Kadri Manjunatha Temple, Mangaluru

Mangaluru Smart City dates the temple to the 10th or 11th century and says Buddhism was practised at Kadri until about the 10th century CE. Karnataka Tourism dates the temple to the 11th century, when it says Buddhist monks had made Kadri their base, and adds that local rulers and landlords helped enhance the complex in the 14th century; Wikipedia says the shrine became a fully stone structure in that century.

The most important dated record is the inscription on the pedestal of the Lokeshwara bronze. Mangaluru Smart City dates it to 968 CE and attributes it to King Kundavarma of the Alupa dynasty; it refers to the hill by its old name, Kadarika. Wikipedia notes that some scholars read the date as 1068 CE and that the inscription also mentions Mangaluru as Mangalapura. Wikipedia further records a later stone inscription granting land to the temple and an 18th-century text, the Kadri Manjunatha Mahatmya, describing the temple's Nath connection.

Architecture and sacred features

Mangaluru Smart City describes the temple as an example of early Vijayanagara-period architecture. The bronze Lokeshwara is seated, with three faces and six arms, and Wikipedia gives its height as about 1.5 metres; two other early bronzes of similar workmanship are identified as Avalokiteshvara and the Buddha.

The temple complex includes the Gomukha spring and the nine ponds it feeds, and a pond at the front of the temple where, Incredible India notes, tortoises live. The laterite Pandava Caves cut into the hill beside the temple are mentioned by both Karnataka Tourism and the district administration.