Ambalappuzha SriKrishna Temple

This temple is located around 13km from the Ambalappuzha city of Alappey district. This is one of the most famous Krishna temples in Kerala. The main deity of the temple is the name suggests, Sri Krishna in his "Parthsarathy/ Gopala Krishna" form.

The beautiful Ambalappuzha temple
By Srijithpv (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

 

This temple is also associated with a delicious specialty. Prasadam of this temple is very famous and it is a desert known as "Ambalappuzha Pal-Payasam". It is a very special rice pudding made of a secret recipe. It is very well known all around Kerala.  There is a legend behind the origin of this famous desert. Once the patron of the Ambalappuzha temple, the King of Chembakassery was going through a financial crisis and he couldnt find the funds to maintain the temple. He borrowed some grains and rice from a wealthy  money lender. However the King couldnt repay the money. The money lender visited the temple on the way to King and he got a vision. He offered the grain and rice that the King owed him to the temple to make a delicious "Prasadam".

Ambalappuzha temple
By Vinayaraj (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Legend Behind the Temple

Once the king of Chembakassery and the sage Vilwamangalam Swamy was going through the place in a boat. Suddenly the sage heard the sound of a flute. The sage suddenly realized that it was none other than Lord Krishna who was playing it.  Krishna revealed himself in front of the sage and asked him and the King to build a temple at that place. That is the story of origin of Amabalappuzha temple.