THIS Krishna temple idol has scars on it—Know why!

Pic Courtesy: Gujarat Tourism website

The lord is supreme and often grants the wishes of his devotees. If the devotion of the bhakts is pure then the lord doesn't mind taking the pain, quite literally upon himself. One such story is behind the famous temple of lord Krishna in Gujarat.

The marvellous temple of Ranchhodraiji in Dakor city, Gujarat has a beautiful Vishnu idol which is unique in many ways. Earlier, Dakor was seen as a major pilgrim center in Gujarat and was popular for Danknath Shiva temple. Later, it became prominent due to the popularity of Ranchhodraiji temple which was built in 1772 AD.

In the temple resides Lord Ranchhodraiji, who is a form of lord Vishnu bearing four arms. Like all Vishnu idols, this form too bears the conch, lotus, discus and the mace in his hands. The lower right arm is held up in the abhaya mudra—indicating protection to all those who surrender themselves to the lord.

The lord here holds a flute in his right hand while the upper right-hand holds the mace, the upper left-hand holds the discus and the lower left hand has the conch. Interestingly, during festival time, the hands of the lord are covered with gold studded gloves embellished with gems.

Now, if you look closely, the idol of Ranchhodraiji in the temple has scars on it. But do you know why? Well, there are various legends associated with it.

According to a popular belief, there was a devotee named Vijanand Bodana in Dakor, who would travel twice in a year to visit the Dwarakadhish temple of the lord by foot and offer the Tulsi plant grown by him to the lord. This ritual continued for many years till the time he became old and kept ill.

Therefore, due to old age and ill health there came a time when he could not travel so much on foot. One day, it so happened that the lord appeared in his dream and told him that he can take the idol from Dwarakadhish to Dakor, so that he doesn't have to travel so long. Then, the man went to Dwarkadhish’s garbagraha and took the idol. It is believed that he later established the Lord's idol at Dakor.

However, in the morning when there was no idol of the lord in Dwarka, everyone became puzzled and enquired about it. When this news reached the man, he became scared and safely hid the idol in the Gomti river. While looking for the idol, the officials searching for it used heavy spears due to which it is said that the lord was hurt.

So much so that the water in Gomti river turned red, and it was because of the lord's blood. Many believe this is the reason why Gomti tank's water is red in colour even today.

The story shows how many sacrifices God is willing to make for his bhakts.