Of the many ancient temples in Dakshina Kannada district (previously called south Canara), which are distinctly different from those found in Tamil Nadu, those nestling amidst the Western Ghats near Mangalore (Mangaluru) namely, Kukke Subramanya, Dharmasthala and Kollur (Mookambika) have become popular pilgrimage centres. The writer records his experiences on his recent visit to these shrines. These must-visit places are rich repositories of our culture and tradition.
My first visit, after reaching Mangaluru, was to the Mangala Devi temple in Bolara. It is believed that the temple was founded by Parasurama. The temple is located at a lower elevation with a Nagar shrine overlooking it from a higher elevation. Mangala Devi is a fine piece of icon in a sitting posture. She is depicted as Dharapatra, and to her left is a small lingam symbolising Siva and Sakti. The temple is cast in Kerala style of architecture with sloping roof and the enclosures built in wood. The other shrines that I visited on the same day were Kadri Manjunatha, Kudroli Gokarnatheeswarar and Durga Parameswari.
The next destination was to Kukke Subramanya, at a distance of 105 km. Kukke, being the name of a village at Sullia Taluk in Dakshina Kannada district, is well connected by road and rail from Mangaluru and Bangaluru. Those travelling by train should alight at Subramanya road from where Kukke Subramanya lies at a distance of seven kilometres. The temple is virtually on the lap of the Western Ghats, which goes by the name Kumara Parvatha here. Its adjacent hill is called Sesha parvatha since its peak is shaped like the six-headed serpent, Adi Sesha.
View of the Mookambika temple from the eastern side. Photo: R. Krishnamurthy
At the foothill lies the Adi Subramanya temple where one can find an anthill around which a few metallic idols of Sarpa with spread-out hoods are seen. The river Kumaradhara flows by it. The present temple of Subramanya is at a distance of about half a kilometre towards east. The Garuda pillar, at the centre of the spacious courtyard, which faces the garbha griha, is believed to protect the devotees from the poisonous breath of Vasuki inside the temple. Subramanya on peacock with Devasena is a fine piece of icon, which is again seated on a sarpa. Legend has it that Subramanya came to this hill after killing Tarakasura and to mark His victory over the demon, Indra gave his daughter, Devasena, in marriage to Subramanya at this place. Another place of importance is the Biladwara cave near this temple. It is said that the serpent king, Vasuki, a great Siva bhakta, in order to save himself from being attacked by Garuda while doing his penance, took refuge in this cave. Subramanya not only gave darshan to the serpent king but decided to stay with him. People flock to Kukke Subramanya for a holy dip in Kumaradhara and worship the deity to be relieved of skin diseases.
Dharmasthala, which lies at a distance of 70 km from Subramanya is the abode of Sri Manjunatha, with the Western Ghats as the background. The Jain Tirthankara is as much worshipped as Siva. Though the temple rituals are performed by Sivali Brahmins, its administration is vested with the Hegde family whose ancestors were the Jain Bunt chieftain Birmmana Pergade and his wife Ammu Ballathi. Legend has it that the chieftain and his wife, as per the wishes of Daivas (Angels of dharma) in their dream, converted their residence into a temple for the Jain gods – Kalarahu, Kalarkayi, Kumara Swamy and Kanyakumari – and later on at the instance of Brahmin priests, a lingam from Kadri (Manjunatha) was consecrated. The temple has the look of a residential building from outside. The regnal year of the chieftain dates back to 800 years, and twenty generations of the Pergade (now called Hegde) family had come to occupy the seat of Dharmadhikari, and the present incumbent is Veerendra Hegde. The most important festival is Maha Nadavali, which lasts for eleven days. Charity, from all places, pours in through the year to feed the devotees both at noon and in the night.Kollur was our next destination after visiting Annapurneswari at Horanadu. Kollur is located at the foot of Western ghats called Kudajathri hill here. Sixty four water-falls originate from this hill and likewise the river, Souparnika. Its tributary called Agni teertha flows on the northern side of the temple. The temple faces east and has two stories, the lower one built in granite with finely carved pillars and the upper one, in Kerala style of architecture, is built with wooden beams and rafters. This construction seems to be of a later addition. The temple is said to have been built in the ninth century and assigned to Benganna Samandar of Bergi family, a local ruler.
On entering the temple from the eastern side, we are led into an expansive outer prakara with the dwajastamba facing the garba griha. There is a small enclosure around the main deity, Mookambika, for circumambulation. The icon of Mookambika is a fine piece of sculpture with the mount, lion and the whole unit made up of five metals. The jyotir lingam by its side is swayambu. A thin golden line divides it into unequal parts - the greater one representing Mahalakshmi, Maha Kali and Saraswathy and the smaller one stands for Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. The Saraswathy mantapam near the Subramanya shrine is significant because Adi Sankara is said to have composed ‘Soundaryalahari’ in this mantapam. Raja Ravi Varma has embellished its walls with his paintings. People prefer this mantapam for initiating children into akshara abhyasa on Vijaya Dasami day. The mantapam, also called kalamantapam, is thrown open for the conduct of music concerts and dance arangetram. Every day the idol of Mookambika is taken out in a procession inside the temple at 7 p.m. and brought to Saraswathy mantapam for puja. This ritual is called ‘siveli’. Kollur Mookambika is one of the seven spots created by Parasurama in the Konkan region, it is said.
Last in our itinerary was a magnificent temple by the side of the sea, the Murdeshwara shrine, built in Dravidian style with a 17-tier rajagopuram. It was built in 1977 by R.N. Shetty by employing the services of S.K. Achary, who built the Vivekananda memorial in Kanyakumari. Around 200-300 artisans from Tamil Nadu were believed to have worked on this temple for nine years.
