According to our Puranas, Budha (mercury) is the illegitimate son of Chandra (moon) and Tara (wife of Bruhaspati – Jupiter) !!
Month: September 2008
Muchur – Temples of Tulu Nadu
Muchur is a small little village located close to Mudabidri. It is located 6 kms off the Kinnigoli – Mudabidri road. The village is famous for its Durga Parameshwari Temple. The temple is magnificent and large and has been renovated a few years ago.
The temple has a very close link to the Nellitheertha Somanatheshwara Temple. Local legend has it that when sage Jabali performed a penance at the Nellitheertha Cave, Lord Durga appeared there and assured him that the demon Arunasura would be killed (at Kateel). She then blessed the region to have three temples in close proximity. Thus the Nellitheertha, Muchur and Kompadavu (Vishnu) temples came into existence.
Name: Sri Durga Parameshwari Devasthana.
Location: Muchur, Mangalore Taluk, Dakshina Kannada.
Main deities: Durga Parameshwari, Ganapati.
Bhutas: Rakteshwari, Jumadi
Specialities: The temple Bhutas here do not have any Bhuta Kolas done to them. Instead, the Maisandaya Bhuta which stays nearby in a chieftain’s house is brought to the temple during its annual festival and is treated as the main Bhuta and Kola is offered.
Address: Sri Durga Parameshwari Devasthana, Muchur, Neerude Post, Mangalore Taluk, Dakshina Kannada – 574163.
Contact: By snail mail.
How to get there: From Mangalore, take the Mudabidri Road, cross Gurupura, Kaikamba and Ganjimatha. Turn left towards Muchur as you near Yedapadavu. Muchur is 8kms from here.
More photos.
Sri (Sode) Bhutaraja Stotras
I am uploading two stotras on Sri Bhutaraja of Sode. As usual, you can download them from the Mantras page.
I also learnt recently that there is a Mula Sthana (Original Abode) of Sri Bhuta Raja near Ganji Matha in Mangalore taluk. Hopefully, I can visit the same soon.
Did you know? 20th September 2008
Sri Madhva is known for this crisp and short writings. Most of his works are very short in size (but, needless to say, oceanic in depth!).
In fact, in one of his works “Yamaka Bharata”, the 78th shloka is actually a series of 32 “Bha”s. Something like..
Bha Bha Bha………Bha (16) |
Bha Bha Bha……….Bha (16) ||
This shloka has attracted numerous commentaries!
Did you know? 17th September 2008
Sri Madhvacharya, in his work Krishnamrutamaharnava, mentions five qualities in a person which make him worthy of being respected. The five are wealth, relation, age, position (achievement) and knowledge – wealth being the least important of them all and knowledge being the most important!
Posaral – Temples of Tulu Nadu
Posaral is another beautiful, sleepy little village on the border of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts. It has an extremely old temple of Lord Mahalingeshwara and Mahaganapati. The temple was renovated in 2006 and we found that it has all the basic infrastructure.
The local priest informed us that there is recorded evidence of the temple having existed more than 1200 years ago.
We (me and my cousin Vasu) got hold of a book published by the locals about 2 years ago. It mentions the existence of a pillar in the village dating back to the 12th century in which the chieftain of Barkur has recorded his gifting of the village to some one from this place.
Name: Sri Mahalingeshwara Mahaganapati Devasthana.
Location: Posaral, Karkala Taluk.
Main deities: Mahalingeshwara, Mahaganapati, Nagas, Brahma.
Bhutas: Panjurli
The temple is located on the banks of the river Shambhavi. Another unique thing about this temple is that there are some very antique carvings on the pillars of the Theertha Mantap.
Specialities: The speciality of this temple is that the locals believe that the Lord here is very pleased with tender coconut abhishekam. So it is a custom to offer the Lord a few tender coconuts if one’s wishes (as requested to the Lord) comes true.
Address: Sri Mahalingeshwara Mahaganapati Devasthana, Saccharipete, Mundkur village, Karkala Taluk, Udupi – 576128.
Contact: By snail mail.
How to get there: From Mangalore, reach Mulki and then turn right towards Kinnigoli. After Kinnigoli, reach Moorukaveri and turn left towards Belmann. Reach Jaarikatte and turn right. You will find an arch to Posaral on the right side after about 2kms.
More photos.
Did you know? 15th September 2008
Sri Narahari Tirtha, a direct disciple of Sri Madhva and one of the early converts to Sri Madhva’s school, was deputed by Sri Madhva to Kalinga (now Orissa) to spread Tattvavada. He ended up “ruling” Kalinga for over 12 years due to the untimely death of the King of Orissa!
Yelinje – Temples of Tulu Nadu
Yelinje was the first temple I visited as part of my project. This is a small but beautiful temple located near Kinnigoli, about 30kms from Mangalore. Yelinje has a Lakshmi Janardana temple. The temple also has a Mahaganapati idol. Here is some information on the temple.
Name: Sri Lakshmi Janardana Mahaganapati Devasthana.
Location: Yelinje, Mangalore Taluk.
Main deities: Lakshmi Janardana, Mahaganapati, Nagas.
Bhutas: Panjurli, Rakteshwari
Specialities: A Bavali Dhama (bat colony) right next to the temple. Hundreds of bats are perched on a few huge trees and survive on the temple food. The bats do not harm anyone.
Address: Sri Lakshmi Janardana Mahaganapati Devasthana, Yelinje, Mangalore Taluk – 574 141.
Contact: 0824-295063
How to get there: From Mangalore, reach Mulki and then turn right towards Kinnigoli. After Kinnigoli, reach Moorukaveri and turn left towards Belmann. Yelinje is located about 5 kms from here.
Annual festival: From Magha masa, Shukla paksha, shashthi till dashami (typically in February).
Misc: The temple was renovated in 2003 and is in reasonably good shape now. The temple area is very serene and is located amidst lush greenery. The drive from Moorukaveri to Yelinje is really enjoyeable.
Temples of Tulu Nadu
Tulu Nadu, comprising of the districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi in Karnataka and Kasaragod in Kerala, is a very unique place. I have written a few pages about this region elsewhere in this blog so I will not get into it again. But what truly distinguishes the region from other places in India is the deep rooted religious practices and beliefs. This land is called “Parashurama Kshetra” (Land of Parashurama) and the region does full justice to that tag. Nowhere in India today is there so much focus on practicing Vedic rituals as it is in Tulu Nadu. Homas, Yagnas and Japa are an integral part of the peoples’ lives here. The natural headquarters of all these activities are temples.
The temple system of Tulu Nadu is also very distinct from other places. You will not find a Gopuram style of architecture as is common in Mysore region or in Tamil Nadu. It is also different from North Indian style of temples. The temple style is unique in itself (along with Kerala). Almost all temples are constructed as per scriptures. Hence, within Tulu Nadu, you will find a lot of commonalities between temples. Every temple will have a “Garbha Gudi”, “Tirtha Mantapa” and “Dhwaja Sthamba”. Almost all temples will have a Ganapati idol along with the main deity of the temple. Each temple has its own set of “Bhutas” which are revered and worshipped along with the Gods. Every temple will compulsorily conduct an annual festival for 3-7 days. A high percentage of temples make every effort to provide free food to devotees throughout the year.
A few other things stand out amongst temples in Tulu Nadu. Most villages have only one temple. This is like a uniting factor for the entire village. While some villages may have 2 or 3 three temples, there are also many very small villages which have no temple of their own. It is prudent to assume that on an average, there exists one temple per village. Secondly, most of these temples are hundreds of years old, if not more. The times of the Vijayanagar Kings was when Tulu Nadu prospered the most and hundreds of temples have recorded history of events during that period. The culture of Tulu Nadu has fortunately remained isolated from the events that occurred in other parts of India through the medieval ages. Hence most of the temples have survived till date (from invasions).
Another aspect of these temples is that a majority of them have their own amazing history and legend. Multiple of these temples were established by great saints and enjoyed royal patronage. Every temple has fascinating mythological stories associated with them, legendary stories vouching for the power of the Gods and Bhutas and tons of stories of miracles at the place.
For over two years now, I wanted to do something in this amazing field. In spite of the presence of so many wonderful temples, hardly a bunch of them are well known. Udupi, Kukke, Dharmasthala, Anegudde and a couple of others are very well known. The rest do not even find a mention! There may be a few books and research items published which may be languishing in some libraries on these temples. But the fact of the matter is that the information is not available to the common man. It would be a shame on us if we do not use the power of the Internet to repair this anamoly. Who knows, what with all the petroleum and oil refineries coming up in Tulu Nadu at such a rapid pace, how many of the temples will even survive beyond our generation?
I did some data collection and found that there are around 650 villages in Tulu Nadu. That means – at least 650 temples! And we hardly know 10-20 of them. Even if we assume that the average history of the each temple is around 200 years, we are talking about 130,000 years of Hindu culture!
I wanted to get started with a project on these temples of Tulu Nadu. The idea was that I start collecting data on as many temples as possible and document and publish them on the internet. The information on each temple may not be comprehensive but that’s ok. I want to make a beginning. Maybe the fever will catch on. Maybe, one day, we will have recorded information on all 650 temples!
A few days back, I made my first visit to Tulu Nadu for the project. I covered 5 temples – Elinje, Kadandale, Muchur, Posral and of course Nellitheertha. In the coming days I will post small articles on each of these temples. I hope to collect data for at least 50 temples before I move the data into a separate website of its own.
If there are other people interested in this concept, please do contact me. It will help speed up the data collection activity.
Narayana Varma (Narayana Kavacha)
I have managed to transliterate the “Narayana Varma” into Kannada. This famous stotra is also known as Narayana Kavacha and is especially advised to overcome fear, gain courage and protection. It is also a powerful protection against evil. You can download the same from the Mantras page.
In addition, I have also uploaded the Kannada transliteration of “Lakshmi Dvadasha Nama Stotra” and “Ramesha Stuti”.
Anandatirtha Prathishtana 