Prominent Ganapathy temples of Coastal Karnataka

Here are some of the prominent Ganapathy temples of coastal Karnataka. It is non-exhaustive list. The mentioning is based on frequently visited temples and other places I have visited. I have given brief details of the temples. If you observe, most of the beautiful temples are situated in Kundapur taluk of Udupi district with awesome nature cover. All pictures are self taken.

1) Sri Sharavu Mahaganapathy Temple, Mangalore, Dakshina Kannada District

Situated in heart of Mangalore city, the temple attracts huge crowd during Ganesha Chaturthy. It has mythological importance too! Even though Shiva is present, the many deity is Mahaganapthy. It is udbhava ganapathy as per records and has trunk twisted towards right (Balamuri)

SHARAVU MAHAGANAPATHY

2) Sri Vinayaka Temple, ANEGUDDE (kumbhashi), Kundapur Taluk, Udupi District

Situated close to NH-66 and in mid of beautiful nature, this temple also attracts many devotees all through the year. It is situated near Kundapur taluk of Udupi district. The place also has shiva temple near by.

ANEGUDDE VINAYAKA TEMPLE

3) Sri Siddhi-Vinayaka Temple, Hattiyangadi, Kundapur Taluk, Udupi District

Situated close to Kundapur, this temple also attracts many devotees throughout the year. The temple can be spotted on the way to Kollur from Kundapur (Just 4kms from Kundapur).

HATTIYANGADI SIDDHIVINAYAKA

4) Sri Ganapathy temple, Idagunji, Honnavar, Uttara Kannada District

This is the most beautiful temple since it is situated in mid of wondeful nature. Uttara kannada is blessed with good natural beauty. This is reason why Idagunji is so special. It is the highest visited in coast of all the temples. There is queue for darshan spanning more than 2kms during sankashti and ganesha chaturthi. The temple is very close to Honnavar town.

IDAGUNJI

5) Sri Maha Ganapathy temple, Gokarna, Uttara Kannada District

Gokarna is famous for Mahabaleshwara temple. However the importance is equal to Ganapathy situated nearby due to well known mythological reasons. As said earlier, Gokarna is also covered with beautiful nature with great beaches and rivulets. Also Gokarna is the highest raining place in coastal Karnataka (around 5000mm).

GOKARNA MAHA GANAPATHY

6) Sri Mahaganapathy temple, Southadka, Kokkada, Dakshina Kannada district

This is peculiar temple since it has no roof. Quite natural Ganapathy :) (Watch small video here). It seems all efforts to build permanent structure have gone in vain. Hence nowadays there are no plans to develop any sort of protection cover for the temple. Situated in mid of forest area, this temple attracts many devotees. Most of the devotees who visit dharmasthala do visit this temple too. The appa prasada and avalakki panchakajjaya prepared here with ghee is the yummiest.

SOUTHADKA MAHAGANAPATHY

7) Sri vinayaka temple, Guddattu, Kundapur Taluk, Udupi District

This one I recently discovered via my uncle. This is becoming famous nowadays. The speciality is udbhava ganapathy on the huge boulder. The pooje is done to the stone ganapathy itself. The ganapathy is filled with water till its neck and there is space to hold water. Mythology says Ganapathy consumed too much honey which resulted in body heat. Shiva as a result filled ganapathy with water till neck. The famous offering here is ayirkoda seve (1000 koda water seve to ganapathy). This is done only twice a day since it is tidious task. There are dedicated members who assist in seve. During the offering the water is taken out and panchamrutha abhisheka is done to stone idle. After that water is filled till neck and the stone idol is cleaned not to leave any oily surfaces. Then again water is removed and filled back to neck portion. This is repeated again for second time. This offering is done along with vedic chanting of Rudradhyaya. Even though abshisheka is done to Ganesha idol, it is called as Rudrabhisheka since shiva has prominence of filling water. As of now many people are registering for offering and the new ones will get date only after 2013 mid! The pradakshine to temple is the big boulder itself. It is around 500m in perimeter.

GUDDATTU VINAYAKA TEMPLE

ROCK FROM WHERE GANAPATHY IS ORIGINATED

BEAUTIFUL NATURE NEAR-BY

The temple can be spotted on the way from Brahmavar towards Kollur. There is small town called shiriyaara. From here you need to take 1km inner route to reach temple. Watch a small video here

8) Stone Ganapathy temple, Padumundu, Kundapur Taluk, Udupi District

This was old temple however due to lack of roads, never was in picture. Now small road is built and one can visit the temple. This temple is nearby Guddattu temple surrounded by beautiful nature and stream. The temple is made of stone and the deity sits in middle of huge boulders. Besides ganapathy, one can find parvathy and ishwara idols too. The real attraction is the beautiful nature surrounding the temple.

STONE GANAPATHY

ENTRANCE

SCENE NEAR-BY TEMPLE

9) Sri Anantheshwara Siddhi-Vinayaka temple, Madhur, Kasaragod district

Even though this temple is not part of Karnataka, people of coastal Karnataka have close affiliation with the temple. The main attraction is its architecture. Please read complete blog on the temple here. Watch small video here

SIDDHI-VINAYAKA TEMPLE