DAY 1 - HORNADU - KALASA - SRINGERI - KOLLUR

DAY  1:

SOUTH KARNATAKA TEMPLES DAY 1 TRIP PICS-VIDEOS

•       Annapoorneshwari temple (HORNADU)
•       Kalaseshwara temple  (KALASA)
•       Sharadambe temple (SRINGERI)
•       Mookambika temple (KOLLUR)

DESTINATION 1:   Annapoorneshwari temple (HORNADU)


We reached Hornadu @ 5:00 a.m. Since there was shortage of room, the guide requested 4 pple to use a room,(Chandana Hotel, Kalasa) to take bath n freshen up and asked us to be ready @ 6:30 a.m. We all were ready @ 6:30, had cofee n started to first temple. Annapoorneshwari Temple is located in Horanadu,100 km from Chikmagalur. The Only & Main deity here is Goddess Adi-shakthyath -thmaka, which was installed by  Sri Adi Shankaracharya. The new deity of  Annapurneshwari was consecrated in the temple in 1973. Since it was Ashada friday, the temple was decorated beautifully. We could get darshanam in 10 mins..The name Annapoorneshwari means "Feeding one and all".  Anyone  who visits this temple is provided with breakfast, lunch and dinner and also tea/coffee. We decided to have breakfast there itself, we all ate  Avvallaki and started to our next destination Kalasa.. Timings: 6:30 AM - 9:00 AM ,  11:00 AM - 2:00 PM , 7:00 PM - 9:30 PM.

DESTINATION 2:   Kalaseshwara temple  (KALASA)

Kalaseshwara Temple is located in Kalasa,92 km from Chikmagalur. This temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. Guide told us this story associated with the temple. The wedding of Lord Shiva and Parvathi in Himalayas caused a shift in the Earth's rotation because of the attendance of all Gods and Goddesses. To restore the Earth's balance, Lord Shiva requested Sage Agasthya to travel South. Agasthya however, expressed his wish to witness the wedding. Lord Shiva assured to grant divine vision to the sage, which would enable him to witness the wedding from any part of the world. Agasthya travelled southward and resided in Kalasa from where he watched the wedding.

Girija Kalyana (marriage of Lord Shiva & Parvathi) is celebrated in Kalasa every year to commemorate this tradition.  Timing: 9a.m-4 30p.m.  

DESTINATION 3:   Sharadambe temple (SRINGERI)
From Kalasa we have to travel about 2 hrs to reach  Sringeri(next destination) meanwhile guide told this story. According to legends,Sankaracharya and his four disciples,reached Sringeri on an exceptionally hot noon, and as they proceeded to the river Tunga for their ablutions, they saw a frog struggling in the blazing sun to be delivered of its spawn.A cobra,natural enemy of frogs, had raised its hood to provide the frog with shelter and protection. Sankaracharya was greatly moved by the sight and installed a sandalwood idol of Shardamba in a standing posture,later Sri Vidyaranya (12th Jagadguru) installed a seated gold idol of Sri Shardamba in the 14th century. Guide also told that if anyone is interested they can get  darshan of Sri Jagadguru, for which one has to cross the bridge of tunga-bhadra river, but  we decided to just visit temples..

 

   We reached Sringeri @ 11:45. It has two temples in same  premises, one is Sharadamba temple and Vidyashankara temple. We first visited sharadamba temple, which is dedicated to goddess Saraswati. Sarada Devi is seated on the Sri Chakra Peetham, holding a Japa Mala, with a parrot perched on the top of her hand. It was drizzling, when we came out of sharada temple. I had an umbrella, so it was not an issue. We then went to Vidyashankara temple, which resembles belur-halebidu temple structures.  We  had our lunch there itself and headed to our next destination. Timings: 6:00a.m - 2:00 pm ,5:00 pm-  9:00 pm.

DESTINATION 4:   Mookambika temple (KOLLUR)

After lunch in sringeri, i slept nicely, for an hour, till ramesh woke me up to  see  greenary and water falls every where. (Its  about 3hrs journey to Kollur from Sringeri).It is a pleasant drive with wonderful view all along with feast to eyes.  When it was time to reach Kollur, guide started telling us the story associated with the place.  Accordingly,Kola Maharshi who was doing penance here,was disturbed by a demon who was also engaged in doing penance to please Lord Shiva, to get a boon. To prevent the demon from fulfilling his evil desire, Adi Shakti made him dumb (mooka) and when the Lord appeared before him, he could not ask for anything. Mookasura again started troubling Kola Maharshi. Adi Shakti defeated demon Mookasura, and was called as Mookambika.At Kola Maharshi's prayer, Mookambika stayed in that place. In Later centuries, Adi Shankara meditated at Kodachadri hills, & Devi incarnated before him asking for his wish. He revealed his wish to build temple in Kerala and asked goddess to stay there. Devi agreed and put forward a challenge that she will follow Shankara and he should not look back until he reaches his destination.But to test Shankara, devi deliberately paused and when he couldn't hear Devi's anklets, Shankara suddenly turned around. Devi then stopped following him and asked Shankara to install her vigraha there itself. But shankaracharya dint agree and again requested Mookambika to come to kerala, then mookambika asked him to install Vigraha here and promised that every night she would visit Kerala.(Even today it is believed that goddesses goes out every night to Chottanikkara in Kerala) It is believed that the original place of the goddess is on top of Kodachadri Peak (3880'),as it was very difficult for ordinary people to trek all the way to Kodachadri, Shankaracharya reestablished the temple at Kollur.

 

Finally we reached Kollur  @ 6:00 pm. we directly checked in a hotel. Freshened up and walked to the temple. Had darshan, saw  maha mangalarthi @ 7:30pm, had dinner  in temple  itself and returned to our rooms.  Our day ended with visiting four temples, and morning we were asked to be ready by 6:00 a.m.

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