Temple VII: Murdeswara

As and when we travelled towards Murdeswara, we got the signal that we are very near to that great place. This is due to the fact that the huge arch over Murdeswara is visible miles before. We saw the top of the arch first followed slowly towards the bottom just like how Damayanthi observed the chariot of Rutuparna and Nala (called as Bahuka that time). She saw the flag first then slowly the people in it, then the horses. Thus we reached there and all of us had our lunch there. The temple is situated on the sea shore and the sea is wild that day. Hence we can't touch the sea water.

Then we went to the temple and we can eaily make out that the temple is newly re-costructed using most modern items but keeping the divinity of a sanctum-sanctorium. We can have a good view of the sea from the top of the temple. We can observe even a small church on the far end of the sea. We then came out of the temple. While coming out of the temple, we saw a cat and when we tried to took a few snaps of it, it was behaving as if it is posing for a photo session.

Then we all moved towards the location where there is a huge statue of Lors Siva being situated. It was very huge and we heard that the cost of manufature of this statue is in terms of millions of Indian Rupees. Also we noticed that one left hand of Lord Siva's statue is broken in the lightning and thunder. Also we saw the statue simulating the scenes of Ravana giving the Siva "Linga" to the small Boy, Siva holding Ganga Mother in His head, Sri Krishna advicing Arjuna during the Mahabharatha battle etc. All these statues are made with great effort and hence are awsome and beautiful. The area was very clean and tidy.

Then soon we returned from there towards Hattiyangady......

Temple VI: Idugunji Ganesha

Idugunji is situated between Gokarna and Kollur on he same NH 17. So we started the journey back in the same way as we went to Gokarna. The cab driver told that the temple will close by 1.30 sharp and hence he was in a hurry. There was a huge block on the place where the road work is going on. Atlast we took turn towards Idugunji from NH and reached the parking area of Idugunji. It was already 1.20 and we were told that we have to walk around 1 km to reach the temple. We all ran towards the temple and fortunately we reached the temple before it closes. We all took "Darshan" there and took a few snaps also. The God is Lord Ganesha.

Immediately the temple is closed. Then we visited the near by shops where there are so many photos, caps and some fancy items which are made up of a special type of grass are kept for sale. Then we came back to the parking area and we went for having the lunch over there. Unforunately the food got over by that time. We all decided to return from there and we proceeded towards Murdeswara.

Temple V: Gokarna

That day's plan is to cover 5 places: Gokarna, Idugunji, Murdeswara, Maravanthe and Hattiyangady. So we started by 7 O'clock in the morning from Kollur. From there almost 30 kms is a narrow road with trees and water streams on both sides of the road. Then we joined with NH 17. The road is very smooth and perfect and hence we were able to travel very fast, except for a small distance where they are doing straightening of the road and hence the traffic got blocked for some time. Another interesting thing was that local farmers are selling farm freash vegetables such as cucumber, ladie's finger etc. on the road side. We also brought some cucumbers and continued our journey towards Gokarna. On the way we had our breakfast in Honavar. On the way we have to cclimb up a hill from where we will have the distant view of the Arabian sea.

After travelling for about 2 1/2 hours we reached the board showing that we have to take turn from there to reach Gokarna. Then again it was a narrow road, but there is not much of traffic. We started feeling like going back a few decades because we can see the local people, mainly the lower class people with traditional dresses - Old ladies wearing lots of black and brown chains around their neck and wearing sarees in special form and old men wearing only an over coat covering their body partially - and old buildings.

Atlast we reached Gokarna - a small costal town full of old buildings, narrow roads, and temples. Another peculiarity which I noticed is that most people are wearing traditional clothings - Farmers wearing the dress described above and priests wearing their traditional dressess. This is a very good place for archeologists and historians. As we want to cover so many places that day, we were in a hurry to go to the temple and rain is drizzling outside. Many priests are waiting outside the temple enquiring whether we need their help in doing the poojas. This is because that temple has many unique traditions. The "Siva Linga" is "Swayam Bhoo" (Self born).

The story of the temple goes back to "Tetra Yuga". Once Ravana got a "Siva Linga" from Lord Siva Himself with which Ravana can achive victory over the complete world. But Lord Siva put a condition that Ravana should not keep that Idol till he reach his country -Lanka. If at all that Idol is kept on anywhere, then That Linga will remain there. Ravana can no longer take the same. Ravana agreed to that condition. While Ravana was proceeding from Kailasa to Lanka, the demigods are afraid of this and they approached Lord Ganesha for a solution for this. In the evening Ravana wants to do his daily rituals and he want someone to keep that Idol sometime. At that time, Lord Ganesha came there as a small boy and Ravan told Him to keep the Idol for sometime. That Boy told that if he want to go back from there, He will call Ravana 3 times and if he is not getting any response, He will place that Idol in the ground. Rvana agreed for the same and went to the sea shore for doing the daily rituals. Mean while our Boy calledRavana 3 times in a very low voice and then he kept that Idol there and left the place. Ravana when returned after the rituals, saw that the Boy is missing and also that the Idol is kept on the ground. He tried to pull the Idol and it is already stuck there. By angry, Ravana throw away the box which covered the Linga and left that place. The place where that box and the accessories fell down became called as Murdeswara and the place where the idol is stuck became Gokarna.

The charecteristsic of this temple is, no specially dedicated priest is there. Anybody can offer anything to the God. Also all can touch the upper part of the "Linga" using the hand. You can offer milk, butter milk, flowers, tender coconut water etc. to Lord. It is told that they will uncover the full "Linga" once in only 12 years. We all prayed there and had a look at the architecture of the temple. It is very old and having a lot of work on the walls and roof. We also observed a lot of people doing many types of offerings to God.

After coming out of the temple, we had a look at the shops over there. All the shops are mainly selling the items required for the "Pooja" and idols of God. Some old house-hold articles were also there. Then we didn't go to the beach even though it is very near by. Because that will cause us to drop the visit of Idugunji Temple. So in hurry, we returned to the cab and started the journey towards Idugunji.........................................................................................................................

Temple IV: Kollur Mookambika

That journey was by bus, because we decided to stay in Kollur full day. That journey was a nice experience. The bus was a private bus and it is written that it is an "Express" bus, but took more than 2 hours to reach there. Mainly the roads for about 30 kms is very narrow and bus services are not so frequent.

At last we reached there by 1 O'clock. We already booked the rooms in a lodge and hence we kept all the bags over there. Then after refreshing ourselves, we all went to the temple. Then temple was closed for some daily rituals and hence we waited outside the temple in a queue. The queue was big enough and it took almost 2 hours to enter inside the temple. That was the time which I consider as the most auspicious time for me. Because it was my long ambition to have the "Darshan" in that temple for my parents. They are visiting the temple for the first time. Also I know previously that, they were very interested in visiting that temple and it didn't happen till then because of many reasons.

After coming out of the temple, we rushed towards the Food Court of the temple to have the lunch. That was again like the one which we had in Dharmasthala. We have to sit down on the raised platform and the food will be served in the specially made leaf. Then we all came back to the room and took rest for some time. Then some of us went for small shopping and then again went to temple for the "Darshan". That is the specialty of Kollur. You will feel a unique peace and calm atmosphere as if you are in a separate world. Once you visited that scenic place, you will feel like going again and again. For example, I visited that place thrice this year. Also it is evident that many famous personalities like Anil Kumble (Cricketer), M D Vasudevan Nair ( Malayalam Writer), Yesudhas (singer) etc. are regular visitors of Mother.

We took "Darshan" again and sat there for some time. There we can see the Golden chariot of Mother. There is a special platform where devotees can sing, or play musical instrument etc. My cousins sung some classical music there. Then we had our dinner in the temple food court. Then we all waited for the Holy Water which will be distributed in front of the temple by the temple priest everyday. It is belived that, that Holy Water is good for brain. We all collected that Holy Water in some small bottles and drank the same. It has a unique taste with a brown color. That day we stayed there thinking of having "Darshan" once more in the next day morning.

Next day early morning, we all got ready and went to the temple. The temple will open only at 5 O'clock and hence we waited impatiently out side the temple. Then once the temple is opened, all the people who were waiting out side rushed in to the temple and we all had the "Darshan". After that we came back to the room. By the time the cab for that day's travel was ready waiting for us out side the lodge. That day's plan is to go to some more temples lying towards the Karwar side.

About that trip is next blog!!!!!! Till then ciao!!!!

Temple III Udupi

The next day began with the visit of Udupi Sree Krishna temple. The Udupi temple is an old temple formed by Sri Madhavacharya. Once upon a time, Chandra - the king of stars came here to do some penances towards Lord Siva to absolve himself from the curse of Daksha Prajapathi. In Sanskrit, "Udu" means star and "pa" means king, and hence the name Udupi. It is belived that divine architect Vishwakarma created the image of Lord Krishna bearing a churn in his right hand and a string in his left hand, and Rukmini worshipped it everyday.

Then later on Madhavacharya got this image from a ship which was passing through this place. When the ship bearing this image was affected by stormy sea, he with is yogic powers calmed the sea and saved the ship. As a token of gratitude, the Captain of that ship presented this image to him and thus this image reached Udupi.The Lord is visible through a window having nine square holes in it. That window is called as 'Navagraha kindi'.

On the temple there are also sanctum sanctorium for Lord Subrahmanya, Hanuman etc. Also we saw a part of the kitchen, where a lot of pumkins are kept for cooking. Also we can hear the chanting of various 'Suktas' by many people who also does special offerings to God. The most beauty of that temple is the 'Goshala' - place where Cows are taken care. The temple look after many cows as cow is Lord Krisha's favourite animal.

After completing the temple visit, we took Darshan in the Chandramowleeswara temple, where it is belived that Chandra (moon) made penances to Lord Siva. Also we visited the Anantheswara temple situated nearby. Then that was the time for small kinds of shopping for all of us. We purchased some Sree Krishna idols, churns that was carried by Lord Krishna, and things like that. We also noted many students dressed like traditional priests, walking in a line. I think they are walking for some Vedic classess.

Then we came to Hotel Woodlands and had our breakfast there. There we realised the real taste of Udupi. Udupi is famous for delicious food. I can't express the taste of that food in words. It is much beyond that. After the food, we started the journey to Kollur.

Kollur - about that great place is next blog.... till then bye..bye..

Temple II: Dharmasthala

As I mentioned, we took a long route to Dharmasthala because the "Kumaradhara" river was inundated. We went in the way to Puthur and took some turns and somehow we reached the National Highway. Then the way is clear. But the way till N H was very fun. It is small road full of guttors, also need to cross another bridge where the river already started flowing through the bridge slowly. I am sure that also will be flooded in half an hour. Atlast by traveling not less than 15 kms extra, we reached Dharmasthala by 2.30 PM.

After reaching their, I enquired somebody over there about the temple. He told me that just five minutes before the temple is closed. Then it will open only after 6.30 PM. So anyway after taking so much struggle, we decided to stay there to have the darshan. So we first had out lunch from the temple itself. The temple is giving free food to all the devotees coming over there. The rain is drizzling all that time. Then we decided to visit the nearby tourist spots.

First we went to the vintage car museum. That was a wonderful experience for all of us. There we can see very old model cars, jeeps, horse chariots etc.. which are in working condition. The cars include the car which was used by our Father of nation - Mahathma Gandhi", Mysore king etc. There we saw the old chariots that were used to carry the dress materials of Kathakali - a unique art form of Kerala- and models of some aeroplanes etc. The point to be noted here is that all these vintage items are in working condition.

Then we came to visit the museum over there. But we saw that it will open only after 4.30 PM. So we decided not to waste time and we went to see the statue of Bahubali. The statue is situated on the top of a small hill where we will be able to see scenic greenary around it. The monolithic statue of Bhagavan Bahubali is situated over there and the hill is called as Rathnagiri Betta. The statue weighs almost 200 tons and 52 feet long and 14 feet wide. The statue was originally situated in Karkala, a place near Dharmasthala and later it is moved to Dharmasthala. We spent some time over there. Also we will be able to see monkeys roaming over there.

Then we cae back to see the museum. The name of the museum is Manjusha museum. After taking entrace tickets, we entered inside the hall. That was an awesome experience for me. The hall contains old sculptures, anciet work of arts, old coins, notes, different equipment used at that time, beutiful stones, different paintings, metallic statues, huge pots etc. I am certain that archeologists will admire this place. You can see different swords, house-hold items, musical instruments, sewing machines, type writers, cameras, handy-cams etc.

After that we came to stand in the queue. Then atlast we entered the temple. The temple is very old and is made in a unique style. We had very good darshan and came out of the temple. Then we finished our dinner from there itself. Oh God, I forgot to mention about the Annadhana Shala (Dining Hall). It is a huge hall with lots of entrances. They made a raised platform on many places for the devotees to sit. All the people will gat a stell plate. Then rise will come in a trolly, followed by the curries. You can even see some statues and designs on the wall. And most importantly, the hall is neat and tidy.

Then we departured from their by around 8.00 PM. On the way, one of the tyres of our qualis got punctured. After replacing that typre with the stepani, we reached Udupi around 10.30 PM. We took room in some lodge.

So next will be about the great town Udupi.....Till then bye...bye...

Temple I: Kukke Subrahmanya Temple

Our life itself is a journey from birth to death. Any creature goes through a lot of basic paths like childhood, teenage, adult stage, old age etc. Here I would like to explain about a trip which happened on the month of August 2006, during the monsoon season - the time when it is raining everywhere, water in the rivers and streams flows in grey color and roads are full of mud. The journey -in fact a holy journey- was a trip through the soul of Western Ghats of Karnataka starting from Kukke Subrahmanya followed by Dharmasthala, Udupi, Kollur, Gokarna, Idugunji, Murdeswara, Maravanthe, Hattiyangadi, Anegudde, Kateel, and Gokarnantha Mangalore. It was a three-days trip which consisted of 8 members all from my family (8 includes me also).

The trip started off with going to Kukke-Subrahmanya temple situated in the middle of western ghats. It is almost 100 kms away from Mangalore. We commenced our journey from Mangalore Kankanadi railway station by around 6.30 in the morning and reached the scenic place by around 9.15. The way to Kukke was through National Highway for around 80-85 kms and then took a diversion. After that it is very small road surrounded by huge trees and water streams on the sides. Atlast we saw the "Kumaradhara" river which originates from the holy mountain "Kumara parvatha". The river as I heard previously was full of water about to touch the bridge. Remember that our journey was completely in the rainy season. The temple is situated in the middle of thick forest which is a part of Western Ghats. After crossing the river, the temple is not far away.

After reaching Kukke, with much difficulty some how we got a lodge. Then after finishing morning ablutions, we all went to the temple for Darshan. The age of the temple is directly visible by the walls and Gopura of the temple. Sri Shankaracharya camped here for some days as part of his "Digvijaya". He even mentioned the deity here as 'Bhaje Kukke Lingam' in his 'Subrahmanya Bhujangaprayata Stotram'. That reveals the age and importance of this place. Previously the "Lingas" in the temple were worshiped by keeping them in naskets. The Kannada word of basket is "Kukke" and hence the name of the place. But now a days the place is better known as Subrahmanya - the name of the main deity worshipped in the temple.

The main deity here is Lord Subrahmanya. The temple's glories are described in the Sahyadri Khanda of Skanda Purana which goes back upto Satya Yuga. After becoming the commander in chief of demigods, Subrahmanya, the son of Lord Siva, seeing the beauty of this place, decided to reside there. In Treta-Yuga, Saint Parasurama took bath in the river Dhara to absolve himself from the sin of killing Kshatriya-race. Then in Dwapara-Yuga, Samba who cursed with leprosy, smeared the mud from the bank of this river and took bath in the Dhara river. He was completely cured after the bath and regained his beauty. In Kali-yuga, Sri Sankaracharya also visited this temple.

It is believed that lord Subrahmanya is protecting Snake Kings Vasuki and Sesha. Hence the idol is Subrahmanya sitting above the pea-cock which protects the snakes from Garuda. Lord Narasimha is also worshipped here. We saw a small elephant standing in the temple, blessing the pilgrims by placing it's tusk above the heads of each one. After taking the darshan, we went outside through the door in front of the temple and saw the holy stream passing through there. Also we saw a small pond with a lot of fishes in it. Then we came out and went to the Chandramouleeswara temple situated near the temple compound. That was also situated on the banks of the stream of water.

After completing the darshan, we had our breakfast and started the return journey. There is a Ganesha temple, where the idol of Ganesha is huge and marvelous. Near to the Ganesha temple is a Vana Durga temple. Also we can see the cave in which Vasuki hided itself to escape from Garuda'a attack. When we reached back near the bridge across the Kumaradhara river, as expected, it was flooded. Police didn't allow any vehicle to pass through it. We waited some time and decided to go through some circuitous path in order to reach Dharmasthala. So we traveled 15 kms extra and our destination is Dharmasthala.

Expect about that fantastic place in my next blog... Till then see you....bye...bye...