Murlidhar Temple Kullu
Naggar is a small village in Kullu District. Naggar houses many religious shrines and one of them is the Murlidhar Temple. Naggar is located on the left bank of Beas River. Naggar is the oldest capital of Kullu and thus has got many monuments and religious shrines associated with ancient India. Kullu has been mentioned into the Vishu Purana and also in the great Hindu Epics likes “the Ramayana” and “the Mahabharata”. Kullu is very closely associated with the local tribe ‘Kalut’. These tribal people were natives of the upper parts of Beas River Valley.It is believed that Manu, the first human being on the earth, came to this Kullu Valley after the heavy flood that destroyed the earth. It is believed that repopulation of humans happened at this place only. Kullu Valley has association with many sages like Sage Vashishtha, Sage Vyas, and Sage Shringi. In this article you will get to know about location, history and other details of Murlidhar Temple located at Naggar.
About Murlidhar Temple Kullu
Naggar, a wonderful village housing different religious shrines as well as many monuments of historical importance, is a popular tourist attraction in Kullu. Visitors keep coming here throughout the year for enjoying scintillating natural surroundings and also to visit places like Naggar Castle, Roerich Art Gallery and religious spots like Gauri Sankar Temple and Murlidhar Temple. Murlidhar Temple is one of the oldest temples of the region and has the main deity as Radha-Krishna. The temple is located in Thaava, a place located about 3 km away from Naggar. Thaava has an altitude higher than Naggar. The temple has idols of Devi Radha and Lord Krishna.There are idols of other deities too within this temple. These idols are of Garuda, Devi Laxmi and Lord Narayana and Padam Sambhava. The temple used to get patronized by the royal family of Kullu. As part of the older custom, Dussehra Festival, the most popular festival of Kullu is celebrated here for a day with lots of pomp and gaiety.
History of Murlidhar Temple Kullu
Initially when the Murlidhar Temple was built, the deity of Srimati Radharani was not kept there. It was believed that as the deity of Radha was not there, Lord Krishna used to be absent from the temple premise quite often. Lord Krishna stayed in the Temple’s sanctum only after Radharani’s idol was installed in the temple.Architecture of Murlidhar Temple Kullu
The temple has architecture similar to the Shikara style. The temple has the shape of pagoda and is made of wood. The foundation of this temple has the similarities with the carvings of Gupta Era. During the destructive earthquake that took place in the year 1905, the upper portion of Murlidhar Temple got destroyed very badly. The upper portion of the temple was rebuilt.A small chariot is there in the temple premise that is used for Lord Murlidhar on the day of Dussehra.