About

Kulavis:
Dempo family from Goa, Pangal Nayaks from Dakshina Kannada, Kinis, Pais, Paigoankars, Ghodes, Mahales & Baleri families from Uttara Kannada and many Saraswat Families. There are some Vaishya, Sonar & Nagwekar families. Some Christians also visit as devotees.

History & Legend :
Originally this Kuladevata temple was in Nagwe, Goa. Because of Portuguese atrocities, the devotees decided to move southwards with the deities. But they had a problem, as while Shri Lakshminaryan was worshipped in the form of an idol, Shri Mahamaya was virtually a sacred anthill called Rohini. Not knowing what to do, they sought guidance in the darshan seva and it was advised that the Mother Goddess would be glad to accompany them in a coconut with her sanidhya (divine presence) in it. Accordingly they carried a coconut and also the idol of Shri Lakshminarayan. On the way when they were nearing Hanumatta near Ankola (the place was so-called because of a Hanuman temple) darkness fell and so the devotees with idol and the coconut thought of breaking the journey. The night over early next morning they thought of resuming the journey but a wonder awaited them. During the night around the coconut an anthill had miraculously grown and taking it to be command from the Mother Goddess to terminate their journey and halt there only they constructed a temple and installed the idol there.

Shri Bhangara Mahamaya Festival : A Nagwekar Shet, a wealthy jeweller from Goa decided to make an offering of a gold idol if Mother Goddess would bless him with a child. A girl child was born and the jeweller came to the temple with an idol resembling his daughter. However, after the offering was made, the child passed away. The devotee could not bear the loss. But in darshan seva he was given an assurance that the Mother Goddess would bless him again. Accordingly, again a child was born to him and his wealth also multiplied. The idol of solid gold will be in view during the special festival, which takes place once in 5 to 7 years, as permitted in darshan seva. During Navaratri, the temple has special sevas like Chowri Pooja when a large heap of cooked rice with huge vades will be offered to the deities. At that time a special music called bandi vadya, which is not available anywhere, will be played. In many ways it is a unique temple. Marble flooring, copper plate roof, gold kalashas, and beautiful sanctum sanctorum and with 500 feet long halls the temple is the most spacious one in the whole of the district. With a good administration, the temple is managed smoothly and systematically.

Source : http://www.gsbkonkani.net/TEMPLES/04_SHRI%20LAKSHMINARAYAN%20MAHAMAYA%20TEMPLE_12.htm

The beautiful Sri Lakshminarayana Mahamaya temple is situated at Hanumatta near Ankola. The GSB Brahmins who fled from Goa about 1510 AD, with their family deities (Kuladevatha idols) came and settled here. The idol of gold in this temple is taken out for worship once in ten-fifteen years. The punarprathistapana of the temple took place in 1975.

As it is known, Goa was for some time under the Portugese rule. The Portugese began to destroy Hindu Temples and Hindu religion. Many Hindu families migrated to Goa, being unable to withstand this religious persecution. The devotees of Sri Lakshminarayana Mahamaya had also to face the same situation, but they were not willing to leave behind their family diety. It was easy for them to take with them Sri Lakshminarayana from Nagwe, but Mahamaya had self-manifested in form of Rohini, which posed a problem to the devotees in taking her with them out of Goa. But, Mahamaya assured them that she would go with them in form of a coconut. Thus, the devotees left Goa in 1510 with the coconut and the image of Sri Lakshminarayana.

Then, Hanumatta was a dense forest. As the devotees reached Hanumatta, it was dusk. They halted at the temple of Sri Mahishasura Mardini Sri Bhagavathi. In that place, there were also temples of Sri Veerappa, Sri Honnappa and Sri Hanumantha. The place was called Hanumatta becuase of the temple of Sri Hanumatha. Before next dawn, a suprising incident took place. The coconut was now surrounded by an ant hill. It was obvious that Sri Lakshminarayana and Sri Mahamaya had desired to stay there permenently.

Source : https://travel2karnataka.com/laxminarayan_mahamaya_temple.htm