Logo
gsbkerala.tdtemple.org

 

 

 

 

History

This temple dedicated to Sree Balakrishna Swamy is often referred as Vypeen Guruvayoor. This is situated in the Vypeen island towards the center of the island. Vypeen Island was formed after the great floods of 1341 AD. The Island is 25 Kilometer long and has an average width of 2 kilometers.

The temple in the present form was completed in 1964 AD by a group of GSB youth from the Kuzhupilly village through Sramadan. This effort is the golden example of the unity and dedication of GSB youth in case of need.

The GSB temple


The idol of Balakrishna Swamy

Other deities and Sub-temples

There are sub-temples for Hanuman, Garuda, Navagraha and Nagaraja.

History

During the exodus of Saraswats from Goa in the 16th century,  many families settled down in and around Cochin. A prominent person among them (Venkateswara Pai alias Vensu Pai) settled in Kuzhupilly in the land (Ninda) given by the Raja of Cochin. He was a trusted person of the Raja.

Vensu Pai's son Anatha Pai once on his pilgrimage to Tirupathi, purchased some metal idols and dolls for his kids. There was an idol of Balakrishna among them. The children used them in their play and made pooja to these idols. However, the children started to become sick regularly and used to have many health complaints. The elders considered that, it was due to not keeping the idol in sacred form, and started pooja. But the pooja was neither regular nor as per sastra. The suffering of the children continued and also there were some child deaths in the family. The worried Anantha Pai approached a known Astrologer Sri Adoor Chakrapani for a solution. The astrological prasnam and prediction revealed that a seperate temple is to be built for the Balakrishna idol and regular poojas to be  conducted. Sri Anantha Pai considered Balakrishna as his child and divided his properties among his children and Balakrishna. A small temple was constructed in the land given to Balakrishna and Prathista done in 1895 AD.


The  temple (an old pic)

Over the period,  there were internal conflicts in the family of Vensu Pai and the rituals in the temple suffered. The number of GSB families in the area also incresed. It was felt that the community should have a common place for worship. Accordingly, the Balakrishna temple was offered to the community and the management was vested with the community in common. However, the Vensu Pai family was given a special status in the affairs of the temple.  The samaj members proposed to construct a new temple in a more convenient location.

About one and half acres of land was given free by A.Govinda Shenoy and the work was started. But the progress was in snail's pace due to non-cooperation and lack of initiative among the members. It remained incomplete for more than 35 years.

Later, a group of youth formed a Seva Samithi and took the lead. They completed the work of Garbhagraha through Sramadan and the prathista was shifted to this new temple in 1964 AD facing east. The improvements in the temple was a continuous effort. In the late eighties, the Anapandal was constructed with decorated pillers. The committe members also took up construction of a shopping complex and Kalyana mandapam. There are extensive paintings of Dasavtar on the temple walls inside. The dwaja pratishta was done on 18-1-1991. The Centenary of the pratishta was celebrated in 1995 A.D.

 

courtesy Sree Balakrishna Swamy Devaswom Dhwaja Prathistha Souvenir 1991