Thursday, December 17, 2015

Karinjeshwara temple, Kavalpadur, Karnataka State

Karinjeshwara temple, Kavalpadur, Karnataka State

Mahathobhara Shri Karinjeshwara Temple is situated at a height of about 1000feet from sea level in the midst of lush green Kodyamale hills; Karinjeshwara is a popular pilgrimage centre and an upcoming tourist spot of Dakshina Kannada District.
Commonly known as Karinja, this beautiful spot is located in Bantwal Taluk of the District. Just 2.4 Kms of ride, through the deviation road from Vagga a village on Bantwal – Dharmasthala State highway takes one to this temple.

Here the temple dedicated for lord Shiva is on the top of a cliff and another temple, which is dedicated for the goddess Parvathi is situated in the middle of way to the cliff. Both of these temples attract lot of devotees and the lush greenery, water sources rich flora and fauna attract the nature admires to this place.

LEGEND
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Praised as Rudragiri (Kritha Yuga), Gajaradgiri (Thretha Yuga), Beem Shaila (Dwapara Yuga) and Karinja (Kali Yuga), in different eras, this was the place of reverence from mythological periods.

The main temple of the shiva is told to have a history which goes back to one thousand years. Stories tell that Sri Ramachandra had visited this place along with his younger brother Lakshman, in respect of which an offering of a large amount of rice is made to the lord during the noon pooja and it is then poured on a rock slab in front of the shiva temple for monkeys. People gather in large numbers to watch a large number of monkeys coming from all sides of the forest to feast upon the hot rice prasadam. Till today it is the custom among these monkeys that the eldest and bulkies of the bunch named as “Karinja Dadda” takes the first byte of the feast and who ever breaks the rule will be punished by the boss – “the Dadda”. Stories also refer back to Dwapara where in pandyas took shelter in the caves around this place during their excite. Gadatheertha a large lake right at the pot of the cliff, assumed to be by Beema Senas Club (Gadha) stands as a testimony for the story. On the cliff there is another water source created by Arjuna’s arrow, named as Varaha Thirtha, along with this there are two other water sources namely Ungushta Theertha and Janutheertha which are respected by the devotees. A holy dip in these water sources on specific days is told to cure away skin diseases.

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