Shri Manjunatha Temple, Dharmasthala

The temple's official history tells the founding story as tradition. About 800 years ago, it says, the place was called Kuduma, in the village of Mallarmadi. A Jain chieftain, Birmanna Pergade, and his wife Ammu Ballalthi lived there in a house called Nelyadi Beedu. According to the legend, the guardian deities of dharma (the Dharma Daivas) visited the couple in human form and were received with great hospitality. That night they appeared to Birmanna in a dream and asked him to give up his house for their worship and devote his life to dharma. He built a new home, and worship at Nelyadi Beedu continues today.

The Daivas then asked for separate shrines to four deities: Kalarahu, Kalarkai, Kumaraswamy and Kanyakumari. When priests were invited to perform the rituals, they asked that a Shiva linga be installed beside the native deities. According to the legend, the Daivas sent their attendant, Annappa Swamy, to bring a linga of Manjunatheshwara from Kadri near Mangaluru, and the Manjunatha temple was built around it.

Around the 16th century, the temple says, Devaraja Heggade invited Vadiraja Swami of Udupi to the shrine. The saint at first declined to accept food because the linga had not been consecrated according to Vedic rites, and Heggade asked him to reconsecrate it. The name Heggade is said to derive from Pergade, and the temple counts about twenty-one generations of the family as hereditary administrators.

Architecture and sacred features

According to the temple's architecture page, the shrine follows the Kerala style of temple building, using wood, stone and metal. It has a square plan with a granite and laterite base. The tall, pointed pyramidal roof is built of wood and covered with gold-plated copper plates, which protect the wooden frame from the heavy monsoon rains of the Western Ghats. The temple says a recent renovation restored the wood carvings and added protection against weather damage.

Nearby landmarks named by the district administration and Karnataka Tourism include a 39-foot statue of Bahubali on a hill near the temple, erected in 1980 according to the district. They also name the Manjusha Museum, which displays palm-leaf manuscripts, silver jewellery and religious images, and the Chandranatha Swamy Basadi, a Jain temple.