This is the temple which we have been hankering during every commute. We stare at signboard during every drive along Dharmastala route. I am glad that we visited the temple this time with conviction driving through the dense jungles from Soutadka deviation.
The concluding Navaratri week in native was gloomy and this helicopter stood firmly on a vine. The vivo captured it decently.
Our journey started at 8AM sharp and drove straight to Shishila temple. It was concluding monsoon season and the rains were feeble. It was decent drive and the last 10kms through dense jungle was mesmerizing. The well paved winding road coupled with mild drizzle provided excellent aura for driving through nature. The last 10kms consumed 20mins of time due to curvy roads. It was winding drive of 14,kms through dense desolated jungles to reach the temple. No network, no civilisation. Even navigation was banking only on GPS. The roads are manageable and rains were bearable. Being close to western ghats, the place does heavy rains almost every month except in winter. 30 mins of drive, led us to serene temple. We parked car at designated location. There is vehicular bridge and hanging bridge for passengers. The vehicular bridge is unguarded and needs heedful while driving. Did not dare to cross the bridge in car.
The primary deity is Lord Shiva while lord ganapathy shrine is situated adjacent to main sanctum. The temple has ancient look and doesn't seem to have seen renovation in recent years. Heard this temple has connection to Shri Vaidyanatheshwara temple located in Kokkada. The injured shishileshwara was treated by Vaidyanatheshwara.
The rock outside is believed to be holy since it is connected to shivalinga. A placard narrates scared story connected to the rock formation.
Local artists performing PiliNalike (Tiger dance) as an offering to deity. Tiger dance is folklore of the native region here. A lot of energy and art skill is needed to perform this dance.
Locals risk through this narrow unguarded bridge to travel to remote villages. There is no other connectivity. The bridge barely accommodates auto-rickshhaw and small four wheelers like omini. Bikes need to zip through without pause to avoid loosing balance. Loosing balance means direct jump to river! There is no room for two way movement even for two wheelers
Aralu Seve is feeding puffed paddy rice to fishes near Shishileshwara Temple located beneath the dense western ghats of belthangady taluk. It is one of prominent offerings here. One can buy pack of aralu which is officially an offering here. The fishing is banned here as they are considered sacred. We also offered and kids were overjoyed by seeing scrambled fishes attempting to grab the puffed paddy rice.
As usual, we had darshan of Southadka Mahaganapathy post Shishileshwara visit. The deity was adorned with vivid flowers which was blessing to watch.
Here is a short video of Aralu seve
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