Temple Tracks!

Mangalore is a port town known for its beaches and access town to reach religious destinations of Dharmasthala & Subramanya and Gateway to North Kerala/Bekal/Kasargod.

Sightseeing in Mangalore

Kadri Manjunath Temple
St. Aloysius Church
Shri Sharavu Mahaganapathi Temple
Light House Hill-Garden
Seemanthi Bai Government Museum
Sultan Batthery
Ullal Beach (8 kms)

After much discussion we decided to go visiting the temples in Mangalore. Prabhav and Vivek were a bit apprehensive at this spiritual turn of events. (They were bent on visiting the Zoo which was 20 kms from the city centre. We had to persuade them a lot that the roads were bad and it would take up a lot of time.) So we first visited the Kadri Manjunath temple . Kadri temple dating back about 1068 A.D. is very interesting place.

The present entrance to the temple complex was filled with tourists and regulars as it was a Sunday. There was a marriage going on at the adjacent Abhishek hall and we were a bit worried that there would be a rush inside. Luckily for us there were not many people inside the temple proper and also the rains decided to stay away for the day and it was a beautiful blue sky that greeted us.

The temple was built in 12th century according to Hindu Agama Shastra (architecture rule). In 14-15th century A.D. it was reconstructed with granite stone. The idol of Lord Manjunatha is made of Pancha Loha (mixed metal of five elements). The Jogis of Jogimutt are still residing on the Kadri Hill. As Lord Manjunatha is a form of Lord Shiva, they ardently worship him. The earliest reference to this place is in the epigraph dated A.D.968 engraved on the pedestal of the famous TriLokeshwara statue. In it is mentioned that King Kundavarma of the Alupa Dynasty installed the image in Kadarika Vihara.

Generally ponds and lagoons exist below the level of temple. But in Kadri we find that seven ponds exist around 20 feet above ground level of the temple. Above in front of the temple, attached to hillside there exists one Lord Ganapathi Shrine. From Cow’s mouth (cavern) like form just below the feet of Lord Ganapathi an incessant crystal like water stream flows to the small pond below. This is called Gomukha Bhageerati Teertha (holy water).

When one walks down from there in front of the temple is a huge lightpole. During karthika maasa, deepothsava is held here. It’s a practice to hoist the 40 feet Garuda to the 62 feet tall flagpole during the annual fair.

During the Deepothsava the fully lit lightpole is a sight to behold. The entire temple complex comes alive with the lights of thousands of diyas and is a very beautiful sight.

There are statues of Machendranath, Gorakanath, Shringinath, Lokeshwara, Manjushri and Budha in the temple. The padmasanastha Lokeshwara statue is very beautiful. Behind the temple of Manjunatha, on to the west is the temple of Goddess Durga. To the Northern side is the temple of Lord Ganesha.