Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to lay foundation for the Butter Balakrishna Golden temple, being constructed by The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) in Guntur district on Vijayadasami day ie on October 22, 2015. The temple is coming up near Kondaveedu Fort of Guntur district at an estimated cost of Rs 150 crore. This is the first of its kind golden temple dedicated to Lord Krishna in south India.
PM Modi is visiting Andhra Pradesh on October 22, Vijayadasami day, to lay foundation for the construction of Amaravati capital town in Guntur district. He will also participate in the ISKCON program according to Satya Gopinath Das, South India Chairman of ISKCON.
Gopintah Das said the temple would be built in an extent of 150 ac. and the hill would be named as ISKCON konda. Government has already allotted 60 ac. to the temple. ISKCON’s inspiration for the golden temple was the rare idol of Bala Krishna, popular as Venna Muddala Gopalaswamy among locals, of Chengizkhanpeta in Yedlapadu mandal, Guntur district. The idol was unearthed during the excavations conducted at the historical Kondaveedu fort in 1998. The idol belonged to 13 th century Vijayanagara empire.
Satyagopinath Das said the golden temple project was part of the Iskcon-Kondaveedu Spiritual Heritage Revival Project (IKSHR). He said that the project would be completed in three phases and already the Gosala (cow protection center) and a cow university have been started at Kondaveedu.
