Panchamukhi Anjaneya cave temple, Raichur District

"Jai Hanuman Gyan Gun Saagar" outsets Hanuman Chaalisa.

During our visit to Mantralaya, we do not miss a chance to visit Panchamukhi Anjaneya temple situated in Karnataka-Andhra border. The place is said to have mythological importance and lord Anjaneya believed to be wish granter. The usual way is to travel via Auto-rickshaw along newly built dam across Tungabhadra river. This auto is a mass transit system and charge Rs.30/head (to & fro, a year back). The distance is around 25kms from Mantralaya. If there is sufficient water in Tungabhadra river, the best way to reach is to cross the river with coracle and later board Tata Sumo (again mass transit and tightly packed). The coracle ride is bit expensive but joyous. All along the journey, don't miss to enjoy the lush green meadows filled with fertile paddy fields. Also the landscape of river canal is soul soothing. Beware of chili plantations in between. You may sneeze persistently if you do not mask the nose. Also the blockages created by bulls and cows is one more enjoyment factor. Sometimes the driver inevitably has to dispel the adamant cattle.

THE TEMPLE

THE ENTRANCE

FOOTPRINT OF LORD ANJANEYA

The temple maintenance is quite average but has serene surroundings. Do not miss to savor the coconut burfee here! Also beware of nasty monkeys. They exhibit their power to the fullest. You may need to rush back since the transport owners force you to return ASAP! Better to have own transport system if you wish to spend more time here. At last, dont miss to enjoy puffed rice with little bit spice!

CORACLE RIDE ALONG TUNGA-BHADRA RIVER

AERIAL VEHICLE

THE TRANSPORTERS

Fable:

Sri Raghavendra Swamiji carried out penance for 12yrs in the cave around 16th century. Admired by the intense devotion, Panchamukhi Anjaneya, kolhapura mahalakshmi, Tirupati Venkateshwara and Sri vishnu in Varahaavataara appeared in front of him. As per guidelines, it is believed that Swamiji resided in Mantralaya. The main priest Anantachar believed to have installed idols of Rudra, Ganapathy and SheshaDevaru. The original fable falls back to Ramayana era which I am not aware of.

What to look out for:

1. Gudi of Hanuman's footprint in front of temple
2. Naturally formed aerial vehicle behind the temple
3. Nearby the aerial vehicle, one can spot naturally formed bed and pillow which Hanuman used during mythological days
4. Towards north, temple of village goddess Erakalamma

Temple timings:

Fore noon - 6AM to 1PM
After noon - 3PM to 8PM

Shri Chamundeshwari Palayam

Welcome to the energetic days of Navaratri. Goddess Durga is considered as symbol of energy and destroyer of evil. Just as when I was hearing beautiful composition of Sri Mysore Vasudevacharya, "Sri Chamundeshwari Palayam" in Bilahari Raaga, a thought sparkled into my mind to collate some of the Durga temples I have visited over the years. I guess many of you have visited the places but still sharing mine too. Hope you enjoy the virtual tour of the temples. Most of them are from nearby my hometown and few belong to Malnad areas. Ganesha and Durga are the prominently worshiped in coastal karnataka and hence one can find many of them. All of them have mythological importance. This post is dedicated to Goddess Durga and I pray the mother to bless people on earth with prosperity

Kamalashile Durgaparameshwari Temple

Situated beneath the beautiful evergreen western ghats, this temple draws crowd all through the year and heavily crowded during Navaratri days. During torrential monsoon season, the river Kubja swells towards the idol of deity soaking her with pristine water from western ghats. This day is considered auspicious and locals throng the temple to garner blessings during this occasion wading through swollen river. Do not miss to savor tasty lunch in the temple :). One can hire guide to visit Suparshwa cave in midst of dense western ghats where King Suparshwa believed to have carried out penance.

More info: http://www.kamalashile.org/temple/AboutUs.html

SUPARSHWA CAVE

INNER GLIMPSE OF CAVE

Kollur Mookambika Temple

The highest visited temple only next to Kukke Subramanya. One more temple situated right beneath the western ghats. This place is heavily crowded and it is strenuous to visit during Navaratri days. Devotees throng here prominently for Aksharabhyasa. Beautiful Souparnika river flows nearby temple and if you have energy, trek to Arishinagundi waterfalls 6kms from here through dense jungles!

Kateelu Durgaparameshwari

Situated 30kms from Mulki, this temple too attracts heavy crowd throughout the year. Similar to Kollur, it is strenuous to visit during Navaratri days. The temple lies exactly in mid of Nandini river. The sight is beautiful to watch during monsoon season surrounded by roaring river. Yakshagana offering is prominent in this temple where "Devi Mahatme" Yakshagana is performed as offering to Goddess Durga. There is long streak of queue for the offering. If you book now, it may take 2yrs from now for your turn. This is also due to the fact the offering is stalled for 6 months every year.

NANDINI RIVER

Sri Chamundeshwari Temple, Mysore

This well known for most of Indians and does not require any introduction. Here is a picture for you.

Kunjoor Durgaparameshwari temple near my village :)

Not prominent one however is surrounded by beautiful nature and paddy fields

These are few temples nearby Udupi. Not as well knows as above ones but worth mentioning due to mythological importance

MahishaMardhini Temple, Kadiyali

Durgaparameshwari Temple, Puttur

Durgaparameshwari Temple, Kunjar

This temple is located atop a small hillock. It is a fantastic vantage point even, where one can enjoy landscape 360degrees. This temple is recently renovated. One can also climb the steps to reach the temple (about 1000). The priest of temple draws water from well beneath the temple and brings it all the way upwards via steps for daily poojas!

Durgaparameshwari Temple, Mundkoor

 

Horanaadu Annaporneshwari Temple

Situated in middle of beautiful Western ghats, the temple also attracts huge crowd throughout year. Read a short post here.

Shringeri Shaarada Temple

This temple is also situated in middle of beautiful western ghats along with majestic sweet Tunga river flowing beside it. Read my past posts here

1) http://paadooru.blogspot.com/2013/10/drive-to-shringeri-and-sirimane.html
2) http://paadooru.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-brief-visit-to-teerthahalli.html

SWEET TUNGA RIVER

Bappanadu Durgaparameshwari Temple, Muki

The temple lies between beautiful paddy fields of Mulki also draws huge crowd during Navaratri days. The shambhavi river nearby adds more glory to temple's beauty. I do not have much information on this temple. Will gather when I find time.

There are many more which I will cover whenever I spare some time to visit. Hope you enjoyed the short post.

Also today I am happy to announce 50k views on my blog. I am indebted to the readers on achieving this milestone and will continue to write blogs whenever I find time. Never dreamt of blog reaching to such height. Once again I thank all the readers and also google for increasing page rank of my blog posts (98% traffic is from google search :) )

On this day, I share few beautiful musics based on Goddess Durga. There are many beautiful songs on Goddess however my favorite lies in three compositions of Sri Muthuswamy Deekshitar in Ananda-Bhairavi, Bhairavi and Dwijavanti

1) Kamalamba Samrakshatu (sung by students of Wesleyan University): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKMJx8g27Ig

2) Aaryam Abhayambham (Composed exclusively in Dvitiya Vibhakti. Read its review here): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsZ8CIruyiY

3) Akhilandeshwari Rakshamam (Hear from beautiful voice of Maharajapuram Santanam): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNFRr5R-dUA

4) Do hear Sri Chamundeshwari Palayam in Bilahari: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvZw70p4XPY