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| The Vainatheya Temple at Bindiganavile,KA touringwithpk.com |
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| The Vainatheya Temple at Bindiganavile,KA anudinam.org |
There are a very few temples dedicated to Garuda, the eternal vahana of Sri Vishnu. The Vainatheya Temple in the quiet village of Bindiganavile (place named after Dindiga --thorny plant; later changed to Bindiga meaning small hillocks ) that’s over 1000 years old is one among them. The temple dates back to the Hoysala dynasty. Bindiganavile, once a well-known agrahara, is in Nagamangala taluka of Mandya District, Karnataka and is about 50 kilometers from Mandya and 130 kilometers from Bangalore.
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| The Vainatheya Temple at Bindiganavile epuja.co.in |
In this temple the primary deities are Prasanna Channakeshava and his consort is Sowmyanayaki. Here, Garuda is worshipped as Vainatheyar. It is said the great Vaishnava seer, social reformer and proponent of Vishishtadvaita Sri Ramanujar (c. 1077 CE – 1157 CE) during his sojourn in Tondanoor & Melokote used to visit this place for rest. The wooden Garuda deity in the temple was not planned before by neither the builder of the temple nor by subsequent authorities. Its consecration here was quite providential. About 800 years ago the wooden deity was on the way to Belur Channakeshava Temple from Kanchipuram where it was made. The current sandalwood deity was made in the early 19th CE.
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Garuda vahana. The Vainatheya Temple at Bindiganavile sojournwithsan.com
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| The Vainatheya Temple at Bindiganavile kalyangeetha.wordpress.com |
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| The Vainatheya Temple at Bindiganavile sojournwithsan.com |
The story of the origin of wooden Garuda in an interesting one. A wooden Garuda Vahana made in Kanchipuram by a talented sculptor on order, was on the way to Belur Channakeshava Temple. As the long journey was a tedious one the men in the caravan used to take rest for the night at temples on the way. Thus at late evening when they reached Bindiganavile the convoy decided to rest at a temple. At that night the head of the team had a strange dream. The wooden Garuda that was in transit said, “We have arrived at Keshava’s abode. I would like to stay here to serve the Lord. Let us go no further.”
Neither the leader nor the men in the convoy took the reverie seriously. Astonishingly, when they resumed the onward journey, they could not move the Garuda statue an inch and they tried again and it was just a futile attempt. Literally, the Garuda statue became anchored there. At that point of time, a Palegara/ Chieftain of that area said he had a similar dream and Garuda was particular about staying here and this way Vynatheya became the Archamoorthy in this temple meaning there daily poojas had to be conducted for him.
Subsequently, in consultation with Pundits Garuda was consecrated in the temple and daily pujas were done regularly. as per Shastras. Since that period, the 800 year old wooden Garuda has been there as a main deity. In all Vaishnava temples Garuda is represented as lord's vahana on the Dwajasthamba or in the temple flag. But here the temple has become his abode (of course without his knowledge).Now, this place has become a pilgrimage center for Vaishnavas. Over a period of time this temple for unknown reasons became a neglected place and fell into disuse and the poisonous reptiles took residence here. The wooden garuda was covered with ant hill as Puja was stopped long ago. As time went by Garuda Devta appeared in the dream of one Garudachar, Bangalore Municipal Chairman. Responding to the dream he hired a sculptor and asked him make Garuda from the Sandal wood. being inexperienced in making Garuda image, he could not make further progress. In the following morning when he began to work he saw a miracle; a sort of outline mark of Garuda on the wood was made. He and his coworkers went ahead and completed the work - a nicely carved sandal wood Garuda which people worship now. The credit goes to late Garudachar who brought the Garuda temple back to old glory.
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