User:Shreevatsa/Vasantapura

Vasantapura (ವಸಂತಪುರ) is a small village on the outskirts of Bangalore. It is mainly known for an ancient temple of Vasanta-vallabha-rāya svāmi. A nearby area of the city is known as Vasantha Vallabha Nagar, named after the deity of the temple. Vasantapura is also Ward 197 of BBMP.

Temple
The temple is on Kanakapura Road, and its full name is bhūnnīḷā vasantanāyaki samēta vasanta vallabhasvāmi (ಭೂನ್ನೀಳಾ ವಸಂತನಾಯಕಿ ಸಮೇತ ವಸಂತ ವಲ್ಲಭಸ್ವಾಮಿ) temple. Another temple nearby is the Devarakere temple.

The temple has been mentioned as one of places of tourist interest in the city.

The temple is more than a thousand years old. The legend (sthalapurana) associated with the temple is that


 * it was established (pratishtha) by the sage Mandavya. Once upon a time, the disciples of Mandavya found him missing from his ashrama. Mandavya settled down in Vasantapura, meditating. It is also believed that if someone unable to go to Tirupati visits the Vasantapura temple, they get an equivalent amount of benefit (punya) from the visit.


 * Once, the sage Mandavya, who was in Badarikashrama in the Himalayas, decided to visit the holy places in South India, and set off toward Melkote. After a darshan of Cheluvanarayana, on his return journey, while meditating, Vallabharayaswami appeared to him in a dream, and told him that he was residing in Kalyanapuri (now Vasantapura) in Bangalore. Mandavya accordingly went to Kalyanapura, and found an enchanting murti (statue/idol) of Vallabha. Having established it according to rites (pratishtha), he began to worship it everyday, living and performing tapas in a cave in Guptagiri nearby. While he was living there, Srinivasa Kalyana took place on earth. Hearing of it only after it had occurred, Mandavya was very dejected at having missed seeing it with his own eyes. God, understanding his depth of feeling, appeared to Mandavya along with his wifes Bhudevi, NeeLadevi, and Vasantanayaki. Having come there, delighted by the beauty of the place, the gods bathed in five lakes nearby, which as a result became holy and came to be known as Shankhatirtha, Chakratirtha, Plavatirtha, Devatirtha, and Vasantatirtha.

Every year, on Māgha month on the Maghā nakshatra, a Brahma-rathotsava is held.

The pradhana archaka of the temple was Kirtishesha Sri Raghavabhattar.

As a temple that is (believed to be) established by a ṛṣi (rishi), it is considered an example of the Rishi-pratishtha type.

In 2010 the temple commissioned a new silver ratha, and had an utsava.

Rest
The Kannada film Tumbida Koda, starring Rajkumar and Leelavati, was shot there in 1964. For each of the ten days of shooting, the unit would start after a pooja at the temple.

Urbanisation/development in Vasantapura has increased pace in recent years.