Karnataka - Madikeri   

Ancient temple to be reconstructed

Madikeri: Residents of Heravanadu village, about 5 km from here, have decided to reconstruct an ancient temple of Madurappa, said to be an incarnation of Lord Shiva, at a cost of Rs. 1.08 crore.

The ruins of the temple, discovered by some villagers in 2001 in a jungle near the village, is said to have been destroyed around 200 years ago.

However, an ‘ashtamangala prashne’, a ritual performed to ascertain what existed in a spot in the past, revealed that the temple was more than 3,000 years old.

Arambur Vasant Kumar, president of the temple reconstruction and renovation committee, said that the reconstruction and renovation work was being taken up based on the ‘revelations’ of the ‘ashtamangala prashne’.

Several temples of Bhadrakali, Aiyappa, and other presiding deities in villages in Kodagu had been renovated in the past seven years.

The temple, built in the Kerala style of temple architecture, was west-facing, Mr. Kumar said.

Idols of Subramani, Ganapathi and Shastavu (a village deity) had also been found in the temple.

The work of sculpting the ‘balikamba’ and the ‘dhwajastamba’ and placing a copper-plated roof above the temple had been entrusted to a team from Karkala, he said.

Another interesting piece of information given by the residents of Heravanadu is that a passage close to the temple leads to the Brahmagiri shrine of Talacauvery, 45 km from the Madurappa temple.

The ‘ashtamangala prashne’ also revealed that sages had used the passage to reach the Cauvery shrine at Talacauvery.

The temple also has a ‘devarakadu’ (sacred grove) on an area of 4.10 acres.

Mr. Kumar said that the committee was able to mobilise only Rs. 7 lakh from the public.

The committee would approach the Government for assistance, he added.

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