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...