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500 cr Golden Krishna temple at Kondaveedu
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) is going to construct a unique golden Lord Krishna temple near Kondaveedu Fort with a fund of Rs 500 crore. This is the first-of-its-kind golden temple in south India.
Andhra Pradesh is gearing up to build a golden temple for Lord Krishna at the Kondaveedu Fort in Guntur. The temple will be built at a cost of Rs 500 crore by ISKCON. Apart from the temple, the fort will be used to build a township to promote spiritual tourism. The township will house an international school, medical facility, pavilions showcasing the Ramayan and Mahabharat, cow university and hold exhibitions highlighting Krishna Lila, Chaitanya Lila, Bhagavad Gita
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) is going to construct a unique golden Lord Krishna temple near Kondaveedu Fort with a fund of Rs 500 crore. This is the first-of-its-kind golden temple in south India.
Way back in 1998, a 13th century idol of young Krishna holding butter in one hand and a pot in another was unearthed. As such the idol has been named Venna Mudda Gopaludu (Butter Lord Krishna). Archeologists traced the idol to be sculpted during the time of King Krishnadevaraya.
Kondaveedu Fort was a base for the Reddy kings in the 13th century. Then these kings were conquered by Krishnadevaraya, the powerful emperor of Vijaya Nagar Empire. The king was a staunch Lord Balaji devotee who built the present Tirumala Balaji temple. One night, he had a dream where Lord Krishna requested the king to build a temple for him. So the king installed Venna Gopaludu idol in the fort.
Over the years, the fort however lost its charm as it remained neglected. It was not until the ISKCON and Kondaveedu Heritage Revival Society joined hands in 2010 for this project, that the fort regained prominence. The locals, with the support of the then Guntur district collector Ramanjeneyulu invited ISKCON to take up the project.
The society decided to turn the fort into an international pilgrim destination by promoting spiritual eco- tourism.
The golden temple will come up in 150 acres and will be completed in three stages. It will be like a township, which will house an international school, medical facility, pavilions showcasing the Ramayan and Mahabharat, vedic teaching school, a theme park using religion and a cow shelter. It will also showcase history of the fort and will have exhibitions highlighting Krishna Lila, Chaitanya Lila, Bhagavad Gita and a spiritual science exhibition about Vedic cosmology.
Satyagopinath Das, ISKCON south India president and trustee of golden temple project, said that the ISKCON has planned to promote spiritual heritage through the Iskcon-Kondaveedu Spiritual Heritage Revival Project (IKSHR). It will create a comprehensive spiritual tourist attraction zone in the area.
“The project would be completed in three phases and already the Gosala (cow protection centre) and a cow university has been started at Kondaveedu,” he said.
