King Sutapa and his wife Prishni prayed to Brahma for a child. Brahma, with the consent of Vishnu, gave the king a murti of Krishna given to him by Vishnu himself. It is said that by the grace of this murti, Brahma was able to fulfill his task of creation. When Vishnu appeared before the King and the queen in answer to their prayers, they prayed to the Lord for a son like Him. As they repeated it thrice, the lord told them that they would have three janmas (births) and that He would be born to them in each of their three incarnations. In due course the Lord was born to them. He was born to them the first time as Prisnigarbha, who taught people the importance of brahmacharya. The second time, he was born to Kashyapa and Aditi and took form as the avatara of Vamana. In their third incarnation, they were Vasudeva and Devaki, parents of Krishna. The legend states that Krishna got the murti from his father and worshiped it at his capital, Dwaraka. Before the conclusion of his incarnation as Krishna, the Lord told his devotee and minister Uddhava that his image would come floating in the sea which would soon engulf Dwaraka. Uddhava was to request Brahaspati, the Guru of the Gods, to install the image at a suitable place. When this came to pass, Brahaspati and Vayu, the God of wind, set out in search of a sacred place to house the murti. They met Parasurama (an earlier avatara of Vishnu) at Kerala, who was bringing the same murti to Dwaraka. Parasurama led them to a beautiful lake full of lotus flowers. Lord Shiva was doing penance there and he told Guru and Vayu to install the two murti together at a spot near the lake and that the site should be known as "Guruvayupura". Lord Shiva and the goddess Parvati left for Mammiyur, on the opposite bank of the lake. The present tank, "Rudratirtha", is only a miniature of the original lake. When devotees go round the Krishna temple, from a certain spot, they face Mammiyur and pray to Shiva. Vishwakarma, the architect of the Gods, built the Krishna temple at the request of Guru and Vayu. This is the account in the Mahabharatha, told by the sage Dattatreya to King Janamejaya, son of Parikshit. King Parikshit died of a cobra bite due to the curse of a sage. His son, King Janamejaya, sacrificed thousands of innocent reptiles. As a result of their curse, he was afflicted by leprosy. On the sage Dattatreya's advice, he went to Guruvayur and worshiped Guruvayurappan in the company of the sage Atreya. He prayed with intense devotion for 41 days. He had a dream one night, that the Lord's tender hand was stroking him. The legend has it that when he woke up the next day, he found no trace of leprosy on his body.
Construction of the temple
An astrologer told a Pandya King that he was destined to die from a cobra bite on a particular day. He was advised to go and pray before Guruvayurappan. The king spent years in meditation and prayer at the feet of the deity. Suddenly the King realized that the time of his death had passed. He came back to his palace and asked the astrologer why the prediction was wrong. The wise man showed him the mark on his left foot where the cobra had bitten him. Since the king was wholly absorbed in the Lord, Who alone can dispense with fate, he did not feel the sting. In gratitude, the King built the temple at Guruvayur and set apart funds for the daily routine of the temple. Most of the current temple building dates to the 16th and 17th centuries, although rich devotees funded extensions and additions later. The deepastamba (column of lights) was erected in 1836 by a devotee from Thiruvanathapuram. The temple has gopurams in the east and the west. The eastern gopuram has an inscription which refers to the town as "Gurupavanapura". The western gopura was built in 1747.
"EKADASI" is a highly auspicious day dedicated to Lord Vishnu on the eleventh day of every lunar fortnight in traditional Hindu calendar. There are 24 Ekadasis in a year and the Vrishchika Ekadasi (Suklapaksha) has got special significance in Guruvayur. Ekadashi that falls in the waxing phase of moon in the Malayalam month Vrishchikam (November – December) is observed as" Guruvayur Ekadasi" in the world famous Guruvayoor Sri Krishna Temple in Kerala – the abode of Guruvayurappan.
Lord Krishna lived his life by his own famous saying, which can be translated in English, as "Thy right is to work only, but never with its fruits; let not the fruits of action be thy motive, nor let thy attachment be to inaction."
