Karnataka templese - Mahimapura Garuda Ranganathaswamy hill temple

Mahimapura Garuda Ranganatha Swamy temple is a temple very near to Bengaluru City. It is about 52 km. The temple is in a small village actually a hamlet. The temple is on rocky hill. The hill is about 300 feet in height. There are steps made by cutting notches n the rocky hill. On both the side of the steps steel railings are fixed to hold as support for climbing. But the climb is a bit steep with around 300 steps to the top of the hill. The temple is small and is on top of the hill. The sanctum sanctorum houses the idols of the deities Lord Ranganathaswamy, his consort goddess Lakshmi and the Lord’s vehicle/carrier the Garuda (golden eagle – Krishna Parunthu).

The uniqueness of this Mahimapura Garuda Ranganathaswamy hill temple is that the main deity the Lord Ranganatha is in the form of a jaggery mound (Nirakari). The Lord is like the Lord Venkataramana with Shankhu (conch shell), Chakra (discuss) in two hands and the other two hands in the posture of Abhaya and Varada. The idol of the deity of Garuda is also in the Garbha Griha along with his master. Here Garuda is equally important as his master. Normally in other temples of Lord Vishnu, the Garuda will be present in the dwajasthamba (flag pole) or as a sub deity or as a carrier fixed in from of his master ready to carry his master wherever his master wants to go.

From Bangalore city there are 3 trips of bus service. But there is more bus service from the town of Nelamangala a town in the Bangalore district on the way to Mahimapura Garuda Ranganathaswamy hill temple village from Bangalore city.

It being a hamlet there may not be food facility there. But if only 3 – 4 people are there in the group, if intimated to the family of the priest of the temple in advance, they will make vegetarian food for about Rs 40 per head. If the group is having more members, the priest has to be informed well in advance. Otherwise, Nelamangala town is having food joint to suit all which is only about 20 km from the hamlet.

The hamlet is a beautiful pristine one without the corruption of the city in addition to the Mahimapura Garuda Ranganatha Swamy temple . A visit to the temple and spending some time in the village will be strengthening the body and mind.

Karanataka temples Sivaganga (Sivagange) Gangadhareswara temple

Near to Bengaluru about 60 km on the National Highway There is a hill temple of Lord Siva, The Gangadhareswara. The hill is a tall one. This temple is a cave temple in the hill with tall Gopura (temple tower) at the entrance to the temple. Entering through the gopura we will reach the hall and at the end of the hall the sanctum sanctorum (Garbhs Gudi)of the Lord Gangadhareswara is there. The deity of Lord Gangadhareswara is in the form of a Linga. Behind the sanctum there is a hole in the rock and lucky people can touch the water in the hole if they lie down and put the hand inside. It is the belief that those who can touch the water are blessed by the Lord Gangadhareswara. On the way there are other shrines in the hills and few Nandi statues. There are also few water springs on the way some with very little water and some with water up to waist deep. It is a wonder that at the height in the dry rocks water springs and water bodies are present. From the highest point of the hills one can have the view of the towns around for a long distance. It is not only a religious place. It is a good picnic spot also. On Sundays it will be over crowded. Elderly persons may find it difficult to climb to the top. There are small steps or notches made on the rock to climb and on both sides of the steps/notches railings are provided for holding. For them there is a temple at the bottom of the same deity of Lord Gangadhareswara. The place is having large number of monkeys. They do not harm normally but check the persons, sometimes even the pocket fir eatables. They may take or snatch cameras or mobiles and throw away which cannot be retrieved. People should take the items in closed bags. On top food will not be available as people plan the trip in such a way that they return to a nearby town by afternoon. It is a place worth visiting.

Kerala Temple Sabarimala Ayyappa – Sri Dharma Sastha Temple festivals and rituals

 Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple

Sabarimala is the temple where maximum pilgrims (devotees)visit in Kerala on annual basis. In the entire South India this is the 2^ndbusiest temple after the Tirumala Thirupathi Srinivasa temple in Andhra Pradesh. Sabarimala is a hill shrine has to be reached by walk and climb of steep hills of the western Ghat ranges in the Pathanamthitta District of Kerala State in South India. The vehicle to the temple can go only up to the holy Pampa River. The Sabarimala Temple is dedicated to the Lord Ayyappa who is the incarnation of the Lord Sri Dharma Sastha. The temple is not open on all the 365 days of the year unlike other temples of Kerala. The Main period of worship is during the Mandala pooja times which starts around November middle and ends in the last week of December. After that the temple will be closed for few days and will open again during the 1^stweek of January. 

Sabarimala temple is a unique temple in India

This is a unique temple and may be the only one or one of the very few temples in India where any person irrespective of the religion,caste, community can go and offer worship. The only exception is that women between the age of 10 and 50 are not allowed to offer worship and are not allowed in the temple. The reason is that the period of menses may interfere and since strict observance of abstaining is required the presence of the women may create problem, for the other devotees. For the normal prescribed way of worship and pooja at this temple strict adherence of prescribe code of life is to be followed.Once the devotee wears the garland of beads known as ‘Mudra garland’ he/she is called by all as Ayyappa Swamy or Swamy or Ayyappa irrespective religion,caste, creed or community or age or sex by everybody. That person is identified with the Lord. There are 2 types of devotees or pilgrims who visit the temple. This is in tune with the Hindu philosophy of ‘Adwaith’ (non dual - that is god and self is one and the same). When one climbs the 18 steps to enter the temple complex the first thing on which the eye falls is a board at the entrance of the temple building with the word ‘Thathwamasi’ (meaning you are that – that means god) One group is the casual pilgrims who may be about 10 to 15 % only of the total devotees worshiping here, who go there and just worship and come. They have separate entrance to the premises of the shrine. The other group the main group comprising 85 to 90 % of the devotees go through the eighteen steps to be climbed to enter the shrine.  This entrance is allowed only to those devotees who observe the code of the temple prescribed for the devotees. 

The Mandala Vrath or code to be observed 

The code includes the color of the dress which can be black, saffron or yellow. These devotees have to observe certain minimum conditions.They include the abstinence from all sensual pleasures like sex, non vegetarian food, smoking and drinking liquors etc. They have to get up early in the morning before 5 am take bath, go to a temple nearby to pray and come home and do some pooja and Bhajans for some time. Then only they can have their coffee/tea or the lite refreshments. As far as possible they should avoid going out and spent time thinking about the almighty or good things only. If they go out they have to take bath on entering the house. They can have light lunch of simple food. Evenings they have o take bath and go to temples and pray and worship at home. This code was supposed to be observed for a ‘Mandala’ period.A Mandala period is 41 days. At the end of this period only the devotees are to climb the 18 steps to the temple. But now it is not strictly followed. It can be from to more than 41 days according to the intensity of the devotion of the pilgrim. When the code is to start the devotee has to wear a garland of beads mostly of dry Thulasi stems or Rudraksha beads. If the devotee is going for the first time, he has to take the vratha under an experienced guru (teacher) who is one have visited the Sabarimala temple for 18 times observing the codes. These are only the brief details and the actual observance is more elaborate and severe.

Irumudi Kettu

Iru mudi kettu (means 2 knotted bundles). As the name suggest the devotee has to carry a bundle of 2 knots. One knot contains the item for worship at the temple and on the way shrines. The other is the personal belongings. The filling up of this Irumudi kettu is known as the kettu Nirakkal (filling up of the bundle). This has to be done under the guidance of the Guruswamy. 

Mandala pooja at Sabarimala temple

The Mandala pooja is done during the period Mandala. Though Mandala means 41 days usually the period of Mandala is observed from the 1^stof Malayalam month named Vrischika (Scorpio zodiac) and continues up to 11 days of the next month of Dhanu (Sagittarius zodiac). This period normally falls from mid November to the end week of December.  On these days there will be daily poojas in the temple and devotees can go and worship. On the last day of the Mandala a special pooja called the Mandala pooja will be performed. After this the temple will be closed for few days. Again it will be opened from the 1^stweek of January to the 15^th of January for the Makara vilakku poojas. 

Makara vilakku festival

Makara vilakku festival is the most important festival of the Sabarimala temple. During this period the temple will have the maximum number of pilgrims visiting and the maximum congregation on any single day will be on the Makara vilakku day. The festival culminates in the Makara vilakku functions.Makara vilakku is a ritual of the temple of lighting of a huge quantity of at a distance of 4 km. The lighted  camphor can be seen at Sabarimala across the distance of 4 km. The light will appear like flickering due to the flame o the camphor. This was earlier mistaken as the Makara Jyoti for a long period till2008 when the temple authorities explained that it is a man made camphor fire at the time of the Makara Samkramam (transition of Sun from the zodiac Sagittariusto Capricorn). The transition time of Sun into the Makara month (Capricorn) is known as the Makara Samkramam. Makara Samkramam is a very important holy day for the entire Hindus. This is the day when the Utharayana (northern hemisphere– celestial) period. This period is till the Karkataka Samkramam which is also very important to the Hindus. From the Karkataka Samkramam to Makara Samkramam it is Dakshinayanam period. The lighting of the camphor at the Samkramam is the Makara vilakku. The camphor fire light will appear three times around 6.30 pm how it is done is to light the camphor and after a few seconds the flame will be extinguished by use of wet gunny bags throwing over the camphor fire. After a gape of some seconds the process will be repeated 2 more times so that the light appears thrice. There is coordination between the Sabarimala temple priest and the person responsible at the Ponnambala medu to synchronize the actions of both the places. The third time light will coincide with the opening of the Sanctum door at Sabarimala temple to do the deeparadhana (aarathi) to the lord in the presence of about a million devotees. At the time of the Samkramam a star will appear in the sky which is the Makara star. This is known as the Makara Jyoti. 

The next day after the usual connected functions like the Malikapurathamma procession and Guruthi pooja the temple will close. 

The temple does not open of all days of all the months.Apart from the above mentioned festival times of Mandala pooja and Makaravilakku festivals the temple will open only on the 1^st of every Malayalam calendar moths for 5 days when the devotees may go and offer the worship.