Barkur (Udupi Dist, Karnataka) has been in our bucket-list since
we heard from a friend about a unique ancient temple of Nandikeshwara with more
than 150 wooden idols. When Viji and I
planned to attend a function at my sister’s, in Mangalore, we decided to visit
this place. I tried to get little more information
on this place and was amazed at what I discovered about this ancient port city
Barkur and our forgotten rulers “The Alupa dynasty”.
Alupas also known as Alva was an ancient and the longest
ruling dynasty of South India. Their influence over coastal Karnataka lasted
for about at least 1200 years. Though
there are many inscriptional evidences from 650 CE about first Alupa king Aluvarasa to the last Alupa King Kulasekharadeva Alupendradeva
whose inscription dates to 1444 CE, it
is believed their period started much earlier. An historian writes “The dynasty stretches far behind the period
suggested by available details about the monarchs. It is quite possible that Alupas
migrated to the coastal region of Mangalore as early as 300 B.C. and took
control of the coastal land stretching from Southern Kasaragod till
modern Udupi with Mangalore as the epicenter.Their rule extended unabated for
almost 15 centuries starting from the beginning of the Christian era right
up to the end of fifteenth century. They held sway over Tuluva Nadu, (South
Canara) Haiva Nadu, (North Canara) Konkan and the Western Ghats as
also the northern part of Kerala at various points of time. This
dynasty and its kings are referred in the writings of Ptolemy- the Greek
geographer (Olaikhaura) Halmidi Inscription of the fifth century, Guddnapura
inscription of Kadamba Ravivarma and the Chalukya inscriptions of Mangaleesha
and Pulikeshi-2 found respectively at Mahakuta and Aihole (610-642CE). It was
known as Alvakeda and Udayavara (Udyavara) was its capital.”
The
period of medieval Alupas is better documented and it extends from 950 –1400 CE.
Their rule was confined to Tulu Nadu. Mangalapura (Mangalore), Udyavara and
Barahakanyapura (Barkur) were their capitals. Do visit these two websites for interesting
information on Alupas.
Port city Barkur on the banks of Sita River was not only the
capital of Alupas, it was sub-capital of Hoysala for some period and later it became
a province of Vijayanagara Empire. Barkur was later ruled by Keladi Nayaks,
Haider and Tipu of Mysore and the British. Given the vicinity to Arabian Sea, this town
was a busy commercial centre almost from 2nd Century B.C. Evidences of Megalithic and mesolithic ages
have been discovered here. It is believed that at one time King Vikramaditya
ruled here. The town boasts of a little over 100 stone and several copper plate
inscriptions. They belong to the Alupa, the Hoysala, the Vijayanagara and the
Keladi periods.
This time-tested historic town has other interesting facts -
Alupas built 10 keris/colonies here based on the residents’ profession with at
least a temple and a lake in each keri.
In total they built 365 temples in and around Barkur. Story goes, king went to a different temple each day and
on 365th day he would visit oldest temple “Panchalingeshwara”
followed by car festival/town fair on that day. Today only 30 of these temples have survived.
Temples were built in different stages and have influence of Chalukya, Pallava
and Chola architecture. Idols are black granite, slate stone or light red
stones. Barkur also has a Jain Basadhi ruins (Kathale Basadhi), Vijayanagara fort
& Barkur fort and a church
originally built by Portugese.
With such an inspiring and rich history, we thought of
exploring Barkur and surroundings and not just Nandhikeshwara temple. Planned for a 2N/2D stay around here. Thankfully
found a decent Hotel (Royal Inn) in Bramavara which is about 16 KM from Udupi
and 5 KM from Barkur.
Nov 7th:
Off we went by an early morning Airavat bus from Bangalore to
Udupi. Up to Sakaleshpur it was a
comfortable ride but road leading to Ghat was different story all together. It
was in bad state for few KM due to heavy monsoon this year and landslides. Our bus
was delayed by an hour so, by the time we reached Udupi we were beat… At Udupi
we took a local bus to Bramavar, a short ride of 30 Minutes. Luckily the Hotel was a very close walking
distance from bus stop (still took an rickshaw/auto 😄). After
almost 10 hrs journey, we just wanted to rest.
Hotel and the room were better than expected. Restaurant in
this hotel and its food are pretty good as well. What a relief!! Another thing to mention
about this Hotel is, 1 day is 24 Hrs from your check-in time and the not the
standard noon check-out. Great for people who travel by night bus/early
check-in or late check-in like us. After dinner, we called local taxi provider
recommended by hotel for our tour of Barkur the next day. Taxi owner gave a blanket quotation of Rs
2,000 assuming we are doing all the pilgrim places like Anneguddi, Guru
Narasimha and Kolluru Mookambiki temples 😒 when I told him we just want to go to Barkur, he was
puzzled as normally tourists don’t come to explore Barkur. He said may be 1,000 to 1500 Rs. We realized he was not knowledgeable and we did not want to ride with a driver unfamiliar with the place. Just said no thanks and
decided on taking an rickshaw or bus like a local since it was only 5 KM. We knew
in small towns in South Canara you get rickshaw but sometimes need their contact
information.
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| Panchalingeshwara temple |
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| Inscription |
Nov 8th: Had a great breakfast at the hotel –
very tasty Menthe/fenugreek Jaggery Dhosae and coffee. Never had this type of Dhosae before…Yummy!!! We
were all set to explore Barkur. Left by 9:00 AM and got an rickshaw for 175 Rs to
the Barkur Panchalingeshwara temple from Bramavara. This is
the oldest of all the temples here and said to be between 6
th to 7
th
Century AD. It was earlier called Markendeshwara and the scripts in the temple
premises refer to this place by this name. Legend says
“The Saint/Rishi Markendayya prayed Lord Shiva here and decided to
built temple for Shiva . He sent his disciples to Kashi to bring Shiva Lingam.
But, since they got delayed, he got five lingam from Sita River and installed. When disciples returned, these lingams were installed
in other temples here.” This temple was renovated in 10
th century.
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| Karthikeya |
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| South Canara Style temple complex |
It is in typical South Canara-Kerala style architecture
with copper roof and housing pancha lingam and other idols. There is an
interesting idol of Karthikeya with Rooster. It is believed that the day this
stone Rooster crows, pralaya starts/the beginning of the end 😄 .
There is a big kalyani/water tank in the premises.
There are temples on either side of this main temple – Batte
Vinayaka, Hanuman and Bairava. Main Idols are from 8th to 9th
Century. These are simple temples with no gopuram. There is a Mercury well
nearby which is closed now and next to it are the ruins of Singala Devi temple.
There is a Mahalingeshwara temple behind. This dates back to
10th century. Idol is old but temple have been renovated
recently. None of these temples are elaborate but, idols speak of its time.
By now it was 10:30 AM – It was impossible to walk even a KM
in this hot sunny day.
Luckily, we did
not have to walk all the way to the town bus stop to get a rickshaw, found one right
where we were. Negotiating the price was something else. He kept asking how
long we spend in each temple; we told him we are not here to perform pooja but
to see the places. Finally, we agreed that he will take us to all the important
places that we had in our list plus his additional suggestions for Rs. 200/- with
one hour wait (distance was only within 5KM loop, it is the waiting time they calculate)
and an additional hour would be Rs. 100/- extra. Seems like a knowledgeable local.
 |
| Benne Kudhru |
Our next stop was “Benne Kudhru/Butter
Island”. In ancient times Sita River used to be in full force near Barkur and
the flow took two different paths and united again creating this island and
since it appeared as butter, and hence the name. The fisherman community (Mogavera) is resident
here. Earlier only access was by boat but now it is connected to the land by a bridge.
It is a very scenic and peaceful place with Sita River flowing very calmly here.
Few KM from here she would join Suvarna
River and then into Arabian Sea. We were told during monsoon some parts of the
Island get immersed in the river.
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| Masthiamma temple |
There
is a Masthiamma (Mahalakshmi) temple here. Kula Masthi amma is the deity of fishermen
community. This 8
th century temple
has an inner sanctum of Mastiamma made from clay. Inside the main hall there
are nice colorful wooden sculptures all around.
These wooden idols are 5 Ft to 10Ft tall. They are mostly Dhaiva/Shiva Ganas (Like Veerabadra,
Chikkamma, Bobbariya and etc.,). In South Canara area, not just the Gods are
worshipped every household also worships one of the Dhaiva/Shiva Ganagalu. Temple has been renovated and additions built
in recent years. We met the temple trustee who took special interest on us (
😄)
and gave a tour with explanation.
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| Wooden Idols of Shiva Gana |
Temple complex also has fisherman
community/Mogaveera Guru and at the back of the temple was an interesting Nagabhana
(
The snake worship rituals practiced in
Tulu Nadu is quite unique and different from the other rituals. Snakes have
their own snake shrines in a sacred grove known as Nagabana. The shrines have
images of cobras carved of stones. Nobody is allowed to chop the tree near the
Nagabana. It is also believed that snakes, specifically the cobras, are not to
be harmed or killed by anyone and that Snakes are not just seen as deities, but
as an animal species which should be respected, appeased and protected for
multiple social, religious and ecological reasons.)
It was interesting to see variety of trees which attracts snakes
(like Sampige flower tree, Ashwatha tree and others). Trustee was so kind, he ensured the priest
did pooja and gave us prasadha. He was pleased to see us come all the way from
Bangalore. Unfortunately, we could not find any boat guy to take us for a round on Sita River.
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| Auto |
I must say the
roads here are in good condition, narrow lane with lovely green surrounding. Since it is post monsoon, shades of green was very soothing for eyes. Just when we thought it was so hot and sweaty; found a road side sugarcane
juice stand!!! Sugarcane juice with lemon was delicious!
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| Clay idols |
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| Wooden Veerabadhra |
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| Old Inscription |
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| Simple temple structure |
By now our auto guy got
confirmed we are not here for religious reason and insisted we see an old Mahalakshmi
temple in Bayer Keri. Temple was simple
with no gopura and was closed. A lady
there guided me to the priest house which was few steps away. The old priest was kind enough and happy to
come and open the door for us. A
distinctive simplistic temple with goddess Lakshmi in the center with Saraswathi
and Parvathi on either side. Here too idols
are made from clay and believed to be very old (date unknown). There is a Veerabadhra wooden idol outside the main sanctum.Ambiance, the
look and feel of an ancient temple was evident.
Priest was telling us, once
upon a time these temples thrived up until Tipu rule, during this time all
valuables were stolen and most of the temples in Barkur destroyed. (same story everywhere in Karnataka) He said
because these are not tourist attraction, many temple ruins were left to decay.
Sad part is, even though these temples
are under Mujaraye Dept/Govt control, Logic seems to be “not a pilgrim
tourist destination equals no revenue which means Dept Auditor back pocket is empty,
leading to zero funds from the Dept for renovation work. Unfortunately, saving our
heritage is not part of their logic or equation, it is all about money.
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| Beetala Stambha |
From here our auto headed towards a very interesting and unexpected
place. Thanks to this auto guy for being aware about his town and
bringing us here.
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| Banni tree |
This place is called
“Simhasana Gudde”. It is said that this is one of the oldest places in Barkur
with historical significance. Some say King Vikramaditya of Ujjain was the
first king here followed by Butalapandya.
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| Closed Mercury well behind temple |
It is said that Kandodhara a Bootharaja
brought the famous Vikramaditya throne and buried it here and built a platform
on it with Shiva that was worshiped by Vikramaditya and built a temple. Although there is no proper evidence to these, there is indeed a platform and lingam.
Everyday Srichakra pooja is done here. There is a very old Shami/Banni tree.
Although it is Shiva here, temple is called “Sri Banne Mahakali Temple” In front of the temple is Aramane Hanumantha
and Beetala stamba. (I am sure one can go back to our childhood and remember
Vikramaditya and Beetal stories).
There was an ancient sword, finger ring
believed to be of Vikramaditya and the throne cover here inside the temple.
Later, it was taken by thaluk/town authority for safe keeping and was brought
out once a year during festival. Some years ago we were told they were stolen.
(Thaluk office and safe keeping? Ya, right!!!😠) Only throne cover is present but
we could not see it. It is believed that this place was surrounded by fort and
palace once upon a time. The priest and
our Auto guy told us so many interesting stories about this place and Barkur
Church built by Portugese which is right across from this place and
how every attempt made to build bell tower collapsed due to Beetal – kind of a fine
line between facts and fiction but the fact remains that they were unable to build bell tower for long time is true!
The
stories shared with us can be a blog in itself.
This is the beauty of traveling with/talking to unassuming locals. These
stories make your journey that much more colorful.
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| Kallu Mantapa |
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| Kattale Basadi |
We went to the town center to Kallu Mantapa ruins. There was an inscription stone. Absolutely
no maintenance 😭 .
Next stop was “Kattale Basadi “ – At the entrance of this complex is a
20 Ft monolithic pillar. There are two small stone Jain Basadi ruins from 12th
century and temples for Shiva and Vishnu.
This place is under Archaeological
Dept and hence maintained. Wonder why only this is under Archeological Dept and not others - Oh! sorry!! forgot logic does not work...
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| Villager turned as guide at fort |
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| Horse tying stone |
We proceeded to Barkur fort. We expected a typical fort but
there is nothing there to tell it is a fort. The grass had grown so wild and
tall, it was a task to walk.
 |
| walking thro' grass |
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| Water Tank |
Auto driver
told us we will find ruins if we walk some distance. Fortunately, we found a villager cutting the
grass for his cows who bowled us over with his knowledge of place. He said
since monsoon was so heavy and lack of maintenance has resulted in wild grass
hiding the ruins. If he was not around, we would have left. He led us to a kalyani/water
tank by making a path – this was in the most pathetic condition.
Vijayanagara rulers traded horse from far and wide through ships via
Arabian Sea. Horses from ships were made to rest here before proceeding further.
There are numerous small stone pillars that were used to tie the horses. Further down, our new found guide had to cut some wild grass to show stunt fort
wall (about 3 Ft tall) made from clay
bricks. He was saying some historians did good work here and tried to restore
this place. One Mr Bhat got his Ph.D from his study here started doing some good work here but after his sudden
demise about 4 yrs ago, there is no progress on work. This place which once thrived was first
destroyed by Tipu and valuables in the fort were stolen, later the people stole
bricks of fort wall to build houses. we even heard stone carved pillars and inscription stones can be found in/around Barkur homes as their construction material. This villager said he is a christian and
there was significant christian population after Portuguese came here. But
Tipu’s atrocity and murder of numerous Hindus and Christians alike in this area
destroyed Barkur.
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| Somanatheshwara temple |
We saw three more old temples Somanatheshwara (not maintained), Someshwara and
a 900 Yrs old Chola period Bairagi
Ganapathy Temple made from stone with a slanted stone roof and etched stone
pillars. The stone walls of this temple have beautiful sculptures. This temple is different from all the other temples here.
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| Bairagi Ganapathi temple |
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| Someshwara temple |
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| Stone pillars in Ganapathi temple |
We were so tired with the heat especially after walking
around in the fort area … umbrella did not help much. Our one hr auto ride was now 2:30 hrs, there
are few more temples but we covered most of them and more sites than what was
on our list. We made a deal with the driver that we will pay 500 Rs total if he
drops us back to our Hotel in Bramavar. What a gratifying 1/2 day tour!!!
Had a good lunch at our hotel and rested for a while. We thought of going to Sita River and enjoy a
walk there. When checked at the hotel reception, they recommended Neelavar
about 7 KM from here. They told us to
take an Auto to Mahisha Mardhini Temple and it is bang on the banks of Sita
River. Off we went around 4:30 PM.
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| Mahishasuramardhini |
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| Mahishasuramardhini temple |
In this 10th Century temple, there are stone
inscriptions here that establish the antiquity of the temple. The 4 armed statue
of the Goddess Mahisha Mardhini is found with chakra in the left hand, slitting
open the throat of Mahishasura with the sphere in the hand. Goddess is found
stamping Mahishasura with the right leg. It is said that Alupas, Hoysala,
Vijaya Nagara rulers held religious rituals in this place. As per the
inscription, this temple was first renovated by Hakka-Bukka of Vijayanagara
Empire. It is an extremely peaceful surrounding with Sita River flowing through.
Priest told us to go to the east of the temple to Panchami Kanana: It is a
huge Nagabana associated with the Lord Subrahmanya (Snake God) and that this
place is next to the river with a bathing ghat.
He even arranged temple auto to visit this place and from there back to
Bramavar. Folks in these areas are so humble and warm.
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| Nagabhana |
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| Sita River |
It is a very nice Nagabhana. It was locked but we could see
it from grilled door (gets locked around 4:00PM). There is couple of steps to
go to the river/bathing Ghat. We sat on the steps with our feet in the cool
Sita River and enjoyed the view. Right next to us was a huge Arali/Ashwatha
tree and huge hutha/Ant hill.
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| Hutha |
This place
was so calm and serene, we lost to time. Only two of us were there. When we asked our Auto driver, how come no
one is here to enjoy the breeze and the view?
He calmly said, usually no one comes here after 5:00PM because of
snakes. Apparently, where we were sitting and this nagabhana gets lot of snakes
moving around sunset. We both quickly
got up
😓 and
asked why he did not inform us before… his response was Madam you had said 5
min when you came
😁😉.
Happily we even went near Hutha for photos. Ignorance is bliss!
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| Coconut oil factory |
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| Mahalingeshwara temple |
On our way back, asked our Auto driver if knows any good
coconut oil Ghana/factory which makes good pure oil. He brought us to a place
which was closed for the day, but they allowed us in and gave us 2 lt of oil
(1/2 the price of what we pay in Bangalore).
We got down at ‘ Mahalingeshwara Temple” in Bramavara.
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| Tulasi pooja |
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| Water Tank |
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| Inside the temple |
This is an ancient 8th-9th
century temple. From the inscription here, it is said first renovation happened
around 11th Century. In Front of the temple is a big bali peta. Temple Complex
is huge with copper roof. Since it was Karthika
masa and late evening, temple was lit with oil lamps and looked wonderful! It
was also Tulasi pooja. The main priest and his wife were busy with pooja. Nice to see women in these roles in this part
of Karnataka. Go South Canara!! We sat
at the temple kalyani/water tank for some time and then headed back to the
hotel. Lovely day ended perfectly with a
tasty south Indian dinner.
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| Bus to Shiriyara |
Nov 9th: Today the plan was to visit the Mekekattu
Nadikeshwara temple that made us come to this part of Karnataka and later visit
a nephew from my father’s side who lives around here who we had lost touch with.
This morning we had yet again a great breakfast – Neer Dhosae
& filter Coffee. We were advised to
take bus to Shiriyara/Saibra katte as there are frequent buses in this route for Rs 17. It
is about 14 KM from Bramavar. In these parts of the town, they stop the bus on
request if you want to get down/up en-route.
One of the passengers told us to get down with them as this stop is
closer to temple (not a real stop I think).
It was about a KM from here to the temple, luckily got an auto to the temple. This driver gave us his mobile number and told
us to call back once we are done to drive us to Shiriyara.
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| Nandhikeshwara temple insanctum |
temple is 1000+ years old.
Uniqueness of this temple is huge collection of wooden colorful idols and many
about 10 Ft tall. The history of this temple
is unclear. There are many versions related to this place: “
Some say
Parashurama built original temple. Other
evidence shows Alupas built this temple as a memorial of their war and hence so many
warrior idols. Legend/Sthala purana about this place says - Saint Jabali Sathyakama informed the king
this area is good to perform Ashwamedha yaga. Based on this, king tied his
horse/Ashwa in one end of Shiriyara village (today called as Kudure katte) and
tied a Meke/sheep for his yagna this place where the temple is, hence the name
Mekekattu.
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| Wooden Idols |
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| Wooden Idols |
Couple of decades ago, Archaeology Dept had acknowledged the
timeline of these idols and to preserve them transferred all the ancient idols from
this temple to Delhi Museum where they
are in display. What we have now in the temple is recreated idols. This temple
has 172 wooden idols. The structure of
the temple is simple but the idols/statues inside are something else. Inside
the inner sanctum, main deity is Nandhikleshwara - “Shiva in form of Nandhi also called as Hari
Nandhi” right side is Durga riding on five faced Nandhi. Left side are Akasha Nandhi, thrimuka Nandhi,
Yaksha-Yakshani etc., a total of 27 idols.
Outside this sanctum other than Dhwarapalaks there are Veerabadhra and
Shiva Ganagalu. Outside this area are Hanumantha, Makutanatha and warriors.
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| Wooden Idols |
A
ladder above the main sanctum has many idols as well. There are evidence and
inscription that Vijayanagar rulers were visiting this temple to worhip Shiva Ganas.
The priest informed us that the Gudigar/wood sculptor is
local and has a shop in Kota. Hopefully we can meet him and see his other
works. Awesome piece of work!!! I don’t
think there is such a temple elsewhere. Our nephew told an interesting story " When he was a kid he remembers being scared to walk near this temple as they heard lot of noise from inside. After dept removed and replaced with newer ones, noise was gone." It could be because of 1000 year wood idols and the breeze isn't it?
Our nephew had asked us to meet him at Siriyara
“Gudettu Ganapathi Temple” . We called our auto driver and went to this temple. Auto driver said there is another good
Kallu Ganapathi if we want to go first with some deviation. We opted out due to time constraint but later
read it is a nice temple if you are interested to climb rocks. But hot
afternoon is not the time.
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| Gudettu Ganapathi |
Temple is a very interesting 300 Year old cave
temple at the bottom of a stone/rock hill.
There is a natural formation of Ganesha about 4ft ht. here – we can only
see from a peep hole outside. The
entrance and space inside the cave is very small and only priests are allowed
inside. They do a unique offering here
and it is called as Aaiyra koda seve in Kannada which mean 1000 pot
offering. 1000 pot of water is splashed
on Ganesha till he is immersed in water. Very interesting to see priests
forming a line from temple well to the cave to pass the pot.
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| Yagna Shale |
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| Ganesha on rock photo |
This water is later let out to a tank which
is used for irrigation. There is a story behind this seva –
In Hindu tradition one worships Ganesha
first before anything new is started. When Shiva waged war with demon Tripurasura
he does not worship Ganesha and loses battle the first day. He gets upset with
Ganesha and aims Agneya Astra/weapon towards Ganesha. This throws Ganesha into
Madhu/honey Sagara/lake. Since Ganesha loved honey, he drinks so much honey
that his body heat raises which he could not tolerate. To cool down he went
into this cave which had water. Aaiyra
koda is done for the same season to cool him down. I was even more surprised to hear this
seva is sold out for next 10 Years. (Don’t know the cost). They serve lunch to
whoever comes to temple everyday and is supposed to be a festive meal. My nephew is part of this seva priest team so we had to
wait till this was completed. He and his wife were excited and so hospitable to
see us (me for the first time).
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| Paddy field |
Went to
their house and walked around their paddy field which looked so good. Had a delicious lunch, local specialty like
pathrodi and biscuut. These were made with last minute notice from us. On a side note - Best part was we came to
know few things about my father which we were unaware of. My nephew was telling us details on how my father
helped them in their time of need.
Apart from this, one of the elderly priests at the temple said, apparently,
he came for lunch to our house everyday while he studied Vedas at Vidhyapeet
near our house. Viji said in general she
remembers as a youngster, some of the students who was studying at Vidhyapeet
came to our house for lunch. Hats-off to my parents for their kind helping nature. It is no wonder that Pejawar Vishwesha thritha Swamiji remembered my father and shows greatness of this swamiji remembering his helping hands during the initial days of this Sanskrit school.
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| Shiva Temple |
We visited the Shiva temple close to their house where my
nephew is the supervisor/parupathyadhara. This is a simple
newer temple. It was around 3:00 PM by
now and we took leave. Not far from
their house is the bus route. We walked
there and he waved and stopped a bus for us.
They live such a simple and uncomplicated life.
Got back to the Hotel, rested for a while before leaving for
Mangalore.
WOW!! What a memorable 2D/2N. Goose bump experience to be on this ancient land that thrived from 300 BC. If there is a place where the phrase “Every
stone tells a story” applies, I think it is Barkur.
Another best part of our
trip this time was, using local transport 100% which by the way is very efficient in
South Canara. This gave us opportunity to chat with locals to get information and
interesting stories in this lesser known town. Great to hear Barkurians have just come together and started Alupotsava, a three-day fest to promote
tourism.
I must add, this place is
definitely not for pilgrim crowd but for folks interested in history and archaeology.
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| Ruins |
It
is extremely sad that we don’t study about Alupa dynasty in our school. We
study so much about Moguls and other invaders in such detail instead of our own great rulers. Wonder
why? Maybe, like someone recently said “In India we are systematically taught
to glorify invaders who came to destroy our heritage. I think nowhere in the world
other than India, there are so many garden memorials and even street names after
invaders.”🙍😢
Nov 8th: Had a great breakfast at the hotel –
very tasty Menthe/fenugreek Jaggery Dhosae and coffee. Never had this type of Dhosae before…Yummy!!! We
were all set to explore Barkur. Left by 9:00 AM and got an rickshaw for 175 Rs to
the Barkur Panchalingeshwara temple from Bramavara. This is
the oldest of all the temples here and said to be between 6th to 7th
Century AD. It was earlier called Markendeshwara and the scripts in the temple
premises refer to this place by this name. Legend says “The Saint/Rishi Markendayya prayed Lord Shiva here and decided to
built temple for Shiva . He sent his disciples to Kashi to bring Shiva Lingam.
But, since they got delayed, he got five lingam from Sita River and installed. When disciples returned, these lingams were installed
in other temples here.” This temple was renovated in 10th century. 
Our next stop was “Benne Kudhru/Butter
Island”. In ancient times Sita River used to be in full force near Barkur and
the flow took two different paths and united again creating this island and
since it appeared as butter, and hence the name. The fisherman community (Mogavera) is resident
here. Earlier only access was by boat but now it is connected to the land by a bridge.
It is a very scenic and peaceful place with Sita River flowing very calmly here.
Few KM from here she would join Suvarna
River and then into Arabian Sea. We were told during monsoon some parts of the
Island get immersed in the river. 
There
is a Masthiamma (Mahalakshmi) temple here. Kula Masthi amma is the deity of fishermen
community. This 8th century temple
has an inner sanctum of Mastiamma made from clay. Inside the main hall there
are nice colorful wooden sculptures all around.
These wooden idols are 5 Ft to 10Ft tall. They are mostly Dhaiva/Shiva Ganas (Like Veerabadra,
Chikkamma, Bobbariya and etc.,). In South Canara area, not just the Gods are
worshipped every household also worships one of the Dhaiva/Shiva Ganagalu. Temple has been renovated and additions built
in recent years. We met the temple trustee who took special interest on us (😄)
and gave a tour with explanation. 
Temple complex also has fisherman
community/Mogaveera Guru and at the back of the temple was an interesting Nagabhana
(The snake worship rituals practiced in
Tulu Nadu is quite unique and different from the other rituals. Snakes have
their own snake shrines in a sacred grove known as Nagabana. The shrines have
images of cobras carved of stones. Nobody is allowed to chop the tree near the
Nagabana. It is also believed that snakes, specifically the cobras, are not to
be harmed or killed by anyone and that Snakes are not just seen as deities, but
as an animal species which should be respected, appeased and protected for
multiple social, religious and ecological reasons.) It was interesting to see variety of trees which attracts snakes
(like Sampige flower tree, Ashwatha tree and others). Trustee was so kind, he ensured the priest
did pooja and gave us prasadha. He was pleased to see us come all the way from
Bangalore. Unfortunately, we could not find any boat guy to take us for a round on Sita River.
This place is called
“Simhasana Gudde”. It is said that this is one of the oldest places in Barkur
with historical significance. Some say King Vikramaditya of Ujjain was the
first king here followed by Butalapandya. 
This place is under Archaeological
Dept and hence maintained. Wonder why only this is under Archeological Dept and not others - Oh! sorry!! forgot logic does not work...
We saw three more old temples Somanatheshwara (not maintained), Someshwara and a 900 Yrs old Chola period Bairagi
Ganapathy Temple made from stone with a slanted stone roof and etched stone
pillars. The stone walls of this temple have beautiful sculptures. This temple is different from all the other temples here.
This place
was so calm and serene, we lost to time. Only two of us were there. When we asked our Auto driver, how come no
one is here to enjoy the breeze and the view?
He calmly said, usually no one comes here after 5:00PM because of
snakes. Apparently, where we were sitting and this nagabhana gets lot of snakes
moving around sunset. We both quickly
got up 😓 and
asked why he did not inform us before… his response was Madam you had said 5
min when you came 😁😉.
Happily we even went near Hutha for photos. Ignorance is bliss! 
temple is 1000+ years old.
Uniqueness of this temple is huge collection of wooden colorful idols and many
about 10 Ft tall. The history of this temple
is unclear. There are many versions related to this place: “ Some say
Parashurama built original temple. Other
evidence shows Alupas built this temple as a memorial of their war and hence so many
warrior idols. Legend/Sthala purana about this place says - Saint Jabali Sathyakama informed the king
this area is good to perform Ashwamedha yaga. Based on this, king tied his
horse/Ashwa in one end of Shiriyara village (today called as Kudure katte) and
tied a Meke/sheep for his yagna this place where the temple is, hence the name
Mekekattu. 
A
ladder above the main sanctum has many idols as well. There are evidence and
inscription that Vijayanagar rulers were visiting this temple to worhip Shiva Ganas.
Temple is a very interesting 300 Year old cave
temple at the bottom of a stone/rock hill.
There is a natural formation of Ganesha about 4ft ht. here – we can only
see from a peep hole outside. The
entrance and space inside the cave is very small and only priests are allowed
inside. They do a unique offering here
and it is called as Aaiyra koda seve in Kannada which mean 1000 pot
offering. 1000 pot of water is splashed
on Ganesha till he is immersed in water. Very interesting to see priests
forming a line from temple well to the cave to pass the pot. 
