Melukote Sri Cheluvanarayanaswamy Temple

This holy place is very historical, even though the temple compound is around thousand years old. This temple is one of the Vaisnava temples, devoted to God Vishnu. This is an essential pilgrim site, particularly for those from the Shri Vaisnava group. According to custom, Almighty Rama came to this temple with his son Khusha and revered Lord Narayanan here. Because of this, the idol of Sampath Kumara is also called as Rampriya. The chief deity of the Holy place is Tirunarayana or Cheluvanarayanan Swamy. The goddess in this shrine is known as Yadugiri Nachiyar. Shri Ramanujam, a great Vaisnava Acharya, resided in Melkotai for twelve years, and gained many supporters, which includes the King of Hoysala , Vishnuvaradhan. At this time, the idol of this shrine had been missing for a while. Realizing that the idol was with the Islamic ruler Mohammed Shah in Delhi, Shri Ramanuja decided to go to dehi and get the idol back. Mohammed Shah was significantly impressed at the saint and gave him the permission to take the idol back. So,Shri Ramanuja bought back the idol to Melkotai. This Shrine has been recognized and revered by the Hoysalas, the Vijayanagara leaders and the Mysore Maharaja. They all have contributed to the temple by donating jewelry, precious stones, funds etc.The daughter of Mohammed Shah, a very young girl was playing with the idol, as a toy.The girl was so fond of the idol she started following Shri Ramanujam when he took the idol back to malkotai, incapable of separation from her dearest toy. When she arrived at the temple in Yadugiri, and saw the idol set up there, she collapsed in front of the idol and dies. Shri Ramanuja stunned by her Bhakthi in being so engaged with the idol of Lord Nayarana, set up an idol of her at this shrine. Even now she is revered along with the chief deities as Bibi Naachiyar. Her idol can be seen at the feet of the main deity and also beside her dearest Sampath Kumara, her beloved idol.