Mookambika
மூகாம்பிகை मूकाम्बिका
Also Kollur Amma, Adi Parashakti at Kollur.
ShaktaSmarta
Who this is
Mookambika at Kollur is the goddess Kerala goes to Karnataka for. The shrine stands in the Western Ghats on the Souparnika river, and it is the place a Malayali family takes a child for the vidyarambham and an artist goes before a first performance. She is worshipped in a linga split by a golden line, the jyotirlinga, with the left half Devi and the right half Siva, so that the sanctum holds both halves of the tradition in one stone. The name comes from the demon Mookasura, who was struck dumb before he was killed.
How to recognise them
The jyotirlinga with the gold line, and behind it a panchaloha image of the goddess seated with three eyes and four arms, holding the conch and the discus, in the posture of Adi Parashakti. The split linga is the thing the shrine is known for and is explained as Siva and Shakti occupying one object without either being the lesser.
Family and companions
Adi Parashakti, holding the powers of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati together, which is why learning, wealth and strength are all asked of her at one shrine. Siva is the other half of the linga. Adi Sankara is said to have established the image, and the tradition of the shrine is Smarta.
How they are worshipped
Navaratri and Vijayadasami; Friday; the Rathotsava in Phalguna.
Vidyarambham on Vijayadasami, when children are given the first letter in rice. Artists and musicians perform before her as an offering and a great many south Indian careers are begun there. Saraswati Mandapam in the complex is where the writing is done. Navaratri is the season, and the Rathotsava draws the Malnad and the coast together.
The stories
As they are told, with the disagreements left in
The demon who was silenced
Kaumasura was doing penance to win a boon that would have made him unassailable. The goddess, seeing what he meant to ask for, struck him dumb at the moment of asking, so that the boon could not be spoken, and he was called Mookasura, the mute. He attacked anyway and was killed. The name of the shrine is the name of the demon, which is common enough, but the method is unusual: she did not break the austerity or refuse the boon, she let the rules stand and took away the ability to use them.
Why a Malayali goes to Karnataka
Adi Sankara, born in Kerala, is said to have asked the goddess to come to Kerala with him, and she agreed on condition that he walk ahead and not look back. At Kollur the anklets went silent and he turned, and she stayed where she was. Kerala therefore has the devotion and Karnataka has the shrine, and Malayalam is heard in the queue more than Kannada. The story is told without rancour on either side, and the Kollur priests conduct the vidyarambham in Malayalam.
Where the regions differ
- Tamil
- Kerala
- Telugu
- Kannada
- North
- Maharashtra
- Bengal
- Punjab
- Assam
- Sri Lanka
- Nepal
- Gujarat
- Odisha
- Mithila
- Kashmir
- Tulu Nadu
- manipur
- rajasthan
- konkani
- sindhi
- jharkhand
- himalayan
- kodava
- Karnataka
- Kollur in Udupi district is the shrine, with the Rathotsava and the Malnad pilgrimage, and the Souparnika bath before darshan.
- Kerala
- Treated as a Kerala shrine in all but geography: the vidyarambham, the first performance of a dancer or a singer, and the family trip are Malayali customs.
- Tamil Nadu
- Tamil families of the western districts go for the vidyarambham, and the Mookambika Ashtakam is sung in the Tamil country.
Their days
Every one of these has a page of its own
Where to see them
From the temple directory
- Sri Mookambika Temple, Kollur Kollur, Udupi, Karnataka
What is said
From the mantra library