Background
Shri Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu and the great exponent of Bhagavat Gita, is one of the most popular heroes of Hindu mythology.
While there are several temples of Lord Krishna in various parts of the world, this temple in Tumkur, known as Kuja Kshetra, stands unique as Kuja or Lord Mangala is also worshipped along with Krishna and other deities. In recent years, the temple has been gaining popularity for its Kuja Dosha Nivaran Pooja.
More than 200 devotees from Shimoga, Gangavathi, Bangalore, and other far-off places throng the temple on Tuesdays to seek the blessings of Lord Mangala or Kuja. Kuja Pooja is performed every Tuesday. On this day, Abhishekha is done to the deity in the morning. Devotees offer jaggery, toor dal, red cloth, along with betel leaves as Daana, and pray to the Lord to get rid of Kuja Dosha. Many of them have come up with positive results after performing the Pooja here, devotees say.
The main deity here is Gopalakrishna Swamy. The temple was built by Late Shri T.V. Ranganna single-handedly way back in 1965. Ranganna, a retired employee of Canara Bank, was an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna. Highly inclined towards spirituality, it was Mr. Ranganna’s lifetime dream to build a temple for Krishna. He got the idol carved by Mr. Ranjala Gopala T. Shenoy of Bhuvanendra Shilpa Kala Shaala in Karkala of Udupi district. It is said that both the idols of Krishna and the sacred cow are carved from a single monolithic stone.
