About

"Shivana Samudra" is a small village in Kollegala Taluk, Chamarajanagara District. One may find may temples here in this small but historical town of Shivana Samudra. The Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Sri Someshwara Swamy temple and Adi Shakthi Maramma Temple are just some of the famous temples here.

Shivana Samudra is 85 Km from Mysore and 115 Km from Bangalore. The river Kaveri makes her way through the hills and finally plunges down here, forming two spectacular waterfalls - Gagana Chukki and Bharachukki. The Kaveri river gives Shivanasamudra an island form and the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple is located here. It is built in the Dravidan style of architecture. There are three more temples in three other sides of the island. Sri Ranganathaswamy here is also referred to as "Madya Ranga", who is hihgly revered by Sri Vyshanava devotees among others. "Adi Ranga" at Srirangapattana and "Anthya Ranga" at Srirangam, Tamilnadu are two other prominent forms of Sri Ranganatha Swamy. Kaveri touches Srirangapattana first, next Shivanasamudra in the middle and finally reaches the sea at Srirangam. This is the main reason behind such belief. Among all the three, the deity here is believed to represent the youth form of the God and hence is also fondly referred to as 'Mohana Ranga' and 'Jaganmohana Ranga'.

The story behind how Shivanasamudra got its name has many versions. According to one, it is said that one day, Shiva and Parvathi were on a stroll in the sky and were observing the river Kaveri from above. Shiva observed that a huge rock obstructed the increasing ongoing flow of the river. But the river spread out like an ocean and surrounding that rock, flowed forward. Amazed by the sheer size of the river, which appeared to him as an ocean, Shiva proclaimed "Dhanya Kaveri" (Blessed river). Observing the ocean like river which impressed Shiva, Parvathi gave it the name "Shivanasamudra". All the temples have been built on the same rock which is famous today as Shivana Samudra.

Another version says Devendra who was affected from "Vruthra Hathya", was doing penance in several holy places. As per the instructions of Sri Brahma, he formed a beautiful Ranganatha Swany idol, a form of Vishnu, and started worshipping him here. One day, the water flow increased rapidly and started flooding the place. Concerned that his penance might be disturbed, Devendra, smashed a portion of the huge rock that this place was and made way for the river to flow ahead from either side of the rock. The river plummetted down with a lot of force from the right of the rock. This came to be known as the "Bharachukki" waterfall. From the left, it took a more steady approach to the cliff before diving down. This came to be known as the "Gaganachukki" waterfall. Devendra is said to have successfully completed his pooja and achieved expiation against his sin. Since the rock was smashed by Devendra, this place also got the name "Shila Bhedhana Kshetra".

The ancient Sri Someshwara Temple is another famous temple here at Shivanasamudra. Adi guru Sri Shankaracharya is said to visited this place and has established a "Sri Chakra" in this place. Surprisingly, it is believed that the Someshwara Linga here is said to have been existing much before the Ranganantha Idol and that the Saptarshis were performing pooja and worshipping this Linga.

The Shakthi Devathe temple of Vanadurga Devi is 1 Km away from the Someshwara temple. The goddess is also fondly worshipped by the name "Varaprasadi". Large number of devotees throng this place every Tuesday and nowadays Fridays and Sundays also attract more number of devotees. Just before Ugadi every year, annual festival is celebrated here.