Saiva · Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka
Sri Manjunatha Temple, Dharmasthala
Manjunatha (Sivan) with Annappa Swamy and the Dharma Daivas
Sani and Sade satiGeneralHealth
The temple in short
- Deity
- Manjunatha (Sivan) with Annappa Swamy and the Dharma Daivas
- Where
- Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka · 12.95N 75.38E
- Usual hours
- 6.30 am – 2.30 pm, 5 pm – 8.30 pm — hours change with festivals and the season; check before travelling. Were these right when you went?
- Grahas
- Sani Guru
- Visited for
- A Saiva temple with a Jain hereditary trustee and Vaishnava priests, where every pilgrim is fed. Laksha Deepotsava in Karthika is its festival; visited for a dispute and for a vow.
The sthala purana
Tradition, as it is told at the temple
The temple’s own account has it that four Dharma Daivas — guardian spirits — came to the house of Birmanna Pergade at this place and asked him for it, and that he gave it up and built shrines for them.
They are then said to have asked for a linga of Sivan, and Annappa Swamy, one of the four, to have brought it from Kadri. Manjunatha has been the deity since, with the Daivas worshipped alongside him.
What is recorded
Documented history
Dharmasthala is administered by the Heggade family, who are Jains, worships Sivan as Manjunatha, and is served by Madhva Vaishnava priests. That combination is unusual anywhere and is the fact most often quoted about the place.
The name means the place of dharma, and the Dharmadhikari has long heard disputes brought to him by people from the surrounding country. The establishment also runs colleges, a hospital and a large rural development programme.
Every visitor is fed. The annadanam at Dharmasthala runs on an industrial scale and is part of the temple’s standing obligation rather than an occasional charity.
What there is to see
Description
The Manjunatha shrine is plain and the queue moves through it steadily. The Annappa Swamy shrine is a short walk up the hill.
A tall monolithic Bahubali statue stands on the Ratnagiri rise above the town, and the Manjusha museum and the vintage car collection are beside the temple.
The Netravati flows past, and the bath there before darshan is customary.
The temple year
The days it is fullest
Laksha Deepotsava in Karthika is the festival: five days, with the whole town lit and a literary and cultural gathering alongside it.
Maha Shivaratri and the monthly Sivaratri are the other observances, and the annadanam runs every day of the year.
Getting there, and what else it is called
- Also called
- Sri Manjunatha Swamy Temple, Kuduma
- Reaching it
- Dharmasthala is in Belthangady taluk, about 75 km east of Mangaluru on the road towards Hassan. Mangaluru and Subrahmanya Road are the nearest railway stations.
Where it is
Others within reach
Nearest first, by straight-line distance
- Horanadu Annapoorneshwari Temple 32.9 km · Sakta (Amman)
- Kukke Sri Subramanya Temple 41.4 km · Murugan
- Kateel Durgaparameshwari Temple 47.4 km · Sakta (Amman)
- Sringeri Sharadamba Temple 54.1 km · Sakta (Amman)
- Chennakeshava Temple, Belur 57 km · Vaishnava
- Mangaladevi Temple, Mangaluru 59.4 km · Sakta (Amman)
Add what you know
Been to this temple? The things that change — whether the hours on this page were right, whether the sannidhi was open, how long the queue was on a Saturday — are exactly what no printed source keeps current, and what the next person travelling here needs.
- Were the hours right when you went?
- Is anything on this page wrong or out of date?
- A photograph of the gopuram, the tank, or the notice board
A contribution carries a name, so a reader knows whose account it came from. That is why it needs an account, and it is the only reason.
Parihaaram is traditional practice, offered for devotion and peace of mind; it is not a guaranteed cure of any condition. Temple hours change with festivals and the season, so check before travelling.