The
Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple is a famous Krishna temple
located in the town of Guruvayur in the Thrissur
district of Kerala. The Deity of the Guruvayur temple is
unique, since it is carved out of a material called
Pathalanjana Sila, and is considered extremely sacred.
This idol was once worshipped by Lord Vishnu in Vaikunta
and Vishnu handed it over to Brahma. King Suthapas and
his wife worshipped Brahma for a child and being
gratified with their devotion, they received this idol
from him and advised them to start worshipping it. Being
pleased with their worship, Lord Vishnu appeared before
them and blessed them with the boon that he himself will
be born as their child in their three re-births in three
different forms and in three different situations, with
the idol.
Thus they got the good fortune to worship the same deity
in all three rebirths. They gave birth to Prsnigarbha
who gave to the world the practice of Brahmacharya
Vratha (Celibacy). In their next birth, Suthapas and his
wife were born as Kashyapa and Aditi and their son was
Vamana. In the third rebirth as Vasudeva and Devaki, the
Lord was born as their eighth son Krishna. In the long
run, Lord Krishna himself installed this idol in Dwaraka
and worshipped it
