Sri Raam Mandira, Malmaddi

The beautiful Sri Raam Mandir of Malmaddi sits hidden behind a wall, away from the bustling railway station road. It looks like the structure is ancient, should be at least a hundred years old.

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VidyaGanapati Devastana, KCD Circle

Vidya Ganapati Devastana the most popular Ganesha temple of Dharwad city lit up elegantly.

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Sri Mallikarjuna Gudi, Hiremalligwad

Mallikarjuna Gudi on Dharwad-Chikkamalligwad road is one of the return points of our cycling rides. This Shiva temple is just outside HIremalligwad village. We pause here for a few seconds, get a darshan of Shivalinga & Basavanna and then head towards Guddada Panduranga Devastana for a short break. This Shiva temple is an ancient one. Ancient sculptures of Linga and Basavanna can be seen here, both are damaged hence they have been replaced. Embedded into the side wall is a small tablet containing Kannada text. Based on these ancient artifacts, we can say that this temple has a long history.

Here's the link to an older post where you can see pictures shot in day time- Sri Mallikarjuna Devastana, ChikkaMalligwad.

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Hanuman Mandir, Line Bazar

ಮನೋಜವಂ ಮಾರುತತುಲ್ಯವೇಗಂ

ಜಿತೇಂದ್ರಿಯಂ ಬುದ್ಧಿಮತಾಂ ವರಿಷ್ಠಮ್ ।

ವಾತಾತ್ಮಜಂ ವಾನರಯೂಥಮುಖ್ಯಂ

ಶ್ರೀರಾಮದೂತಂ ಶಿರಸಾ ನಮಾಮಿ ॥ 

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Guru Madiwaleshwara Gudi, Garag

A thought of bicycle ride to Garagada Guru Madiwaleshwara Mata had formed. Somehow the it was decided to just after Amavasya night.

December 24, 2022 I left home around 3-30 AM. I had ridden upto Garag cross on Dharwad-Belagavi highway. It would be the first time I'm venturing on Garag road. On this road are Tata group's two factories, an ancillary unit, Karnataka State Forest Academy, Forest Department Nursery and a nonfunctional distillery. On reaching Garag, I take one of the lanes leading to the Mata. The village was still sleepy, just a few dogs guarding their lanes. It was 4-50 when I reached the Mata. A group of 3 or 4 people were singing bhajan, probably it was an all night bhajan. This is the temple which houses Guru Madiwaleshwara's Samadhi.

Sri Guru Madiwaleshwara was a XIX Century saint, a contemporary of Shishunala Sharief. He is very well known and popular in north Karnataka. Garag Jatre is attended by devotees from Maharashtra. Guru Madiwaleshwara's parents are unknown, he was found in a banana plantation as an infant. He was adopted by Kittur Desai since the family had no children. He was an enlightened Atma even as a very young kid. Later when a son was born into Kittur Desai family, Madiwaleshwara was neglected and eventually insulted. Madiwaleshwara curses Kittur Desai family and leaves Kittur. He comes to Hangarki Desai who receives him with respect and donates land besides the stream here. Madiwaleshwara establishes a Mata here. The Mata building is just opposite this temple.

The old building of the Mata has been demolished for renovation purpose. I was a little disappointed to see the changes, but then changes take place.

The return journey started at 5-00 AM. On the way back, at Airtech junction, I changed the route towards Kelageri. I took a circuitous route back home and made it a 50+ km ride.

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Nuggikeri Hanuman Mandir

Nuggikeri is one of the important water tanks around Dharwad. On the shore of this tank is the ancient temple dedicated to Hanuman. Close to Nuggikeri is a village by the same name. This Hanuman Mandir is managed by the members of Nuggikeri Desai family. This is the Gopura on the main entrance.

Inside the temple enclosure is a Aswatha Vruksha (Peepul tree). A board on the tree reads Aswatha Vruksha Stotra:

ಮೂಲತೋ ಬ್ರಹ್ಮರೂಪಾಯ 

ಮಧ್ಯತೋ ವಿಷ್ಣುರೂಪಣೇ। 

ಆಗ್ರತೋ ಶಿವರೂಪಾಯ 

ವೃಕ್ಷರಾಜಾಯತೇ ನಮಃ।।

It is said that one must go around Peepal tree seven times chanting this stotra and then proceed into the temple. The stotra means that the three supreme lords of Hindu legends reside in Ashwatta Vriksha; Brahma in the roots, Vishnu in the mid part i.e. the stem and Shiva in the upper parts i.e. the branches & leaves.

The temple comprises of large open halls around the Garbhagriha.

Jai Hanuman.

In one of the halls, there are several boards fixed on the walls. One of the boards has all the lines of Hanuman Chalisa and another one has Yantroddharaka Hanuman Stotra. People can sit in this hall and chant the sacred lines.

The temple has a peaceful ambiance when its free from crowds. Saturdays are usually crowded, rest of the days its free. Nuggikeri is approximately half kilometer from the main road i.e. Dharwad-Kalghatgi road. One could pass through this arch and walk to the temple. Alternatively, vehicles can be taken right upto the temple via Nuggikeri village.

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Shri Kalmeshwara Devasthana, Kelageri

This is a unique temple of Dharwad. The temple building is a huge Shivalinga with a five headed serpent over it. This gigantic Shivalinga was built around 2012 or 2013. These three pictures were shot at different times. The first one few years back, during rainy season. Second and third were shot in Mar-2021 and Feb-2021 respectively.

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Shri Dattatreya Devasthana, Dharwad

Despite having lived in Dharwad for 10 years, I'd never ventured into Datta Mandir. I did see it finally, one early morning during the last week of July. The temple building is ancient, probably XIX Century. The building architecture is what is seen in Mumbai Presidency. This is the main gate of the temple which opens to Subash road.

This is the shrine entrance. The deity is Dattatreya, a form of Shiva with three heads- Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara.

The temple is well maintained, its clean even though it has significant number of people visiting it.

This is a west-facing shrine, the main gate faces south.

This is the side wall of the temple.

Within the temple premises is a school teaching the ancient Indian language Samskrutha.

The building's antiquity is well maintained. No major changes as such.

Shrimadjagadguru Sankracharya Samskruta Patashaala, Dharwad

A poster of Lord Dattatreya with Nandi and four dogs.

Another poster depicting Sri Sankracharya and Sripada Vallabha.

View of the front yard and main gateway. The two circular paintings flanking the gateway caught my attention.

Symbols of Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara merged into one painting on the left. The image on the right also shows the unity of the three lords along with the Sun and Moon.

Datta Jayanti is celebrated with great enthusiasm here, thousands of people visit the temple during the occasion. To know more about Dharwad, visit this page- what to see in Dharwad.

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Vidya Ganapati Devasthana, KCD Circle

Vidya Ganapati Devasthana is situated bang opposite Karnataka College (KCD). Its a right location for this deity.. Ganesha the god of intellect and wisdom, quenches the thirst for knowledge, of those students who have faith in him.

This is probably the largest temple in Dharwad dedicated to Lord Ganesha. The building design is nice, its made to feel grand without a feeling of gaudiness.

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Hanuman Mandir, Line Bazar

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Basel Mission Memorial Church

This is probably the oldest church in Dharwad, established in 1845 by the Basel Missionaries. The church is known as Hebich Memorial Church or Basel Mission Memorial Church.

A simple yet beautiful Gothic structure with lot of open space around it. The structure is almost in its original condition except for the rear portion which was widened to create more space inside.

Arched windows with stained glass shutters.

the altar

the pews

front yard

vehicle parking

Basel Mission celebrating its 175th year in India the mission released a book named "Basel Mission 175." Below is an extarct from the book, thoughts of Dr. Paul Jenkins.

175 years have passed since the feet of the first Basel Missionaries touched Indian soil. Much has happened in that time. Tiny Basel Mission stations with only a handful of Christians have grown into large Christian fellowships. In towns like Dharwad-hubli, Mangalore or Calicut thay are running institutions important for the community as a whole. In the years since the missionaries landed, the British Raj reached its peak, and then passed away. India became independent as the world's largest democracy. After independce, many protestant Christians in South India (including the three districts of the United Basel Mission Church) joined together to form the new ecumenical Church of South India (CSI) with leaders who were able to carry on and develop the work of the missionary pioneers when difficulties meant the Indian churches had to carry on the work on their own.

Inspite of these great changes fundamentals remain the same in the context of Gospel work. For instance the Basel Mission had a slogan: "What you say in mission explains what you do, and what you do shows that you men what you say." In other words, witnessing to the Gospel requires both speech and actions, whether you are talking about Europe or South India.

The early missionaries understood this very well. They mostly came from small villages in South Germany where people grew much of their own food - and knew times of hunger when there was a draught or a period of unseasonable very cold weather. Words alone are little use to the starving, ot those who fear starvation. And so the active Christians in those villages, who supported the Basel mission, preached the Gospel, but also worked to help families develop a more reliable economic basis for their lives. Their sons and daughters who were  recruited by the Basel Mission to go overseas, were also well aware of this as a Christian goal. In areas further south in Karnataka and Kerala they started workshops which grew into large factories producing tiles and textiles (though these were confiscated by the colonial authorities in the First World War). but in North Karnataka, where they did not develop large factories, they were still sensitive to the need for families of weavers and farmers to have reliable economic basis for their lives. When large catastrophes struck, as in the great famines of 1870s, the missionaries and their Indian colleagues worked, sometimes till they dropped, to provide whatever help they could to the starving. And they tried to provide a permanent lifeline when catastrophes like illness and death hit individual families, by founding and maintaining orphanages for children in need, and later developing medical work.

Although most of the 19th century missionaries came from small villages, they had all lived in Basel for a long period of training in the Missionary College. So they also got to know the life of a city in the process of modernization. At that time Basel was developing rapidly as center of science and technology with its new chemical and pharmaceutical industries. As the decades passed, the Basel Mission began to expand its contribution to education here. The original work with primary schools grew to include middle schools and colleges which covered the whole spread of subjects from Kannada language and literature to modern science. This educational work was backed up by the Mission Press in Mangalore, which was not only a focus of language studies like Ferdinand Kittel's famous dictionary, but also producing good reading books for schools in Karnataka and Kerala. By the early 20th century its book depot was also selling a variety of "visual aids" for schools - maps and charts, and even 3-dimensional models for teaching of human biology.

When we visit South India from Europe nowadays we are impressed by the way this broad tradition of words and actions has remained alive. Churches are full, Pastoral and lay leaders are lively and committed (and in North Karnataka as I write are hard at work in flood relief), CSI educational institutions are flourishing - often named after Basel Mission - and have such a a reputation for conscientiousness and educational high standards that parents from non-Christian communities are eager to profit from them.

But there are more to the Basel Mission than maintaining a tradition. the mid 19th century Basel missionaries were incredibly gifted innovators. Not only their schools and congregations but their tile works, their printing press and their weaving shops with new types of looms set things up in the South Indian landscape which had not been there before. 

We on the European side of this relationship wonder what innovations God is leading us towards as we all face the challenges of the 21st century - increasing strife between religions, global warming, and the way progress and modernization seems inevitably to drive many people into poverty. As the world becomes more and more a global village, Christian fellowships with different backgrounds and different experiences could have a lot to say to each other about the changes we should be promoting.

The old Basel Mission is symbolised for many people, by the outstanding and stubborn personalities whose work in the mid-19th century is still remembered today - Samuel Hebich Hermann Moegling are typical examples of this. Such personalities certainly played their part in creating institutions and churches where none had been before. But careful study of the Basel Mission shows that the power of its fellowship was vital too - the good organization, the large body of supporters, the prayerful interest of many, many people in what was being done. The old mission structure has been replaced by the multi-lateral network of commitment and communication between churches in many countries and continents which EMS organises and in which the Church of Kur-Hessen-Waldeck plays an important part. This is a new type of fellowship, but potentially a powerful one. In celebrating this Jubilee my prayer is that God may use this structure to bring us closer together, to strengthen us to carry on the tasks which He has already put in out hands., but also lead us in His wisdom to vital new insights and vital new activities in the service of His Kingdom.

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ಮುರ್ಗಾಮಠದ ಚಿತ್ರಕಲೆಗಳು, ಧಾರವಾಡ

Feb 15, 2014

Ancient paintings at Murga Matha, Dharwad. These pictures depict miracles during Swamiji's lifetime.

ಘುಡು ಘುಡುಸಿ ಬಂದ ಹುಲಿಯು ಶ್ರೀ ಶಿವಯೋಗಿಗಳನ್ನು ಕಂಡು ನಮಸ್ಕರಿಸಿದ ದೃಶ್ಯ
ಶ್ರೀ ಶಿವಯೋಗಿಶ್ವರರ ಲಿಂಗ ಪೂಜೆಯ ಸಮಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಫಣಿರಾಜನು ಹೆಡೆ ತೆಗೆದು ಥೊನೆದಾಡಿದ ದೃಶ್ಯ

ಹೊಳೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಲಿಂಗವನ್ನು ಕಳೆದುಕೊಂಡ ಭಕ್ತನೋರ್ವನು ಶ್ರೀ ಶಿವಯೋಗಿಗಳ ಕೃಪೆಯಿಂದ
ಅದನ್ನು ಹುಡುಕಿದ ದೃಶ್ಯ

ಬಕುಳ ವೃಕ್ಷದ ಮೇಲೆ ಬಂದು ಕುಳಿತ ಪಕ್ಷಿಗಳನ್ನು ಶ್ರೀ ಶಿವಯೋಗಿಗಳು
ತಮ್ಮ ಗುರು ಸ್ವರೂಪದಲ್ಲಿ ಕಂಡ ದೃಶ್ಯ

ಶ್ರೀ ಶಿವಯೋಗಿಗಳು ಸುತ್ತುಹಾಕಿದ
ಎರೆಡು ಹೋರಿಗಳ ಹಗ್ಗ ಅವರು ಶಿವ ಶಿವ ಎಂದೊಡನೆ ಹರಿದ ದೃಶ್ಯ

ಬಂಡಿಯಿಂದ ಬಿದ್ದು ಪ್ರಾಣಹೋದ ರಾಚಯ್ಯನಿಗೆ
ಶ್ರೀ ಶಿವಯೋಗಿಗಳು ಪ್ರಾಣದಾನ ಮಾಡಿದ ದೃಶ್ಯ

ಸವದತ್ತಿ ಕಲ್ಮಠದಲ್ಲಿ ಪುರಾಣದ ಮಹಾಮಂಗಳದ ಗಣರಾಧನೆಯ ಸಮಯದಲ್ಲಿ
ಕವಿದುಬದ ಕಾರ್ಮೋಡಗಳನ್ನು ಶ್ರೀ ಶಿವಯೋಗಿಗಳು ಚದುರಿಸಿದ ದೃಶ್ಯ

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Places around Dharwad

Few weeks back a list of interesting places in Dharwad was published. In this post we have 3 lists of historical, religious and interesting spots around Dharwad...

..within 50 kms from Dharwad

1. Haliyal fort
2. Madiwaleshwara Matha, Garag
3. Kittur fort and Archeaological museum
4. Kamalanarayana temple, Devgaon
5. Kalgudi, Degulahalli
6. Bhagawan Sri 1008 Varasiddhi Parshwanath, Kasamalagi
7. Saundatti fort
8. Jain Basadi, Amminabavi
9. Subterranean cave temple, Amminabavi
10. Chandramouleshwara Gudi, Unkal, Hubli
11. Nrupatunga Betta, Hubli
12. Siddarooda Matha, Hubli
13. Moorusavira Matha, Hubli
14. Shambulingeshwara Gudi, Kundagol
15. Navagraha Tirtha, NH4, Varur
16. Doddappa temple, Adargunchi

..between 50 and 100 kms

1. Amruteshwara temple, Annigeri
2. Bankapur fort and Nagareshwara temple
3. Baobab trees at Savanur
4. Buddhist monasteries at Tibetan camp, Mundgod
5. Kavdikeri near Yellapur
6. Dandeli and Syntheri Rocks
7. Halashi and Ramtheerth
8. Sangolli Rayanna memorial, Nandgadh
9. Gangambike Memorial
10. Belgaum fort and Ramakrishna Ashram
11. St. Mary's Church, Belgaum Cantonment
12. Sogal
13. Hooli fort and temples
14. Sirsangi fort and Kalilkadevi temple
15. Munvalli fort
16. Renuka Sagar and Naveel Theerth Dam
17. Yellamma temple
18. Parasgad fort
19. Somanatha temple, Lakshmeshwar
20. Shrimantgad fort and Havalavvana Gudi

..between 100 and 150 kms

1. Sathodi falls
2. Ulavi caves
3. Tarakeshwara temple, Hangal
4. Harihareshwara temple, Harihar
5. Purasiddeshwara temple, Haveri
6. Gajendraghad fort and Kalakaleshwara temple
7. Dambal
8. Itgi and Kuknur
9. Koppal fort
10. Koppal Gavimath
11. Ashoka inscription at Gavimath
12. Ashoka inscription at Palki Gundu
13. Bahadhur Banda fort
14. Ancient temples of Sudi
15. Ponda
16. Sonda fort and Sonda Matha
17. Sahasralinga
18. Mookambike temple, Sirsi
19. Madukeshwara temple, Banavasi

Note-
Click on links to see details about the place.
This post will be updated as frequently as possible.
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Prashanta Dhama ~ Shri Durgadevi temple complex

Prashanta Dhama is the name given to the temple complex at Dharwad's police campus. The campus is situated right next to Sadankeri (Sadana Kere). Within the complex are five temples dedicated to Ganapati, Eshwara, Durgadevi, Hanuman and Navagraha.

This is the arch at the main entrance of the complex ~ Mahadwara..

Prashantadhama's Mahadwara

Two stone plaques on either sides of the Mahadwara..

Ganapati Mandir

Banyan tree

Eshwar Gudi

Tulasi Brindavan & Navagraha Mantap

Hanuman Mandir

Durgadevi Gudi

painting of 'OM' on Durgadevi Gudi wall

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