Sri Venkatramana Temple, Karkala
After erecting this small temple, Gauda Saraswat Brahmins built their dwellings around it’s locus. Newcomers from Goa arriving from time to time also chose to build their homes in the locality and built a new town with the temple as the central nucleus, thus Transforming the area that once was a forest land.
This transformation may be attributed to the sympathies and largesse of Bhairarasa
theMahamandaleshwar (sub-ruler affiliated to monarch) of Vijayanagar, the then
ruler-of Karkala-Kalasa. He ruled from Hiriyangadi area which in those days was
called Pandyanagari. This benevolent ruler, though born a Jain, displayed nonsectarian
disposition and liberal religious tolerance. Gauda Saraswat Brahmin settlers who
migrated from Goa in order to escape the 1/4 brutalities and forced conversions
of Muslim and Portugese invadersfound in Bhairarasa a magnanimous benefactor,
who gifted to them a hilly tract on the way from Karkala-to Varanga-Barkur.
Who are these Gauda Saraswat Brahmins? When did they arrive at Karkala from Goa? Was Goa
itself their ancestral land? What is the history of Shree Venkatramana temple founded by them?
How was its development brought about? What was the political and social status as well as
History Of the Temple
Lord Sri Srinivasa is worshiped as the main and the presiding deity (pattada devaru) of the temple and is popularly known as ‘Chappara Srinivasa’.The daily deity (uthsava murthy) Lord Sri Venkatramana is also known as ‘Bhakta Vatsala’ who fulfills our wishes,answers any prayers made with devotion, instances of miracles in answer by the Lord here are cited by many. Legend has it that the idol of Lord Sri Venkatramana was brought to Karkala by Soma Sharma who is a ‘Vasista Gothreeya’ Gauda Saraswath Brahmin while migrating from Goa along with him.‘Sohire Prabhu’ family provided him the accomodation.
In those days there were no Vaishnava temples near Karkala and the only Vaishnava temple near by Goa was ‘Tirupati Sri Venkateshwara Temple’. So Prabhu and Sharma family thought of building a temple. People over here motivated them and supported them.They built a temple and installed the idol of Lord Sri Venkataramana and started worshipping him in the year 1450 A.D. Eventhough the exact year of installation is not known, as per the records the reinstallation ceromony was performed in the year 1537A.D.
Story goes that when a group of dacoits had attacked the temple during 1500 A.D, the priests of the temple had tried to prevent the main idol of the Lord and certain other valuable belongings of the temple from being taken away or destroyed by the invaders, by casting them away into a well near Mulki.
After the situation cooled down, the priests got back all the valuable belongings which
they had cast away into the well, except for the main idol of the Lord. One day person
from Mulki found the main idol in the well. By knowing this ,the people of karkala rushed
to mulki to get back the idol.By the time they reached mulki,the people over there had
installed it in ‘Shree Veera Vittala Temple’. From this incident,the people of Karkala
assumed that the Lord wanted to grace the land of Mulki by his presence there.
They found themselves in a dilemma as to what had to be done. They found it hard to
believe that the Lord wanted to preside over Mulki, instead of Karkala. As if a solution
to their dilemma,Lord appeared in the dreams of the people of Karkala and asked them
to hand over his idol in Mulki to the people of Mulki. The Lord told his devotees that
in the days that would come by, a hermit (sanyasi who used to collect Kanika from the
devotees to be taken to Tirupati) would come to Karkala and give them another idol of
the Lord in which he would have enshrined himself. As per the predictions,a few days
later a hermit from Tirupati,who was an ardent devotee of Lord Venkatramana came to
Karkala and handed over an idol of the Lord to the people. That idol was installed in the
temple. The hermit laid down a condition that the idol would be taken every year to Tirupati
along with the Kanika received and the hermit settled down in Karkala itself.
The Kanika received in the name of the Lord of Tirupati is offered religiously to Tirupati
Temple,periodically in a pilgrimage called “Rama Dandu”. So far five such Yatras in the
History of the Temple, the latest being in 1970, have taken place. Once a year in a grand
and ceremonious procession Lord Shri Srinivasa is taken out in Golden Mandapa
and Lord Shri Venkatramana in the Golden palanquins for Vanabhojana which literally
means an outing to the forest in a magnificent Hagalu Utsav,to the eastern part of Karkala.
Since Tirupati is in the east,Lord Srinivasa is supposed to have been taken to Tirupati.
Incidentally,this is the only day in a year when the Lord Srinivasa is taken out of the temple.
Thus the word given to the hemit is symbolically kept up year after year. The presiding deity
over here Lord Srinivasa is called the Lord of Tirupati by the devotees, as the daily poojas
here are almost like the ones offered at Tirupati. Therefore Karkala is also known as
“Padu Tirupati” (Western Tirupati). The gold, silver & wooden “Vahanas” and also the other
paraphernalia of the temple,speak volumes about the glory and the greatness of this temple.
Contact
Address
Sri Venkatramana Temple
Udupi District, Karkala – 574104.
Karnataka, India.
Phone
E - Mail
svtemplekarkala@gmail.com
