Just back from a flying visit to my hometown Mangalore where I had the good fortune of visiting quite a few temples. From Kollur Mookambika, to Someshwar Somanatha Temple (my istha devata), to Kota Vishnumoorthi and finally our Kuladevi Bhagavathi's temple at Akkare Uchila. As I try to settlle back into my old life, I just can't help but hum (I dare not say "sang" cause I couldn't sing to save my soul, if you know what I mean) this amazing song immortalised by Dido.
Two weeks away it feels like the world should've changed
But I'm home now
And things still look the same
I think I'll leave it to tomorrow till unpack
Try to forget for one more night
That I'm back in my flat on the road
Where the cars never stop going through the night
To real life where I can't watch sunset
I don't have time
I don't have time
And I can't shake the thought of you
I shake it all, forget you
Why, why would I want to
I know we said goodbye
Anything else would've been confused but I wanna see you again
It really feels like time just flew and all too soon it was time to come back. Let me quickly jot down the lingering memories that I have of this trip that began as a 1000 km road trip and ended with a quick 1 hr 10 min flight back to amchi Mumbai. We hail from a small fishing village of Someshwara, which is on the outskirts of Mangalore. Yes, my ancestors belonged to the fishing community and I am proud of my heritage. In fact, my mum's grandfather was hunter, maybe I get my love for the forest, mountains, hills, trekking and love for hunting stories written by Kenneth Anderson and Jim Corbett (two of the greatest and most respected hunters from South and North India respectively) from him !!! But I digress, this is a note of the road trip and that is what it shall be from hereon.
The trip didn't quite start on an auspicious note, we had just reached the outskirts of Mumbai and were on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and one of the tyres burst when we were doing speeds of 120-140 kms/hr. We were plain lucky that it was early morning and there were no cars or worse trucks in the immediate vicinity, else we would have ended up as the gory headlines that the newspapers publish with much gusto on the front page alongside equally grotesque pictures of the pile-up of mangled cars and mutilated bodies. If you must know it was the left rear tyre that burst and I happened to be sat there. Our insides shaken up and souls stirred we continued the rest of the journey at speed of 80-100 kms/hr.
But Fate had other things planned for us, as we left Kumta (this is a small town in Karnataka where we halted for the night) around 7.30 ish the next morning, when a herd of cattle began climbing on to the embankment and on to the road to get to the other side, we would have easily passed them before they got to the road, but for two playful calves who actually bolted on to the road and rammed into the right side of the car, call me plain unlucky I had traded places with my mum that morning and was sat on the right side. As a rule I like to keep the window glass down when on long trip as the AC tends to suffocate me also contributing to the keep-the-window-glass-rolled-up routine was the fact that I was wearing a saree as we were to stop at Kollur Mookambika temple. However on this trip I kept it up, I could only imagine what would have happened in case the window glass been down, as a Zen has a very low ground clearance, at least one calf would have got it head inside and both of us (the calf and me) could have sustained grievous injuries. FYI we checked the calves did not sustain any noticeable injuries, other than being quite shell shocked and will no doubt be very wary of crossing the road going forward.
Nothing much of consequence worth noting happened after that and we arrived at Kollur a little after eleven am. Kollur is famous for a Mookambika Temple and in all these years we had never had a chance to visit it. I little history on this temple, courtesy Wikipedia.
Kollur is a tiny hamlet situated about 37km from Kundapur Town, about 133 kilometres (83 mi) away from Mangalore City in Karnataka state in the southern part of India. This village lies at the foot of the Western Ghats and is famous for the Mookambika temple, a Hindu pilgrim center. Kollur is an important seat of Shakti worship. The temple is rich in puranic lore.
Legend goes that a Maharishi (monk) Kolan was enchanted with nature’s beauty and decided to perform a penance on a rock near the Agnitheertham. Lord Shiva, delighted with Kolan, appeared before him and blessed him. The Maharishi wished for the welfare of mankind and nothing else. The Lord, happy with Kolan, granted him his wish. He assured that a swayambu (autogenetic) Lingam would appear for his daily worship. However, Kolan wanted to worship Devi also. So, a swarna rekha (gold line) appeared on the Lingam, signifying Shakti. Thus, Shiva and Shakti are worshipped together in the Lingam. Besides this, a unique feature is that the other Gods and Goddess of the Hindu pantheon also believed to reside in aroopa (non-form) in the Lingam. It is thus believed to be an abode of the entire celestial congregation.It is believed that Adi Shankaracharya had a vision of Sri Mookambika Devi and installed the deity here.
The legend goes that Adi Shankara mediated at Kodachadri hills and Devi incarnated before him asking for his wish. He revealed his wish to install the Devi idol in a place in Kerala to worship where he wanted. Devi agreed but put forward a challenge that she will follow Shankara and he should not look back till he reaches his destination. But to test Shankara, Devi deliberately stopped the voice of her anklets when they reached Kollur whereupon Shankara turned and looked back because of doubt. Devi then asked Shankara to install her vigraha, just as he sees her, at that very location in Kollur.
The temple and its surroundings are very beautiful and I have often felt a sensation of total peace when I visit such places and Kollur Mookambika was no exception. After some frantic praying sessions, I am currently in a soup the details of which I will lay before my public at a later date when it will be of no consequence or could do no harm to anybody in anyway. For the time being my dear reader please bear the suspense as to what I asked for, I'm sure I will be successful in my endeavour as I was rewarded with kumkum and flowers placed at the feet of the deity. I look at it as an approval from the deity for me to go ahead with my plans (I see you smirk, yeah totally filmy, but doobte ko tinke ka sahara, and as it is women are big on reading meaning into everything and I am no different).
A day prior to our departure we visited the Someshwara temple, the Kota Vishnumoorthi temple and Shree Bhagavathi Thano at Akkare Uchila. In each of these places certain small things happened that has re-kindled my faith in the Supreme Being and I am sure that with the combined blessing of all these deities my efforts will bear the desired fruits. I would really like to elaborate the history of these three temples but unfortunately am not aware of the same at the moment and will need to wait for my parents to return to Mumbai.
nice post...too bad i couldnt be with you all on the trip... amazing pics :)
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