees see the two consorts beside the main idol in the temple. In the Puranas, the place is described as ‘Manimandapa Kshetra’ because Jambavantha gave the jewel ‘samanthakamani’ to Lord Krishna in this place only.
The main deity is Sri Alaghu Mallari Krishna Swami / Alagu Mallari Krishna Swamy as Lord Krishna wrestled with Jambavantha. Lord Krishna became ‘Malla Hari.’ Over time, His name became ‘Mallari Krishna Swami.’ As the place is noted for the wrestling between Lord Krishna and Jambavantha, it is called ‘Malla Hari Poru Vuru.’ Over time, the name of the place became ‘Mannaru Poluru.’ or Mannar Polur
The Cultural and Artistic Style of the Statues
The gigantic statue of Garuda at the height of nine and a half feet in front of Lord Krishna Swami is seen with ‘Ashta Nagabandhalu.’ His eyes are in the posture of shedding tears since his pride is defeated. The main deity Lord Krishna Swami’s statue is at the height of five and a half feet. In all Vaishnava temples, the statues of Lord Garuda seem to be very small. In this temple the stature of Lord Garuda is very high.
According to the ‘sthalapurana,’ Lord Krishna told Garuda to bring His devotee Hanuman who is chanting the ‘Rama nama Mantra’ in the Himalayas to ‘Manimandapa Kshetra’ to give Jambavantha His grand ‘darshan’ as Lord Rama. Garuda went to the Himalayas and told Lord Hanuman about the command of Lord Krishna. But Lord Hanuman refused to Manimandapa Kshetra.
There was a severe exchange of words between them. Lord Hanuman showed His magnificent ‘Viswaroopa’ to Garuda. Garuda’s arrogance was shattered. The statue of Garuda shedding tears from his eyes symbolizes his defeat.
Again, Lord Krishna ordered Garuda to go to the Himalayas to tell Lord Hanuman that Lord Rama had asked him to come to ‘Manimandapa Kshetra.’ Jumped with joy and enthusiasm, Lord Hanuman reached the ‘Kshetra.’ Lord Krishna ordered Satyabhama to become Rukmini to please their devotee, Hanuman. With great piety and devotion, Satyabhama made three ‘pradakshinas’ around Lord Krishna and manifested herself as Sita. Lord Hanuman had a grand ‘darshan’ of Lord Rama along with His consort Sita. He felt delighted and went to the Himalayas.
Jambavantha – Kshetrapalaka
On the right side of the main temple, there is a shrine of Rukmini Devi who is the embodiment of goddess Mahalakshmi. She is renowned as Soundaryavalli. On the backside of the main temple, there is a shrine of Jambavantha. The height of the statue is nine and a half feet. For this temple, Jambavantha is the ‘Kshetrapalaka’. On the left side of the main temple, there is a shrine of Sri Kodandarama Swami.
The main deity is associated with Sita and Lakshmana on either side. It is clear evidence that Lord Rama has given His darshan to Jambavantha in the cave. The temples of Lord Krishna and Lord Rama are rarely situated in one temple compound with two individual ‘dwaja sthambhas’.
The temple is fine proof of the confluence of Lord Krishna and Lord Rama. Along with the ‘dwarapalakas’, the existence of the statues of Sugreeva and Jataayu enriched the reputation of the temple. Every devotee feels delighted spiritually because there are statues of goddess Andal, Lord Venkateswara, Lord Anjaneya, Sri Ramanuja Swami, and twelve Alwars in separate shrines. In this way, the temple has been identified as the most renowned Vaishnava temple.
The ‘vimanas gopuram’ of this temple is similar to the ‘vimana gopuram’ of Tirumala. Naturally one sees the images of Garuda on the structure of Vaishnava temples. There are images of lions on the ‘Vimana gopuram’ as on the Vimana gopuram’ in Tirumala.
Hamsa Vimsati
According to historical sources, the temple achieved its glory during the reign of Manaumasiddhi. Sri Venkata Narasimha Kavi who belonged to the 16th century wrote Sri Mannari Krishna Satakam and Sri Rama Chandra Satakam. He dedicated them to Lord Krishna. Sri Ayyalarayala Narayana Kavi wrote Hamsa Vimsati. In the fourth chapter of the classic, the poet described Lord Krishna Swami as Govinda.
In the fifth chapter, he gave special status to the temple on par with the other great temples like Chidambaram, Tiruttani, and Sri Kalahasthi and he wrote very extensively on the Mani Mandapa Kshetra i.e., Mannaru Poluru. In front of the main temple, there is Bhakta Anjaneya temple in Sannidhi Street. Long ‘Mukha Mandapa’, broad ‘Maha Mandapa’, Kalyana Mandapa were built in a graceful, glorious and artistic manner.
Swami Pushkarini
The main Rajagopuram was built in an ancient tradition with architectural beauty. In front of it, there is ‘Utla’ Mandapam. On the eastern side of the temple, there is Swami Pushkarini within an area of two acres. The temple priests used to take the holy waters from the ‘koneru’ along with Vedic chants, and auspicious musical instruments in a ritualistic way to perform ‘Tirumanjanam’ every morning.
Cellar in the temple
It is believed that there is a cellar in the temple premises facing towards the north-east side of the main deity. Inside the cave, there were three stone entrances with architectural glory leading to some steps that showed a way filled with utter darkness.
So, the organizers were afraid and did not carry out their research. They closed the way temporarily. The local people opine that the cave may be the residence of Jambavantha.
Inscription from the 16th Century
According to the inscription found in the 16th century, the temple was under the aegis of the ‘zamindars’ of Venkatagiri who donated five villages consisting of an area of 1477 acres for the development of the temple. In those days, the temple was under the supervision of the Tahsildar of Mannaru Poluru.
There were nine ‘archakas’ who used to perform worship to the Lord nine times every day with regular ritualistic offerings. Besides them, there were Vedic scholars and lecturers, musical instruments, male and female servants, and different people belonging to various professions in great numbers doing ‘seva’ to the Lord. It is known that there were more than one thousand people who depended on the temple for their livelihood.
Following the Vaishnava tradition, ‘nitya’, ‘vaara’, ‘paksha’, ‘maasa’ and ‘varshika’ utsavams are being celebrated in the magnificent temple. From Suprabhatam to the Ekanta seva, ‘ghanta nivedanalu’ are being performed to the Lord every day.
Let us derive spiritual joy from the grand ‘darshan’ of Lord Sri Alaghu Mallari Krishna Swami and attain eternal bliss!
