Kanakana kindi

Kanakana Kindi or Kanaka's Window is a small peephole in the Udupi Sri Krishna temple through which the great Indian saint Kanaka Dasa was given darshan by lord Krishna.

History

There are many popular legends regarding Lord Krishna's revelation to Kanakadasa. The most popular legend is that Kanakadasa came to Udupi as a pilgrim to visit the temple. Sri Vadiraja Tirtha had heard about this pious devotee of the Lord and made arrangements for his stay in a hut on the roadside in front of the temple. Kanaka Dâsa used to play on his tambura and sing in the hut, but he used to think of how the idol of Krishna would have looked like. Being of a lower caste, by tradition he was forbidden to enter the temple and have darshana of Krishna. The wall of the shrine was in between the idol and Kanakadasa

When Kanakadasa secretly entered the temple, he was caught by the temple authorities without Vadiraja's knowledge. He was whipped and chained as a punishment, in front of the back wall of the sanctum. In desperate pain, he sang a song Baagilanu teredu, Seveyanu kodo Hariye (Open the door, O Hari and help me), When he finished singing, his chains snapped, an earthquake occurred and the wall exploded, shattering the bricks. The idol, which was traditionally facing the east, miraculously turned towards the west in front of Kanakadasa's face. Kanakadasa had the darshana of Krishna. Vadiraja got to know of the crack and instead of having the crack plastered over, he enlarged it and turned it into a window, knowing that once the idol has turned, it will never return to its original position. In memory of Kanakadasa, the window is named Kanakana Kindi (Kanaka's window)

According to Agama Shastras, Hindu temples and their idols are to be built, facing the east, since the east is considered auspicious as the Sun rises from the east. The Udupi Krishna temple is an exception, visitors enter from the East and go around to see the idol which faces West. A window with nine viewing apertures exists where the wall cracked and the idol is visible from the window. Due to Kanakadasa's incident, everyone, irrespective of their caste is allowed into the temple. A tradition goes that only after looking at the idol, the visitors and temple priests will enter the temple.

The Window

It is believed that Sri Vadiraja Swami set up a window to commemorate this divine event. This window, with a trellis-work of peep-holes, is popularly known as Kanakana kindi (Kanaka's window). Peeping through this window, a pilgrim can have a ready flashing sight of Krishna's image without entering the temple. After this window was installed, it became customary for all devotees to catch a sight of Krishna's image through this window, before entering the temple, without having to walk through the whole temple to find the sanctum.

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