Gokarnanatheshwara Temple
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The Gokarnanatheshwara Temple, Kudroli Sri Gokarnanatha Kshetra, was started by Narayana Guru in Kudroli near Mangalore in karnataka State of India.
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[edit] Location
This temple is situated in Kudroli area (about 5 km from City Bus Stand) in the city of Mangalore. This beautiful temple is the abode of Lord Gokarnanatha, another name for Lord Shiva. Compared to the other temples in and around Mangalore this temple was built pretty recently.
[edit] History
The Billava Community was being traditionally suppressed by upper caste treating them as untouchables. It is in such a scenario that the community found a messiah in Sree Narayana Guru. Sree Narayana Guru has been regarded as the up lifter of the downtrodden and a visionary social servant.
Learning about the work undertaken by Sree Narayana Guru in establishing social equality through his temples in Kerala, a prominent Billava leader from the community Sahukar Koragappa visited the Guru along with the leaders of the community in 1908. The delegation appraised Sree Narayana Guru about the problems faced by the Billawas.
Sree Narayana Guru visited Mangalore on invitation from this delegation and ascertained for himself, the exactness of the then prevailing situation. After visiting the place, Sree Narayana Guru himself selected the place in Kudroli and advised the community elders about a suitable location to build their temple and the work began under his direction. Elders such as Sahukar Koragappa took the initiative in ensuring smooth progress in the temple's construction.
Sree Narayana Guru himself formally consecrated the temple in February 1912 with the establishment of sacred Shiva Linga, which was brought by him. He also named this place as Sri Gokarnanatha Kshethra. Sree Narayana Guru advocated that all God's creation had the right to worship the Almighty and preached that people irrespective of the caste, creed or religion must worship one divine force, known by different names.
As per the Guru's advice, idols of Lord Ganapathy, Lord Subramanya, Goddess Annapoorneshwari, Lord Bhairava, the Nava Grihas (Lords of nine planets), Lord Shanishwara and Lord Shri Krishna has been installed at the Kshethra. This has helped devotees worship at all these sannidanams (abode) and seek blessings and solace for their varied problems. Sahukar Koragappa then donated the land needed for the Kshethra. He was also chosen as its first administrative Head.
The temple was renovated in the year 1990 under the guidance of Soma Sunder, son of Koragappa. Sthapadi K. Dakshinamoorthy was the architect who designed and built the present temple in the Chola style of architecture from its original kerala style. The new gopuram is 60 feet in height and very beautiful. A marble statue of Sri Narayana Guru was erected in the entrance of the temple and a crown studded with precious gems was given by the devotees. It's estimated the renovation cost Rs. 1 crore and now it has become one of the largest temple in Mangalore. [1]
[edit] Festivals
The temple observes many festivals. Maha Shivaratri, Navrathri, Krishnashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi, Nagara Panchami, Deepavali, Dasara, Sri Narayana Jayanthi are celebrated with traditional gaiety and splendour at the temple. It has worshippers from all over the world. The temples branches are in Mulki, Udupi and Katpady. In addition to idols of Sharada Matha and Maha Ganapati, life-size idols of Nava Durgas are installed in the premises in an attractive way during Navaratri. All religious rites are observed for the entire period. Tableaux form a special part of the festivities and are taken round the main thoroughfares of Mangalore. Idols are then immersed in the well decorated temple ponds in the presence of devotees. Dasara festival is celebrated with much grandeur. The dasara celebrations of this temple is also popularly called as Mangalore Dasara.
The birthday of Sri Narayana Guru too is ceremoniously followed. The Kshethra also follows the ritual of feeding devotees who visit it daily. Community Sri Satyanarayana Pooja, Sri Shani Pooja, free mass marriages and distribution of scholarship to deserving students too is a tradition here. Today, the Kshethra attracts devotees from all religions and communities. The Billava community has come of age. The kshethra can be rightly called the melting pot of all religions symbolising unity in diversity. [2][3]
