Mahabaleshwar Temple, Gokarna, Sri Murudeshwar Temple, Murudeshwar, Sri Krishna Temple at Udupi, Sri Manjunatha Swamy Temple at Dharmashala TULU NADU - KARNATAKA - UTTAR KARNATAKA

 20, December 2011.

To add to my list of  Paadal Petra Shiva Sthalangal dharshan I planned to go for the Tulu Nadu (Karnataka ) Paadal petra Shiva Sthalam at Gokarna. This is Thirugnanasambandar Paadal petra sthalam.  When I discussed with friends, every body suggested to add more temples during this visit. Murudeshwar, Udupi and Dharmasthala are the temples which were added in the list of my yathra. One of my best friend Mr C K Namdev who helped me a lot  and arranged for accommodation  at Gokarna and Udupi. I cannot forget the hospitality extended to me by his daughter during the stay at Gokarna. I was honoured that they dined along with me and they even skipped the usual non vegetarian  sea food, since I am a strict vegetarian ( Now !!!).

The yathra went like this......

After reaching the Mangalore at 4.25 Hrs on 17-12-2011, boarded the Mangalore Verna Passenger  train to Gokarna ( 225 Kms ) starts at 06.50 Hrs. On seeing the Murudeshwar Temple Gopuram and Shiva statue from long distance  got down at Murudeshwar station and went to temple, through auto  from the main road. The auto driver charged me only Rs 20, which is a surprise to me. Shiva statue is the second tallest in the world ( 123 feet, 1^st is at Nepal ) with a history of the sthalam is constructed under the statue made up of Stucco suthai. The Rajagopuram is of 20 story height  ( 237.5 feet ) with 2 nos of electric lifts.

After having a darshan at Murudeshwar came to main road to catch the bus to Gokarna. Since there is no straight bus to Gokarna went through  Kumta. In Gokarna temple did pooja to Mahabaleshwar as directed by the priest and able to touch and  feel the Shiva statue  of very very small size ( Kottai pakku ). The fee paid to the temple was Rs 150.00.  The temple is constructed  unique  Kerala style with wood and Mangalore tiles with out Rajagopuram.  Amman sannathi is at the back of the Shiva temple.  The Vinayagar temple is in front of the Shiva temple and one can see the mark on the statue hit by Lankan King Ravana. After the dharshan went to sea shore on the western side of the temple entrance. Since the day happened to be a week end Saturday lot of school children and public came for darshan.

After the darshan of Mahabaleshwar, left for UDUPI about 16.45 Hrs via Kumta by bus after thanking Mr Namdev’s daughter and his son-in-law. Arrived Udupi at 00.30 Hrs on 18-12-2011 and went to the lodge Mallika. The room was reserved by Mr Namdev’s brother-in-law  Mr Ganesh.  After having a sleep of  just 3 hours went to Udupi Temple. Even though there was a heavy rush I could  be able  to have  two different alankara dharshans of Sri Krishna through Kanaka kindi (Window grills). After dharshan vacated the lodge by 08.00 Hrs and proceed to Dharmasthala.

From Udupi there are no frequent buses. Got the bus at 09.00 Hrs and it took nearly 3 hour 15 minutes to reach the Dharmasthala temple ( 110 Kms through hill route. The road in many places are very bad. Since the day Sunday, happened to be a weekly holiday, very heavy rush was there. It took me about  30 minutes to deposit my Chappel and back bag. Got Rs 200 ticket and moved through  very very long QQQQQQQ and had the darshan of Sri Manjunatha Swamy and Ammavaru. After darshan came out at 13.00 Hrs and boarded the bus ( Near the temple entrance) to Mangalore to catch the Chennai super fast Express Train which leaves by 16.00 Hrs. I was little upset  for not able to spend more time to see the Bahubali statue and other places, importantly missed the free meals as every body suggested. When I reached the station the time was 15.45 Hrs and announcement  call to board the train.

Total distance covered in the yathra  is 2500 Kms in 72 hours ( 16^th  09.00 hrs from Chennai Home  and reached on 19^th Dec 2011 at 09.00 Hrs ) of which Darshan time in the temples was around  7 to 8 hours only.

GOKARNA AND MURUDESHWAR

( The history is taken from the wikipedia website ).The origin of the name "Murudeshwara" dates to the time of Ramayana. The Hindu gods attained immortality and invincibility by worshipping a divine Lingam called the Atma-Linga. The Lanka King Ravana wanted to attain immortality by obtaining the Atma-Linga (Soul of Shiva). Since the Atma-Linga belonged to Lord Shiva, Ravana worshipped Shiva with devotion. Pleased by his prayers, Lord Shiva appeared before him and asked him what he wanted. By this time Narada had asked Lord Vishnu to change Ravana's mind. As a result of this plot, Ravana asks for Goddess Parvati, and Lord Shiva offers her to him. On his way back to Lanka Narada tells Ravana that Lord had not given him the real Parvathi and that the real Parvathi was in Pathala. So Ravana frees his companion, goes to Pathala and marries a king's daughter, assuming her to be the real Parvathi. He then returns to Lanka, where his mother asks him for the Linga. Ravana then comes to know of the tricks played on him by Lord Vishnu. He therefore prays to Lord Shiva again, begging for his forgiveness. Lord Shiva appears and this time, Ravana requests the AtmaLinga as his boon. Lord Shiva agrees to give him the boon with the condition that it should never be placed on the ground. If the AtmaLinga was ever placed on the ground, all the powers would return to Lord Shiva again. Having obtained his boon, Ravana started back on his journey to Lanka.

Sage Narada, who came to know of this incident, realised that with the AtmaLinga, Ravana may obtain immortality and create havoc on earth. He approached the Lord Ganesh and requested him to prevent the AtmaLinga from reaching Lanka. Lord Ganesh knew that Ravana was a very devoted person who used to perform prayer ritual in the evening every day without fail. He decided to make use of this fact and came up with a plan to confiscate the AtmaLinga from Ravana.

As Ravana was nearing Gokarna, Lord Vishnu blotted out the sun to give the appearance of dusk through his srichakra. Ravana now had to perform his evening rituals but was worried because with the AtmaLinga in his hands, he would not be able to do his rituals. At this time, Lord Ganesh in the disguise of a Brahmin boy accosted him. Ravana requested him to hold the AtmaLinga until he performed his rituals, and asked him not to place it on the ground. Ganesh struck a deal with him saying that he would call Ravana thrice, and if Ravana did not return within that time, he would place the AtmaLinga on the ground.

267. SRI MAHABALESHWAR TEMPLE, 

GOKARNA - THIRUKOKARNAM 

Now this place is called as Gokarna. This is 267^th Paadal Petra Shiva Sthalam and only one sthalam in Thuluva Nadu on the sea shore. Thirugnanasambandar and Appar has sung hymns in praise of  Lord Shiva of this temple.

( Entrance of the temple)

Moolavar : Sri Mahabaleshwar, Sri Piranalingeswarar,

               Sri Aathma lingeswarar
Consort  : Sri Gokarneswari, Sri Thamragowri

Some of the important features of this temple are…
The temple architecture is similar to Kerala style architecture with wood and mangalore tiles. Moolavar is facing west and there are entrance on the south and west side. Ambal is facing east, in a separate sannadhi. Moolavar is very small and can be touched through a hole like avudayar below the ground level. Devotees can do abhishekam and pooja to the moolavar through their own hands.

Sannadhi for Thathreyar and Adi Gokarneswara, Vinayagar, Mahisasura Marthini. There is a Vinayagar sannidhi on the east side of the temple and there is a scar on his head due to Ravana’s hit.

Brahma, Agasthiyar, Kamadhenu, Markandeyar, Saraswathy, Vasistar, Ravanan, Nagarajan  worshiped lord shiva of this temple.

HOW TO REACH :

Gokarna is on the train route Mangalore to Goa and about 5 KMs from Railway station.

Buses available from Udupi and Mangalore.

CONTACT DETAILS:

The temple web site : CLICK HERE  
Contact: Administrator,
Shri Samsthana Mahabala Deva,
Post: Gokarna, U.K,Karnataka
Phone :  +91 9482331354 / 08386-257956
E-Mail : info@srigokarna.org

LOCATION OF THE TEMPLE : CLICK HERE

( Moolavar vimanam - View through  shades )

( Side entrance of the moolavar sanctum  )

( Vinayagar temple  on the main temple street - Marks of Ravana's hit on the head)

( Aadhi Sankara's mandapam on the sea shore )

( A small temple on the hill )

( Temple car / Chariot ) 

MURUDESHWAR

Entrance arch of the Temple about a KM on the main road  - Opposite is the Murudeshwar railway station - Built by Tamil sthapathy where Temples name is written in Tamil- Latter learned that Mr Ganapathi Sthapathi's Son in law had done this project.

( Rajagopuram is of a unique construction - The Rajagopuram has Lifts to climb to the top )

( Moolavar Vimanam  - A Tamil Nadu type architecture / Dravida  )

( Temple complex view )

( Entrance of the Rajagopuram )

( Second tallest man made structure of Shiva Statue in Asia )

( Stucco sculptures under the basement - Ravana asks brahmin boy ( Vinayagar ) to keep the Siva Lingam )

( Ravanan hit Vinayagar on head )

( Ravanan tried to lift Shiva Lingam - Shiva lingam  has become like cow's ear ( GOKARN ))

SRI KRISHNA TEMPLE - UDUPI

HISTORY : One of the popular story goes like this. The main statue of Sri Krishna at Dwaraka got completely covered by gopichandanam ( holy sandal wood). A sailor from Dwaraka loaded this heavy lump in his boat as ballast, in one of his trips along the west coast. The ship was caught in a terrible storm while sailing in the western coast of Malpe. When the meditating Sri Madhvacharya sensed this by his 'aparoksha' or divine gana thirushti (knowledge), he got the ship safely to the shore by waving the end of his saffron robe and pacifying the storm. The  pleased captain of the ship offered Sri Madhvacharya anything in the ship in return. Sri Madhvacharya asked for the sandal wood piece containing the statue of Sri Krishna. Later as the story goes,  Sri Madhvacharya took it to the lake, purified it and installed it in the mutt. 

( Temple complex view with Temple Tank )

( Fire wood chariot )

( Temple chariot )

( Rajagopuram in front of kanakakindi statue )

( Temple entrance arch )

( Temple complex view )

( 5 tier Rajagopuram ) 

SRI MANJUNATHA SWAMY TEMPLE AT DHARMASTHALA

HISTORY : Initially this place was a small village by the name Kuduma in Mallarmadi and was situated in Belthangady. In this village resided a Jain Bunt chieftain, Birmanna Pergade, along with his wife, Ammu Ballalthi. The house they lived in was known as Nelliadi Beedu.

Legends foretell that the four guardian angels of Lord Dharma disguised themselves as human beings and visited the chieftain’s house. They were searching for a place where Dharma could be preached and it could be propagated and continued. The Pergade family received them with due respect as is shown to visitors. The Dharma Daivas were very pleased with the hospitality shown by Birmanna Pergade and appeared in his dreams that night. The guardian angels informed the chieftain the purpose of their visit and requested the Pergade couple to vacate their house and follow the path of Dharma and also worship the Daivas. The Pergade couple vacated the house at Nelliadi Beedu and built another house for themselves. Till date, the worship of the Dharma Daivas continues in this house.

Again the Dharma Daivas appeared in the dreams of the chieftain and instructed him to build separate shrines for the four Daivas. You will find that the Dharmasthala Manjunatha Temple has four separate shrines dedicated to the four Dharma Daivas. Pergade was also directed to choose two persons of noble descent who would act as the oracles of the Dharma Daivas. Pergade chose four worthy persons who would assist him in performing his duties as an Executive Head of the four shrines.

The Daivas promised that the Pergade family would get abundant resources in the form of charity and fame through the Kshetra. Brahman priests were invited to perform the rituals after Pergade constructed these shrines. The priests requested Pergade to also build a Shivalinga besides the Daivas. Annappa Swamy, the servant of the Daivas, was subsequently sent to Kadri, near Mangalore, to procure a Shiva Lingam. Shortly afterwards the Dharmasthala Manjunatha Temple was erected around Shiva Linga.

( Temple entrance is like a palace, no Rajagopuram like in Tamil Nadu ) 

--- OM SHIVAYA NAMA ---