DOTTED
BY DIVINE DEITIES
Karnataka:
December 19 to 22, 2013
Do
miracles really happen? Ask any member of Pilgrim Fathers – Vipul Shah, Harsha
Rao, Gajanan Radkar, Rajesh Bayas, Dilip Bhandari, Ganesh Shinde, S
Vaidyanathan or Huned Contractor – and the answer will be in the affirmative.
Not because any of us has been witness to a grand spectacle that only the gods
can manage but for the simple fact that even a seemingly impossible mission can
be accomplished with not much human intervention. That is what happened during
our recent trip across Karnataka, especially when we had to visit the Dharmasthala
Temple in the Dakshina Kannada district.
The
temple, which houses the shrines of Shiva, Manjunatha, Ammanavaru, Chandranath
and the Dharma Daivas or guardian spirits of Dharma namely Kalarahu, Kalarkayi,
Kumaraswamy and Kanyakumari, enforces strict darshan timings and our visit
would have been partially futile considering that we were well past the
afternoon closing hour of 2 pm. And yet, when we reached there at 2.45 pm, the
driver of our passenger van pointed out that the last of the devotees was still
being ushered in. Needless to add, we made a frantic bid for it and (here’s
where the miracle part comes in) were the last six to be given admittance. No
queue, no nothing! Just like that!
The
fact that such instances have almost always happened during our earlier
journeys to pilgrimage places seems to ascertain the fact that there’s always a
destined way provided the will is willing enough. Anyway, to begin from the
beginning, with Dilip absent this time due to a marriage in the family, seven
of us started on this year’s yatra from various places such as Pune, Mumbai and
Singapore to arrive at Mangalore, a city that reminds us of how tranquil Pune
once was. With a stay at the comfortable Hotel Karthik and a grand dinner at
The Village followed by a veritable feast of steaming idlis and wadas in the
morning, we were all set to take off on a literally whirlwind tour of the
temples of this part of Karnataka.
Our
visit to the temples had actually begun a day earlier while we were waiting for
the arrival of Ganesh and Vipul who had circumstantially been forced to take a
bus from Pune. This was to the Gokarnanatheshwara Temple in Mangalore,
otherwise known as Kudroli Sri Gokarnanatha Kshetra. Dedicated to Gokarnanatha,
a Hindu deity also known as Shiva, the temple was recently in the news for
taking a progressive step by inducting two widows as ‘archakas’ (temple
priests) on October 6. The women priests were accorded a traditional ‘Chende’
welcome at the temple on and taken to the sanctum sanctorum where the idols of
Shiva and Annapoorneshwari are placed. There they performed the puja and then consecrated
the idol of Dattatreya.
So,
December 20 saw us on the road to Moodabidri which houses the Temple of 1000
Pillars. This is one of the largest and the most ornate of the Jain temples of
this region, built in 1430 A.D. The 2.5 meters tall bronze image of Lord
Chandranatha Swami in the sanctum of this ‘basadi’ is considered to be very
sacred. The temple is famous for the open pillared hall in front, consisting of
a large variety of ornate pillars decorated with carvings typical of the Vijayanagara
style. A 15-meter-tall single stone pillar called ‘manastambha’ stands in front
of the basadi. Moodabidri was the seat of the Chowtas, a Jain ruling family,
who were originally located at Puthige, about 5 km from here. They moved their
capital to Moodabidri in the 17th century.
This
was followed by a visit to Karkala which is primarily known for the statue of
Lord Bahubali (Gomateshwara). The 45-feet tall statue is estimated to weigh 80
tonnes. Besides its colossal size, the Karkala statue is rendered more striking
by its situation on the top of a huge granite rock, 300 feet high, on the verge
of a picturesque little lake. This image was erected by a Jain king in 1432, in
memory of Bahubali, the first Tirthankara who renounced the world at his most
victorious moment. In front of this temple, there is a beautifully carved
pillar called Manasthamhha which is nearly 50 feet high. It is the most
beautiful and tallest of 11 Manasthambhas.
Like Moodabidri, there are 18 temples at Karkala.
Our
next big stop was at the Dharmasthala Temple where along with being fortunate
enough to have granted darshan, we were also able to have lunch of rice and
rasam, astounded as we were with the efficiency of the institution that manages
to serve thousands of devotees with such clockwork precision. Local legend says
that the Shiva linga in Dharmasthala was brought here by a local person with
great powers, named Annappa. He used to work for the Heggade family. Once when one
of the family members he was serving wanted to worship Lord Shiva, Annappa had
assured him to get one linga and vanished from sight. Next morning, he had
already established the linga in Dharmasthala, a few metres away from Heggade’s
house. Later it came to be known that the linga was from Kadri near Mangalore, from
the Kadri Temple. By then, Annappa had vanished and he was never again sighted
in the vicinity. Now people in Dharmasthala worship Annappa as Annappa
Panjurli, a local deva and a hero.
The
day’s long trip came to a end after a winding drive up a ghat to Chikmagalur, located
in the foothills of the Mullayanagiri range. The place is famous for coffee but
we had a bigger treat in store with our night halt at the Chikamagalur Club
which is so very spacious and luxurious.
Early
morning the next day, after a wonderful breakfast of idlis, wadas and dosas
(when in Rome, do as the Romans do!), we were back into the van, on our way to
Belur. Our first stop was at the Chennakesava Temple, built on the banks of the
river Yagachi by the Hoysala Empire King Vishnuvardhana. According to a guide,
Chennakesava is a form of the Hindu god Vishnu and the temple is known for its
intricate carvings in stone, each of the tableaus representing a story from the
mythological texts of India. Further on is the Hoysaleswara Temple dedicated to
Shiva. It was built in Halebidu during the rule of King Vishnuvardhana of the
Hoysala Empire in the 12th century. History has it that during the
early 14th century, Halebidu was sacked and looted by Muslim
invaders from northern India and the temple fell into a state of ruin and
neglect.
Our
night halt for that day was at the Turtle Bay in Kundapur taluka. The resort is
by the sea and since it was too late to walk on the fine sands of the coast, we
had to content ourselves with dinner and early retirement to bed. But though
the location of the resort is superb (which we realized the next morning when
we went for a walk by the sea), there were a few factors that rankled. For one,
the management overcharged for our stay, claiming that bookings done online
attracted premium rates and secondly, the facilities weren’t up to the mark
while the breakfast the next morning was not as promised. However, since we did
not want any bad blood to spoil our day, we started early to now wind up the
journey, first with a visit to the famous Udupi Krishna Temple.
This
temple resembles a living ashram, a holy place for daily and living.
Surrounding the Sri Krishna Matha are several temples, the most ancient being
made of basic wood and stone of 1,500 years origin. The Krishna Matha was
founded by the Vaishnavite saint Shri Madhwacharya in the 13th century.
He was the founder of the Dvaita school of Vedanta. It is believed that
Madhwacharya found the idol of Sri Krishna in a large ball of gopichandana. Legend
has it that once Kanakadasa, a pious worshiper and devotee of Lord Krishna, was
staying in a makeshift hermitage in front of Krishna Matha. There was an
earthquake in the night and the outer temple wall cracked such a way that there
was a wide enough opening for Kanakadasa to have a darshan of the idol. Till
today, devotees still worship Lord Krishna by praying through the same window. It
is known as Kanakanakhindi.
And
now it was time for the finale - a stopover at the home of Harsha’s father-in-law,
Rajaram Rao, where we experienced a welcome and hospitality that will remain
unmatched. So wonderful it was to once again have home food – vegetable pulao
and curry with dahi salad and sweets – with so many helpings forced upon us
that we actually wanted to have a nap rather than continue on our way to
Mangalore where we had our flights to catch. It was time then to say our
goodbyes but not before reminding each other of the various suggestions that
had come forth for our next year’s choice of pilgrimage.
This
trip was yet another memorable one for several reasons. Above all, it was once
again a reflection of the logistical abilities of the members – this time around
it being the responsibility of Harsha who, with guidance from his father-in-law,
managed all the bookings and ensured that we would be able to visit the maximum
number of places in the shortest time possible. And then there was all that fun
and laughter, spurred in great measure with Gajanan’s treasure collection of
the ‘Santa Banta’ jokes, some of which he seems to make up as we go. The quiz
on Pune was a raucous one with many a claimer for the right answer and
ultimately won by Vipul after a tie-breaker question between him and Gajanan
(leading us to believe that there was some fishy communication here) but in
terms of quiz sessions, the one on guessing a celebrity’s name took the cake
with Rajesh putting everyone one on a wild chase with his choice of R. K.
Laxman, the famous cartoonist.
As
one now looks back on the trip, various moments and sequences come rushing back
as in a film being fast forwarded – from a desperate attempt by Vipul to finish
all the khakras that he had brought to missing Dilip for his timely comments to
coming to terms with a shocking revelation to trying out the veshtis (South
Indian lungis) to the excitement of discussing the next trip’s details to
doubling up with laughter at the many wisecracks, and so on. The only thing we
didn’t do is to sing “Lungi dance, lungi dance…..Thalaiva!”
