A Traveller's Diary - Kamalashile, Maranakatte, Tallur, Hattiangadi & Guddattu

There are a few important temples around Kundapura. Though these temples are popular in that part, they are not very famous outside Karnataka. As we came to know about these temples, we wanted to visit as many of them as possible. All these places are well connected to Kundapura, though the bus services are not so frequent to some of these places.

The first place we wanted to go was Kamalashile. Though, it is just 35 kms away from Kundapura, there are not many direct buses to this place. So, we boarded a bus at 8:00 AM to go to Siddapura which is on the way to Kamalashile. It took almost one hour and we reached Siddapura at 9:00 AM. As there was no bus to Kamalashile till 10:00 AM (and no taxi/auto driver was willing to come to Kamalashile), we had our breakfast in Siddapura. Finally, we boarded the bus and reached Kamalashile at 10:15 AM. The temple is just 200 meters away from the place where the bus stops.

Kamalashile

The temple in Kamalashile is dedicated to Sri Brahmi Durga Parameshwari. This Goddesses is the convergence of Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati. The temple is very close to the river Kubja. All male devotees have to remove their shirt/banian before entering the temple. We had the darshan of the Goddess for more than 10 minutes as the temple was not much crowded. We then bought prasadam and sat in the temple for some more time looking at the Goddess.

We came back and reached Siddapura by bus at 11:00 AM. From there, we wanted to go to Maranakatte. However, there was no direct bus to Maranakatte at that time and we should go to Neralekatte which is on the way to Maranakatte. But, the bus to go to Neralekatte had just left and the next bus was only at 1:00 PM. Someone advised us to go to Ampar (which is a junction). Though this route is longer by 10 kms, we decided to go to Ampar instead of waiting there for two hours. The bus to go to Ampar was ready, but it started only after half an hour after we boarded. We reached Ampar at 12:15 PM and the next bus to go towards Maranakatte would be at 1:00 PM. So, we had our lunch in a small hotel in Ampar.

There was no direct bus to Maranakatte from there as well. So we boarded a bus at 1:00 PM and got down in a small village called Vandse, where we had to change the bus to go to Chittoor (which is on the way to Kollur). By the time we reached Vandse, the bus to go to Chittoor was leaving. Our bus conductor stopped that bus by blowing his whistle. We thanked him and boarded that bus. (Till we boarded this bus, we spent a lot of time in waiting rather than in travelling. However, from here onwards, we didn`t have to wait at all and we got all our next vehicles immediately). 

The bus reached Chittoor in 15 minutes (There is a town with the same name in Andhra Pradesh also). We boarded an auto to go to Maranakatte, which is just 2 kms away. The auto stopped in front of the temple at 1:45 PM.

Maranakatte

The temple at Maranakatte is dedicated to Sri Brahmalingeshwara, who is considered to be the son of Sri Mookambika in Kollur. This temple is surrounded by a stream which is called Brahmakund. The temple was crowded even at that time. We had to rush as someone told us that the darshan would be stopped at 2:00 PM. The main deity is in standing pose here. We had a hurried darshan as there were more than 300 people inside the temple and the darshan was about to be stopped.

We came out and had our evening coffee in a restaurant (though it was not exactly evening). Our next plan was to go to Guddattu, which should be reached from Kundapura only. I asked the owner of the restaurant about the other temples around Kundapura. He told us about Hattiangady where there is a Ganesh temple.

From Maranakatte, there are two routes to Kundapura - one is via Ampar and the other one is via Tallur. He advised us to go to Tallur as Hattiangadi is just 5 kms away from there. We came out and were looking for an auto to go back to Chittoor. Just then, one bus started to move (which was standing in front of the restaurant for a long time) and was going towards Chittoor. When I asked the conductor, he told that it would go to Tallur also. We boarded the bus and reached Tallur at around 3:45 PM.

Tallur

We got down on the main road in Tallur. We should take a left turn to go to Hattiangadi, however, after getting down from the bus, I saw one beautiful temple in a street on the right side of the main road (Had the driver stopped the bus a few steps either behind or afterwards, I wouldn`t have seen the temple as it was not visible from there due to the shops on the main road and we wouldn`t have visited it). We crossed the road and went to the temple which is just 100 meters away from the main road. It is again a Shiva temple and he is known as Mahalingeshwara there. The temple was opened at 4:00 PM and we had a very good darshan. We came back to the main road and hired an auto to go to Hattiangadi. We reached Hattiangadi in 10 minutes.

Hattiangadi

Hattiangadi is on the banks of the river Varahi. However, we could not see the river anywhere around. I was very surprised when the local people told us that Hattiangadi was once the capital of the Alupa kings. It is a very small village now. They also told us Hattiangadi was also ruled by Hoysala kings and, during that period, it was called Goshtipura as so many intellectual discussions happened there.

We reached the temple at 4:30 PM. The main deity here is Sri Siddhi Vinayaka, who is in sitting pose. There is a small temple for Shiva also in the same premises. There were not more than 10 people in the temple. The priest told us that there was a bus to go to Kundapura at 5:00 PM and it would stop exactly behind the temple. We spent 20 minutes in the temple and came out when we saw the bus coming. We went to the spot, but the driver told us the bus would leave only at 5:00 PM.

There is another temple exactly behind the temple we visited (beside the place where the bus stopped). As we still had 10 more minutes, we went in. It is Vishnu temple and the deity here is worshipped as Shankaranarayana. We were in the temple for 5 minutes only as we didn`t have much time. We boarded the bus and reached Kundapura at 5:30 PM (The distance is around 12 kms).

Our next plan was to go to Guddattu, where there is a Ganesh temple. So, instead of going till the bus complex in Kundapura, we got down on the main road where the bus to go to Guddattu would stop. We got the bus immediately and it reached a junction by 6:00 PM from where Guddattu is just 4 kms away. We boarded an auto and reached Guddattu by 6:10 PM. We asked our auto driver to wait for us as there were no modes of transport available to go back.

Guddattu

The main deity in Guddattu is worshipped as Maha Ganapati. He is called Jaladhivasa as there is water flowing under the main idol continuously. As the main idol is Swayambhu, it is not exactly in the shape of Ganesha. We spent around 15 minutes in the temple. 

Somebody in the temple told us to go back to the junction as soon as possible as there was a bus to go to Kundapura at 6:30 PM and it would probably be the last bus for the day. We boarded our auto and reached the junction by 6:35 PM. The bus came at 6:45 PM and we reached Kundapura at 7:30 PM. 

A Traveller's Diary - Ambalpadi, Katapadi, Kateel, Suratkal and Mangalore

On 18 June 2015, we (my mother, my aunt and myself) vacated our cottage in Udupi at 7:00 AM. On the previous day, the priest in Sri Krishna temple told us about six temples which were located between Udupi and Mangalore. As I had seen the district map of Udupi, I understood that we could cover only four of those temples before reaching Mangalore. Those temples are in Ambalpadi, Katapadi, Kateel and Suratkal.

Ambalpadi

We hired an auto to go to Ambalpadi, which is just 4 kms away from Sri Krishna temple in Udupi. In fact, Ambalpadi is now a part of Udupi. We reached Ambalpadi at 7:15 AM. The temple is dedicated to Goddes Mahakali, however, there is another temple in the same complex for Lord Janardhana. The temple was constructed in Kerala style and it was not much crowded. We had a nice darshan of both Mahakali and Janardhana. We spent around 20 minutes in the temple and boarded the same auto and got down at the bus complex in Udupi.

Katapadi

Katapadi is located on the highway to Mangalore and is 10 kms away from Udupi. We boarded a mini bus at 7:45 AM and reached Katapadi at 8:00 AM. Katapadi is a Tulu word which means Tie It Down (There is a town by name Katpadi in Tamil Nadu, but this is Katapadi). The temple is just 300 meters away from NH17 and is on the other side of the highway. We had crossed the road very carefully as it is one of the busiest highways in our country which connects Mangalore with Mumbai.

The temple in Katapadi is dedicated to Lord Vishnu who is worshipped as Venkata Ramana. The temple was painted in red colour and looked as if it was painted recently. The temple is very clean with green surroundings. We went in and had the darshan of Venkataramana. The main idol here is not exactly in the same manner like the one in normal Balaji temples. We were in the temple for about 20 minutes and came back to NH17. We boarded another bus to go to Mulki, which is a junction and is around 30 kms away from there. From there we should catch our bus to Kateel.

We reached Mulki at 9:30 AM and Kateel is just 12 kms away from there. As there was still time to catch our bus to Kateel, we had our breakfast in Mulki. In fact, we looked out for a restaurant to have our breakfast in Katapadi also, but we didn`t find a decent one. We boarded the bus to go to Kateel at 10:00 AM and reached Kateel at 10:20 AM.

Kateel

The temple in Kateel is just a few steps away from the bus-stand. This temple is located in the middle of the river Nandini and was constructed on pillars. The river flows from the rocks and, hence, it looks like a waterfall. I had not seen such a temple before, though I had seen so many temples in both Southern and Northern parts of India.

The main deity in this temple is Sri Durga Parameshwari. The Goddess is very powerful and it is a belief that your wishes will be fulfilled soon if you pray in this temple. The temple is visited by thousands of devotees during Fridays. However, as it was Thursday, the temple was not overcrowded. We had our darshan immediately and we stayed in front of the Goddes for 10 minutes. When we came out, we saw a bus exactly in front of the temple. When I asked the driver if it would go to Suratkal, he asked us to board the bus and get down at Talipadi, which is a junction and is just 5 kms away from there.

Suratkal is 35 kms away from Talipadi. We changed our bus in Talapadi and reached Suratkal which is on the highway to Mangalore. The temple is on the bank of the Arabian Sea and is around one kilometer away from NH17 (again, we had to cross the highway carefully). 

The temple is far away from the village and there were no modes of transport available at that time. The local people told us we might get a vehicle if we would wait for some time. However, as we were not sure of how long that wait could be, we started walking towards the temple. We reached the temple in 15 minutes.

Suratkal

The temple in Suratkal is called Sri Sadashiva Mahaganapati temple. Though, Shiva is the main deity, Ganapati is also equally important, who is in a small temple in the same complex. The temple is on a small rock and there were around 30 steps to reach the temple. The temple was open and the afternoon pooja was going on at that time. We had the darshan of both Shiva and Ganapati and we were in the temple for 20 minutes.

We came down at 12:30 PM and had a cup of tea in a small hotel beside the temple. From there, the beach is just a few yards away. In fact, the lighthouse is just a few steps away from that hotel. As my aunt did not show any interest to see the beach, she stayed back in the hotel (She is from Nellore and goes to the Mypadu beach so frequently. But, my mother and myself are from Hyderabad, and we rarely get a chance to see a beach). We reached the beach in three minutes.

The beach was so calm, but the sea was very rough. There was a warning board - ROUGH SEA, DO NOT SWIM. There were two girls in the beach at that time and it looked like they came there for a photo shoot. One girl gave so many poses and the other girl took her photographs in different angles. They smiled when they saw us and continued to get engaged in their own task. We sat at a place which is away from their coverage area. We were there for more than half an hour enjoying both the tides and the poses (Let me clarify - both the girls were in casual wear and not in swim wear. After all, it was Karnataka and not Goa).

Mangalore

We came back to NH17 and boarded the bus to go to Mangalore which is 15 kms away from there. We reached the main bus complex in Mangalore (which is called State Bank) at 1:45 PM. We had our lunch in Jain Restaurant and the food was very tasty. Moreover, they gave us a fruit and ice cream also, which was a surprise to us. Our next plan for the day was to cover four temples in Mangalore. We hired an auto and went to Gokarnanath temple.

Gokarnanath temple is located in a place called Kardoli in Mangalore. It is a big temple and is very beautiful as well. The Shiva Lingam in this temple was said to be consecrated by Narayana Guru. The temple was originally constructed in Kerala style, but was changed to Chola style when it was renovated in 1991. The temple is in a large area and is very beautiful (I used the word very beautiful twice in the same paragraph only to help you understand how beautiful the temple is).

The temple was open, but the Sannithi (Garbhalaya) would be open for visitors only from 4:00 PM. As it was just 3:00 PM, we sat there in the visitors' chairs for one hour. We had the darshan of Shiva when the temple was opened. We also had the darshan of other deities in the same complex. I liked the idol of Sai Baba which is very graceful with two lions on either sides.

We then hired an auto and went to Sharavu Maha Ganapati temple which is located in a place called Hampankatta. The temple authorities told that Sharavu in Kannada means beautiful and the Ganapati idol here looks really beautiful. However, I also heard another story. Long ago, a king killed a cow with his arrow by mistake. To get rid of the sin, he constructed the temple. As arrow means shara, the deity is called Sharavu Maha Ganapati. We were there in this temple for 15 minutes and moved ahead.

We again hired an auto and went to Manjunatha temple. This temple is very big in size and it took 15 minutes for us to complete one Pradakshina (Parikrama). It is located on a small hill called Kadri. It is beleived that Parashurama stayed on this hill for sometime praising Lord Shiva. Shiva appeared in the form of Manjunatha and blessed him. There are also temples for Ganesha and Durga in the same premises. After spending more than one hour in the temple, we came out and had our evening tea in a hotel opposite to the temple. We then hired another auto to go to Mangala Devi temple, which was our last visit in Mangalore.

We reached Mangala Devi temple at 6:30 PM. It is located in a place called Bolara. Mangala Devi temple is the most famous temple in Mangalore. In fact, the city was named as Mangaluru because of Mangala Devi only (Just like Mumbai was named after Mumba Devi). 

Some people here told that this temple was built by Kundavarma, who was the king of this area in the 9th century. However, a few others told that this temple was originally built by Parashurama and later Kundavarma renovated it.

Though, this temple is not small in area, it is not very big either. But, the Goddess is very powerful. We were in the temple for more than 45 minutes and out of that time, we spent more than 30 minutes in front of the Goddess only. We came out of the temple at around 7:30 PM after buying Prasadams. We talked only about Mangala Devi for a few hours, even after leaving the temple. Such was the impact the Goddess had on us.

A Traveller's Diary - Koteswara, Shankaranarayana, Anegudde - Kumbhasi, Perdur & Udupi

On 17 June 2015, we checked out our hotel room in Bhatkal (the name of the hotel is Kola Paradise) and boarded the bus to Kundapura at 7:30 AM. The distance between Bhatkal and Kundapura is 54 kms. After half an hour, we crossed a lodge by name R K Residency which is located on NH17 in a small village called Baindur. When we saw that lodge from the bus, it reminded us of our previous visit to that part of the country. (In 2008, we stayed in R K Residency at Baindur, when we were going from Gokarna to Kollur.) We reached Kundapura at around 9:00 AM.

There are 7 places in Karnataka which are considered as Mukthi Sthalams. They are:

1. Gokarna
2. Udupi
3. Koteswara
4. Shankaranarayana
5. Kumbhasi
6. Kukke &
7. Kollur

I don't know why Dharmasthala was not included in this list. As we had already been to Gokarna, Udupi, Kukke and Kollur earlier, we wanted to cover the remaining three places in this trip.

Koteswara

Koteswara is just 5 kms away from Kundapura. We boarded a mini bus and reached Koteswara in 10 minutes. We went to the temple on foot as it is just half a kilometre away from the bus-stop. 

The main temple in this village is called Koti Lingeswara temple with Shiva being the deity. This temple looked like a normal house from a distance. Only after reaching the main entrance, we realized that it's a temple. After our darshan, I asked the priest regarding Shankaranarayana and Kumbhasi and he gave us the guidance.

We came out and had our breakfast in a restaurant. We saw a temple while going back to the bus-stop. When we went in, we realized that it's Kodanda Rama temple. The priest in this temple, told us about Anantha Padmanabha Swamy temple at Perdur, near Udupi. After having our darshan, we boarded the bus to Shankaranarayana which is 35 kms away.

Shankaranarayana

Shankaranarayana is a small village and the temple is one kilometer away from the bus-stop. As we couldn`t see any mode of transport around, we started walking. It took 15 minutes for us to reach the temple. The temple is very clean with green surroundings. The main deity is Vishnu which is a 10 feet idol and is very beautiful. As there was a special puja going on, we waited in front of the idol for more than half an hour. There were hardly 10 people in the temple and one of them dropped us at Ampar (which is a junction) in his car when I told him that we were going back to Kundapura.

From there we reached Kundapura in 45 minutes by bus. It started raining after we boarded the bus and became heavier when we got down in Kundapura. We waited for more than half an hour in the bus-stop to go to the other side of the road as I noticed a decent restaurant, but the rain didn`t stop. Finally, we crossed the road and went into the restaurant (Hotel Sharon). We were completely drenched by then. The lunch was really good with so many dishes being available. We came out of the restaurant at 2:30 PM.

Kumbhasi - Anegudde

From there, we boarded another bus to go to Kumbhasi. It is a small village and is 12 kms away from Kundapura. We walked down to the temple as it is just half a kilometre away from NH17. We first went to Anigudde which is on a small rock exactly on the top of Kumbhasi.

Anegudde

Anegudde is one of the famous Ganesh temples in Karnataka. The deity here is worshipped as Sri Vinayaka, who is in standing pose and is very beautiful. There were hardly 50 people in the temple at that time. We stayed in the temple for around half an hour. When we came out, we saw a Dharma Shasta (Ayyappa) temple which is very close to this temple. Though the Sannithi was closed, as the doors were made of grills, we could have the darshan of Ayyappa also.

Kumbhasi

We came down and went to the temple in Kumbhasi. Shiva is worshiped as Kumbheswara here (Another place where Shiva is worshipped as Kumbheswara is Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu). The temple is very old and has been renovated recently. Behind this temple, there is another temple for Lord Surya. Just beside that temple, there is a big enclosure for peacocks. We could see around 15 peacocks there.

Perdur

After having our evening tea at 5:00 PM, we boarded our bus to Udupi, which is around 30 kms away from there. It again started raining and we reached Udupi at 5:45 PM. We boarded another bus to go to Perdur which is around 20 kms from Udupi. The bus went via Manipal and we reached Perdur at around 6:30 PM. The temple is just a few yards away from the place where the bus stops. The main deity here is Anantha Padmanabha Swamy.

The temple was constructed in Kerala style. (In fact, most of the temples in the South-West Karnataka region, were built in Kerala style only). We expected the main idol in sleeping pose (like the one in Thiruvananthapuram), but Anantha Padmanabha Swamy in this temple is in standing pose. However, there is another idol in the temple which is in sleeping pose. The priest permitted me to take a photograph of this idol.

The priest here told us about Karkala, where there is a temple for Lord Venkateshwara. Though it is just 35 kms away from Perdur, it is in the interiors and there are no proper transport facilities available. By the time we go there, the temple would be closed. So, we came out and boarded our bus to go back. We reached Udupi at 7:30 PM. It was still raining and we hired an auto to go to Sri Krishna temple. We had taken a cottage in the Mutt and took rest for one hour before having the darshan of Sri Krishna.

Udupi

Udupi is one of the famous places in India for all Sri Krishna devotees. We went to the main temple, which is in Sri Krishna Mutt, at 8:45 PM. We had our darshan immediately as there were hardly 10 people at that time. As there was not much crowd, we could have multiple darshans. The main door of the Sannithi is always closed. We have to have our darshan from a window in the backside of the Sannithi. There is a story behind this.

There used to be a great devotee of Sri Krishna in Karnataka and his name was Kanakadasa. Once he went to Udupi to have the darshan of Sri Krishna, but he was not allowed to have the darshan from the main door as he was from a lower caste. He went to the backside of the temple to have the darshan at least from the window. But, from there, he could see only Sri Krishna's back. It was believed that, as Sri Krishna was pleased by Kanakadasa's devotion, he turned back and remained like that forever.

We had then visited the temples for Shiva and Subrahmanya in the same complex. Lord Subrahmanya here, though small in size, is believed to be very powerful.

When we were talking to one of the priests there, he gave us the information about a few important temples between Udupi and Mangalore. Our actual plan was to go to Mangalore on the next day as soon as possible. After the talk we had with him, we changed our plan and wanted to go to some of those temples before going to Mangalore. On his advice only, we went upstairs to have our dinner (Maha Prasadam) in the Mutt itself. (In our previous visit to Udupi in 2005, we had our breakfast in a restaurant beside Sri Krishna Mutt and it was so delicious).

A Traveller's Diary - Athma Linga Temples - Sajjeswar, Mahabaleswar, Dhareswar, Gunavantheswar and Murudeswar

On 15 June 2015, my mother, my aunt (my mother's cousin) and myself went to Karwar (Karnataka) from Goa in the Madgaon - Karwar Intercity Express. It looked almost like a local train with only three compartments and with no wash rooms. We reached Karwar at 9:00 PM. The railway station is around 10 kms away from the town. We hired an auto to go to the town and stayed in a hotel for that night. 

Most of the Telugu people know the story associated with Athma Lingam (thanks to the Telugu movie Bhookailas). For those, who don`t know, I will try to narrate the story as briefly as possible. 

Once, Ravana pleased Lord Shiva with his prayers and got the Athma Lingam (which was a part of Shiva's body). Shiva warned him that if he put the Lingam on ground, it would remain rooted and could not be lifted again. Ravana wanted to ground the Lingam in his kingdom (Lanka). However, other deities knew that if the Lingam was kept in Lanka, Ravana would become undefeatable because of the power it would generate. So, they sent Lord Ganesha as a small boy to prevent this. 

While going to Lanka, Ravana stopped at a seashore in the evening to offer Arghya to Sun. He noticed Ganesha (as a small boy) and asked him to hold the Lingam for sometime so that he could complete his prayer. Ganesha held the Lingam and Ravana started the prayer. After sometime, Ganesha called Ravana to come back quickly as the Lingam was too heavy for him to carry. But, even before Ravana came back, he put the Lingam down. Though Ravana tried his best to lift the Lingam up, he was unable to do so.

With utmost anger, Ravana threw away the casket (in which the Lingam was carried), the strings of the casket, the lid of the casket and the cloth that covered the Lingam. As soon as these objects touched the ground, they became Lingams and they are collectively called Pancha Lingams.

• The place where the Athma Lingam was kept on ground is called Mahabaleswar (Gokarna).
• The place where the casket was thrown is called Sajjeswar. 
• The place where the strings of the casket were thrown is called Dhareswar. 
• The place where the lid of the casket was thrown is called Gunawanteswar. 
• The place where the cloth was thrown is called Murudeswar. 

Our plan was to visit all these five temples in the most convenient way. As we knew the route, we wanted to see four of these temples one day and wanted to stay in the temple cottage at Idagunji (which is a small village near Gunavanteshwar and where the famous Ganesh temple is located). We wanted to see the fifth temple (Murudeswar) on the next day. 

Karwar

On 16 June 2015, we vacated our room in Karwar at exactly 7:00 AM. There is a Hanuman temple very close to the hotel we stayed. Though the temple is small in size, it is graceful as it was constructed of marble. We went in and had the darshan of Hanuman.





















The bus complex in Karwar is not far away from the hotel we stayed. So, we wanted to go on foot. When we were walking down, we found a Ganesh temple near the bus station. This temple was constructed in the shape of a star and is very beautiful. We had the darshan of Ganesh also.

Sajjeswar

The name of the village where Sajjeswar temple is located is Sezwada, which is just 5 kms away from Karwar. To be more specific, this temple is located between the railway station and the town. It took just 10 minutes for us to go to the temple by bus. This is a small temple and there was nobody at that time. The priest told us the importance of the temple. It is the place where the casket, in which the Athma Lingam was carried, fell.

We stayed there for about 20 minutes and then hired an auto to come back to the town. We had our breakfast in a restaurant in Karwar. The distance between Karwar and Gokarna is around 60 kms. As there was no direct bus to Gokarna at that time, we boarded a bus that was going to Kumta at around 9:00 AM.

We got down on NH17 and boarded a mini bus to go to Gokarna, which is 10 kms away from there. Finally, we reached Gokarna at 11 AM. Gokarna is a small village and the main temple is less than one kilometer away from the bus-stand. We hired an auto as we were in a hurry (as we were not sure of the temple closing time). 

Mahabaleswar

Gokarna is the place where the Athma Lingam was grounded. There is a Maha Ganapati temple located diagonally opposite to the main (Shiva) temple. It is a belief that we should have the darshan of Ganapati first before visiting Mahabaleswar. Ganapati in this temple is in standing pose and we were allowed to touch the idol. The idol has a hole on the head. The priest told that it was due to Ravana hitting Ganesha on his head after the Lingam was put down. We then went to the main temple of Gokarna.

The main temple of Gokarna is called Mahabaleswar temple as, even Ravana who had great power (Maha Bala), could not lift the Lingam (Eshwar) up. However, due to the utmost power of Ravana, the Lingam changed into the shape of Cow's Ear. That's why, this village is called Gokarna (Go - Cow & Karna - Ear).

The temple is very famous and thousands of pilgrims visit this place every day. There were around 500 people in the temple at that time. It is the only Pancha Linga temple where we had to stand in the queue. It was written at the entrance - THE ONLY ATHMA LINGA TEMPLE IN THE WORLD. There is also a photo of the Athma Lingam hanging at the entrance. However, we can't see the Lingam directly in the temple. There is small rock (like panavattam) which has a hole. The priests asked us to keep our hands deep in that hole and, when we did that, we could actually touch the Lingam. 

We then visited the temple of Parvathi (known as Tamra Gowri) located in the premises. The priest here told us to have our lunch in the building next to the temple as the temple provides free lunch to the devotees between 12 noon and 2 PM. We had our lunch there. 

There is a beach called Om beach located 6 kms from Gokarna. It is because the beach looks like the symbol OM when it is seen from the sky. We didn't go to this beach due to our hectic schedule, however, we went to the nearby beach which is just 500 meters away from the building where we had our lunch. We then went back to the bus station by auto and boarded the bus to Kumta which is 30 kms away from Gokarna.

Dhareswar

We reached Kumta at 2:00 PM and boarded another bus to go to Dhareswar which is 12 kms away. Dhareswar is the place where the strings that covered the Athma Lingam fell. The temple is just a few yards away from the place where we got down on NH17. It was closed at that time and would be opened at 4:00 PM. We wanted to wait till 4:00 PM to have our darshan, but the Lord had other thoughts.

The house of the priest and the temple are separated just by a compound wall. The priest saw us waiting in front of the temple from his house. He was so kind to open the temple for us. We had our darshan peacefully as there was nobody in the temple. We thanked the priest and moved ahead. It started raining once we came back to NH17.

We boarded another bus and reached Honnavar at 3:30 PM. I noticed the people in that part of Karnataka pronounced Honnavar as One Hour. The distance between Dhareswar and Honnavar is 15 kms. The rain continued throughout the journey and it became even heavier after we reached Honnavar.

As per our actual plan, the next visit was Gunavanteswar and then to go to Idagunji to stay there for that night. However, as we were ahead of our scheduled time (due to the quick darshan at Dhareswar), I thought of covering both Gunavanteswar and Idagungi before moving ahead to Murudeswar on the same day. The next bus to Gunavanteswar was at 4:00 PM and it would go to Idagunji also. The KSRTC staff advised us to go to Idagunji first as there are no frequent buses to Idagunji (as it is located in a remote place). We had our evening tea in the canteen before the bus had arrived. We boarded that bus and went to Idagunji (via Gunavanteswar) and reached Idagunji at 4:45 PM.

Idagunji

The temple at Idagunji is one of the famous Ganesh temples in Karnataka. The main deity here is worshipped as Sri Vinayaka. The temple is located at a distance of 500 meters from the bus-stop. So, we went on foot though it was still drizzling.

There were around 100 devotees in the temple at that time. However, there was no queue as the door of the Garbhalaya (Sannithi) is very wide and the deity can be seen from any corner once we enter the main hall of the temple. We stayed there for about half an hour. The rain completely stopped by then and we again walked back to the bus-stop. As there was no bus to go back, we hired an auto to go to Gunavanteswar.

Gunavanteswar

We reached Gunvanteswar at around 5:30 PM. The temple is half a kilometer away from NH17. It is the place where the lid of the casket, in which the Athma Lingam was carried, fell. The temple was open, but nobody was there, not even the priest. We asked the auto driver to wait for us as there was no other vehicle found. We had our darshan and stayed in the temple for 10 minutes. We then boarded the same auto and got down on NH17 to board our bus to Murudeswar.

Murudeswar 

We boarded the bus to Murudeswar at 5:45 PM. I was worried whether we would be able to reach Murudeswar before the Sunset. After around half an hour journey, we got down on NH17 and the temple is 3 kms away from there. We boarded an auto immediately and reached Murudeshwar at 6:30 PM.

Murudeswar is very popular among all Pancha Linga temples. The cloth that covered the Athma Lingam fell here (in Kannada, murudu means cloth). It is situated on a small rock on the banks of the Arabian sea. The Raja Gopuram of the temple was constructed in 2008. It is the tallest Raja Gopuram in India (the second being Madurai, third being Srirangam and the fourth being Thiruvannamalai). There were so many people around the temple taking the pictures of the Gopuram.




We also took some snaps with the Gopuram in the background. Then we went to the backside of the temple where there is a big statue of Lord Shiva along with the statues of Ravana and Ganesha. The statue of Shiva is the tallest among all Shiva statues in India (second being the Shiva statue at Nageshwar, Gujarat). There are steps to go up and there is a temple for Ram and Shiva exactly at the feet of the big Shiva statue. We continued to take photographs as it is one of the most beautiful places in India.

As Murudeswar is located in the western part of the country (and also, the time we went could still be considered as Summer), there was Sunlight even at 7:30 PM. We then went to the main temple. Surprisingly, there were not many people inside the temple. It looks people treat Murudeswar more as a picnic spot than as a pilgrimage centre. That's why, it was more crowded than Gokarna.

We came out at around 8:00 PM after having a very nice darshan. We had a cup of coffee in a restaurant before boarding the auto to go back to NH17. We wanted to go to Kundapura and stay there for that night, however, the bus we boarded was going till Bhatkal only.

We got down at Bhatkal at 9:00 PM and waited there for around one hour for the bus to go to Kundapura. As we couldn`t get the bus even at 10:00 PM, we decided to stay in Bhatkal for that night. We took a room in a hotel (the name of the hotel is Kola Paradise) and had our dinner in a restaurant at 10:30 PM.

Though we wanted to visit all five temples associated with the Athma Linga story, we didn`t even dream of having darshan in all these temples on the same day (especially, as we didn`t have a vehicle on hand). But, we could  not only visit all Pancha Linga temples, but also the famous Vinayaka temple at Idagunji on the same day, thanks to the empathy shown by the priest in Dhareswar and also the valuable advice given by the KSRTC staff in Honnavar.

  

A Traveller's Diary