Mathura Adi Varaha Temple - Uttar Pradesh

Address

Mathura Adi Varaha Temple – Uttar Pradesh

Krishna Nagar,

Mathura,

Uttar Pradesh 281001

Moolavar

Adi Varaha

Introduction

The Varaha deity in the temple at Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, India is one of the extremely oldest temples. This temple is one of the treasures for Vaishnavas. One of the oldest and self-manifest deities of Lord Varaha exists in Mathura in the Adi Varaha temple. This Deity is also called Lal Varaha because the Deity is red in color. The Temple is believed to be more than 1500 years old. This temple is near Dwarakadhish temple, you must walk about 270 meters down the street of Dwarakadhish temple to reach the temple. At the end of the road, take a left turn where you will see the temple entrance.

Puranic Significance

Varaha is the avatar of the god Vishnu in the form of a boar. Varaha is listed as third in the Dashavatara, the ten principal avatars of Vishnu. When the demon Hiranyaksha stole the earth (personified as the goddess Bhudevi) and hid her in the primordial waters, Vishnu appeared as Varaha to rescue her. Varaha slew the demon and retrieved the Earth from the ocean, lifting it on his tusks, and restored Bhudevi to her place in the universe.

Millions of years ago, Sage Kapila who was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu himself, manifested the deity of Varaha in his mind. He used to worship him daily. Devas, including Brahma, Indra, Varuna and other would come regularly to see the beautiful form of Varaha. Indra was so much attracted to the deity that he prayed to the sage Kapila to give him the responsibility to serve the deity. The sage Kapila agreed and gave the deity during the time of Satya-Yuga to Indra who took the deity to his kingdom. There Indra worshiped the deity for several million years. When Ravana conquered Indra’s kingdom, Ravana took this Adi Varaha Vigraha deity to his capital in Lanka. When Sri Rama killed Ravana, Ravana’s brother Vibhisana became the king of Lanka. Vibhisana offered everything to Lord Rama but he did not want anything except the Varaha Vigraha deity which was taken from Amaravati, Indra’s capital. Lord Rama carried the Adi Varaha Vigraha deity back to Ayodhya and worshipped it there for 110 years. When Shatrughna, Sri Rama’s brother, went to Mathura to kill some Lavanasura, he brought this Adi Varaha Vigraha with him and since then the deity is being worshiped here in Mathura.