Lord Matsya Narayana Temple

Lord Matsya Narayana Temple – Pinjar Hegdal

Today is Matsya Jayanti

Matsya Narayana Swamy Temple is located in the village called Pinjar Hegdal in Hagari Bommanhalli Taluka, Bellary district- Karnataka.

Matsya is the avatar of the Hindu God Vishnu in the form of a fish, preceding Kurma. Often listed as the first avatar in the lists of the ten primary avatars of Vishnu, Matsya is described to have rescued the first man, Manu, from a great deluge. Matsya may be depicted as a giant fish, or anthropomorphically with a human torso connected to the rear half of a fish. Legend has that Lord Vishnu appeared in this form to kill a demon called Hayagriva, who stole the four Vedas from Lord Brahma.

Matsya Jayanti is celebrated on the Hindu month of Chaitra’s Tritiya tithi. It honours the birth of Lord Vishnu in his first incarnation, Matsya.

Deity Details

The main deity of the temple is represented as a four- armed deity having the upper half of Maha Vishnu with four arms. Two arms hold the Shanka (Conch) and the Chakra (Discus) and the other two hands are in Abhaya and Varadha Mudra. The lower half of the idol is in the form of Fish (Matsya).

Temple History

In India, there are very few temples where the main deity is Lord Matsya Narayana.This temple was constructed in 1926 by Late Sri Ambalam Buchi Venkatachar. It is said that Lord Vishnu had appeared in his dreams and informed that a Matsya Narayana idol is at the Tungabhadra riverbed. On recurrence of these dreams, he approached the then Maharaja of Anegundi and shared his dream. The king then retrieved the idol and gifted the same to Acharya Buchi Venkatachar. On the possession of the idol, Lord appeared in his dreams and directed him to the village of Pinjar Hegdal. The Acharya met the devotees of Lord Vishnu and requested for a piece of land to construct the temple. On receiving the land donation from the villagers, he constructed a small temple and installed the idol of Lord Matsya Narayana. Daily pooja and other rituals were performed in the temple.

After the demise of the Acharya Ambalam Buchi Venkatachar, his eldest son, Late Sri Ambalam Chakravathi Acharya continued the legacy and worked towards the development of the temple. It was the wish of Chakravarthi Acharya to construct Gopuram and install a proper Dhwajastambha to temple, a wish he could not see fulfilled.

After the demise of Chakravarthi Acharya, the temple was maintained by his progeny. To fulfill Acharya Chakravarti’s wish, his sons discussed with the devotees of nearby villages regarding the renovation of the temple. With the support and consent of the villagers the temple renovation work started in July 2013. The descendents of Sandur Ambalam family, friends, relatives and local devotees contributed towards the noble cause of construction of new temple premises, Gopuram and Dhwajastambham. In the month of February 2014, the idol of Lord Matsya Narayana was reinstalled in the temple in a grand ceremony.

The maintenance of this temple is now with the “Sri Matsya Narayana Swami Devasthanam Samithi”.