DAY 3 - MANGALORE - DHARMASTALA - AADHI SUBRAMANYA

DAY 3:

•  Gokarnanatheshwara Temple
•   Kadri Manjunatheshwara, Kadri Hills
•   Mangaladevi temple
•   Sri Rama Kshetra, Dharmasthala
•   Lord Manjunatheshwara at Dharmasthala
•   Southadka Mahaganapathi kshetra (Dharmasthala)
•   Aadhi Subramanya & Kukke Subramanya

DESTINATION 1: Gokarnanatheshwara Temple

As usual, we were asked to be ready by 6:30 am. We first went to Gokarnanatheshwara Temple, Kudroli Sri Gokarnanatha Kshetra.  This temple was built by a devotee called H. Koragappa in the year 1912. Shri Narayana Guru, the great saint and philosopher who had visited Mangalore in the year 1912,expressed his wish that the Billavas should build temple for Lord Shiva in the city. Accordingly Koragappawho belonged to the Billava family built the temple at a place which was believed to be the graze land for the horses during the rule of Tipu Sultan. Hence the name Kudre (horse) vali which transformed into kudroli over time.  The Temple was then renovated under the leadership of Central Finance Minister sri Janardhana Poojary in 1989 and was completed within two years in 1991. The renovated temple was inaugrated by the Prime Minister of India rajiv Gandhi.

We reached temple around 7:00 am. Temple is very colourful, and looks very grand with Golden paintings. Main attractions of this temple is a pond which has statue of Lord Shiva, with water sprinkling from Lord Shiva's head symbolising the holy river Ganga flowing out of Lord Shiva's locks.  There is a small theme park of  Mythological Punyakoti Vana. It also has a Geetopadesha statue, Nandi statue  and a huge Hanuman statue of 26 feet high structure, supported by 12 pillars, and a marriage hall. and ofcourse main attraction is Lord shiva's Gokarnanatheshwara Temple.

DESTINATION 2: Kadri Manjunatheshwara, Kadri Hills

 This temple  is  one of famous and ancient temples located on Kadri hills in Mangalore city. It is believed that the temple has been built during the10th century and it was converted to a complete stone structure during the 14th century.There is a Bronze status of shiva, which is  in the seated position with three faces and six arms and  is about 1.6m tall.

According to the legend, Parashurama who lived in Sahyadri, killed the kshatriyas who were unkind and donated the lands to Kashyapa. He prayed to Lord Shiva to settle down. Lord Shiva assured Parashurama that if he performs a penance at Kadali (Kadri) kshetra, then Lord Shiva would reincarnate as Manjunatha for the welfare of the world. As per Lord Shiva's instructions, Parashurama threw his axe into the sea and formed a place for his penance.Lord Shiva was pleased from Parashurama's penance and Lord Shiva appeared to him as Manjunatha along with his wife Goddess Parvathi and resided at Kadri for the welfare of the world.Yielding to Parashurama's prayers Lord Shiva appeared to him as Manjunatha along with Goddess Parvathi and stayed at Kadri for the betterment of the world. As per the instructions of Lord Manjunatha, the Sapthakoti manthras become the seven sacred ponds.

We reached temple around 8:30 am. The main deity of this temple is Manjunatha(Shiva). There is a Bronze statue of shiva, which is  in the seated position with three faces and six arms and  is about 1.6m tall. In front of the temple,at a height there are 7 water ponds. There's a garden surrounding the ponds. There is a natural spring at an important location on the backside of the temple. It is called as Gomukha. The water from this spring is let into 7 ponds.


DESTINATION 3: Mangaladevi temple

Mangala devi temple is situated in mangalore.. Legend of temple is  Kundavarma, the king of the Ahepa dynasty, was ruling Mangalore. During this period, there were two holy saints of Machendranatha and Gorakanatha, who came from Nepal,  reached Mangalore.Hearing about the arrival of the two saints, the king came to meet them. He paid his respects & offered them patronage. Pleased with the humility and virtues of the king, they informed him that his kingdom needed to be sanctified  which  was dedicated to Mother Mangaladevi. They requested him to grant them land so that they could build a hermitage and make it a centre for their religious activities under his protection and patronage. King kundavarma learnt from his mother  the story of Vihasini and Andasura, Parashurama and the temple built by them. The two saints took the king to the sites where all these historical events had taken place. They asked the king to dig the place and relieve the lingam and the dharapatra symbolising Mangaladevi and install them. Kundavarma carried out the advice of the two sages. A grand shrine to Mangaladevi was built on the hallowed place. We reached temple around 9:30 had darshan and left to next place.

DESTINATION 4: Sri Rama Kshetra, Dharmasthala

Shree Rama Kshethra is situated about 67K.M away from  Mangalore. The place is famous for its scenic beauty. Shri Shri Shri Athmananda Saraswathi Swamiji is the founder of this magnificent temple Complex. His guru wanted to have a 'Rama' temple constructed in Dharmasthala village.Thus at the behest of his master, Shri Athmananda Saraswathi Swamiji came to Dharmasthala village in 1969 and made efforts to fulfil the wishes of his master. He got this site on donation from " Shri Soorya Narayana RaoDondole, who was the Shanubhag (village accountant) of Shri Dharmasthala Kshethra in1971. He got a small thatched building constructed in which he started "Bhagavan Shri Nithyananda Mandir". "Soon devotees started gathering at the mandir. The foundation for the present Sri Rama temple was laid by Shri ShriShiva Balayogi Maharaj of in bangalore 1978.

We reached temple around 2:30, This temple is very beautiful and has a rich look, and  Statue of Sri rama and sitadevi is adorable. Sri Rama is the chief deity and  36different idols are also installed there. Walls are carved & painted beautifully about ramayana stories.

DESTINATION 5: Lord Manjunatheshwara at Dharmasthala

Dharmastala is the main piligrim centre for  lord shiva followers in karnataka, this temple is located on banks of netravati river in Belthangandi taluk.Legend is that a person called Anappa, used to work for the Heggade family. Once when the Heggade he was serving wanted to worship Lord Shiva, Annappa had assured him to get one linga and vanished from the sight. Surprisingly next day morning, by the time all woke up, he had already established the linga in Dharmasthala, few metres away from Heggade's house. Later it was known that the Linga was from the Kadri temple(Mangalore). By then, Annappa had vanished and he was never again sighted in the vicinity. Now people in Dharmasthala worship Annappa as a local god.Around the 16th Century, Devaraja Heggade invited Shri Vadiraja Swami of Udupi to visit the place. The Swamiji gladly came but refused to accept Bhiksha (food offering) because the idol of lord Manjunatha had not been consecrated according to vedic rites. Shri Heggade then requested the Swamiji to reconsecrate the Shivalinga himself. After doing so, Swamiji arranged for the pujas for the Shivalinga according toMadhwa practices.Pleased by the observance of the vedic rites and Heggade's charity to all, the Swamiji named the place Dharmasthala, the abode of religion and charity. Thus, the roots of charity and religious tolerance established by the Pergades 600 Years ago have been nurtured and strengthened by the Heggade family. Free food "Anna Daana", is provided to devotees.The average flow of pilgrims is about 10,000 people everyday.We reached dharmastala around 12:00, seeing the big que, we took special tickets, which got us darshan in 45 mins, then we headed to Annapoorna hall to eat lunch. By the time we came out after lunch, it started pouring big time for an hour, so we stood under a shelter, where most of our bus people also came after having darshan and lunch, we spent a quality time of an hour, discussing about  different things inculding  our cultures, temples and gods and also about politics and stuff...

 DESTINATION 6:  Southadka Mahaganapathi kshetra (Dharmasthala)

The uniqueness of the place is Lord Maha Ganapathi is out in the open field and there is no proper structure of the temple.A lot of cows can be seen freely wandering around the place of worship. In Kannada language, Sowthe means  cucumber' and Adka means 'field'. Cowherds in this place were growing cucumber and they offered the same to Lord Ganapathi of this place during their worship. Hence, means 'this place gets the name as Southadka. According to the sthala purana of Southadka, a Ganapati temple revered by a royal family was once destroyed by enemies. Not to let the enemies destroy the beautiful idol of Ganapati that was at the temple, cow herds of the place carried it along with them and installed it in a place where cucumber was grown in plenty. Since southe means cucumber and adka means meadow in Kannada, the place soon gained popularity as Southadka.The farmers of the place reaped huge harvests of cucumber, offered it to Lord Ganapati and even wished to build a temple there. But, according to a popular belief, Ganapati graced their dreams and asked them not to build a temple for him at Southadka as that would mean restrictions on devotees visiting the place to seek his blessings. The Lord expressed his wish to remain in open air with no formal structure surrounding him so that devotees could access him round-the-clock. Lord Ganapati’s wish was the farmers’ command and to this day the Lord sits majestically in the lush green surroundings of Southadka, blessing his devotees 24/7.

DESTINATION 5: Aadhi  & Kukke Subramanya

Kukkesubramanya  located in the village of subramanya in Sulia taluk of Mangalore.According to Mythology, after killing  Tharaka, Shurapadmasura(Demons) and their followers in a war, Lord Shanmuka reached Kumara parvatha.He was received by Indra,  who prayed Lord Kumara swamy to accept and marry his daughter Devasena. Thedivine marriage took place on Margashira shudha shashti at Kumara parvatha. Gods like Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra and many other deities assembled for the marriage and coronation ceremony of Shanmukha for which waters of several holy rivers were brought. With these waters of Mahabhisheka fell down to form a river which was later known by the popular name Kumaradhara.The great Shiva Bhakta and Serpent king Vasuki was performing tapas for years in the Biladwara caves of Kukke Subrahmanya to avoid the attack of Garuda. Following Lord Shiva`s assurance Shanmuka gave darshan to Vasuki and blessed him that he would stay with his parama bhakta in this place forever. Hence the poojas offered to Vasuki or Nagaraja are nothing but the poojas to Lord Subrahmanya.

We reached temple around 6:00 pm.Guide told us to  visit  Aadhi & kukke temple, which is  within walkable distance of 5 mins, and told us this temple is famous for Sarpa dosha nivarana. Sarpasamskara with Nagaprathishta, Ashlesha Bali. (poojas related to ward off curse caused by Snakes).. Place is  awesome with mist allover,  & is very cold as it is hilly region. We first decided to have coffee, freshen up and then visit temple, went to near by Cafe, had some cofee and mangalore Bhajji(ate plenty of Mangalore bhajjis in this mangalore trip, i love them :).  We then first visited Kukke subramanya temple(main  Temple) had darshan and walked to Aadi subramanya which is around 5 mins walk from there, it started pouring, but we dint want to stand as we were already half the way, and we knew temple would close by 7:45pm, saw mahamangalarthi and waited in the temple itself , as it was still raining.  Around 8:30pm, we all accumulated near  bus, and started back to blore on the way had dinner, and reached blore early morning around 5:00 am...This ended our 3 days holy trip to Temples of  Karnataka.

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