Murudeshwara is town located at coastal region in Uttar Kanada (Karnataka state). The word 'Murudeshwara' represents one of the name for lord Shiva. This town is popularly know for second tallest statue of lord Shiva (after statue of Kailashnath Mahadev situated at Sanga, around 40 km from Kathmandu in Nepal) in the world.
Murudeshwara has the railway station (around 3 km from temple) on the Manglore-Mumbai Konkan railway route. It is a small station and only 4 or 5 trains have halt at this station.
Murudeshwara Station ( Source: google images)
Time table of trains having halt at Murudeshwara (Source: cleartrip.com)
If you are travelling by road, this town is located on NH17 (Panvel-Kochi national highway) around 100 km north of Udupi and 110 km south of Karvar.
Location of Murudeshwara with respect to Karvar and Udupi
We were on Costal Karnataka trip when we visited Murudeshwara and Gokarna on same from Udupi. If you are travelling from Udupi, you must visit Maravanthe beach en-route around 50 km before Murudeshwara which is only one of its kind in India. The highway lies between Suparnika river and Arabian sea, so if you are travelling from Udupi to Murudeshwara, sea coast lies on your left hand side and river lies on your right hand side. This beach is very scenic and beautiful and you will also notice that level of sea is above that of river.
Once you reach Murudeshwara town on highway you need to turn left and travel around 2 km to reach temple complex. You get glimpse of giant Shiva statue from distance. In complex near coast, there is Murudeshwara temple which is built on hill surrounded by sea water on three sides. Next to temple giant statue of lord Shiva is constructed which around 123 ft in height.
In front of temple, 20 storied Gopuram has been constructed which is also called as 'Raj- Gopuram'. The temple authorities have provided lift facility so that visitor can go on top of the Gopuram to get beautiful view of statue and sea surrounding it. Unfortunately, on the day we visited, this lift was closed for maintenance work.
The temple premises also has has lavish gardens and different statues and sculptures. Few amazing sculptures include two big elephants at steps leading to main temple, Sun Chariot, sculpture of Geeta -upadesh by lord krishna to Arjuna, sculpture of lord Ganesha getting Atmalinga from Ravana, different rishi-muni performing their tapasya and lord Ganesha writing Mahabharata under guidelines of Vyas muni.
Do not miss to capture pictures of giant lord Shiva statue from every possible angle. You will feel like capturing more and more pics from every angle.
view of lord Shiva's statue and Gopuram from sea shore offers one of the amazing view.
It is worth spending couple of hours in this temple premises especially from top of hill where you will feel amazed divine beauty of Arabian sea on one side and statue and Gopuram on the other.
Coastal Karnataka is one of the amazing trips which one can schedule especially during monsoon season. We were in this region in second week of June so it was just beginning of rainy season. We started our journey from Udupi where we reached by Manglore express from Mumbai. We started our journey. Udupi is station on Konkan railway route. If you are travelling during rainy season, you get glimpse of many paddy rice fields, tunnels, isolated stations and surrounding nature covered with rich greenery.
Manglore express reached Udupi at around 02.00 PM. We visited world famous Shri Krishna temple which is dedicated to lord Krishna in the evening after spending some time in hotel. This is 1200 years old unique temple of lord Krishna where lord is worshiped only through a silver platted window with nine holes called the 'Navgraha Kitiki'. If you are visiting this temple in the evening you will be delighted with view inside the temple which is lighted with many diyas (typical south Indian tradition). You can also visit Brahma ratha, Goshala and fountain in temple premises.
Udupi Temple
Next day we travelled to Dharamsthala and Kukke from Udupi. Dharamsthala is a town located at around 100 km on banks of Netravati river where temple dedicated to lord Manjunatha (lord Shiva) exists. The temple is always full devotees. Just around 4 km before Dharamsthala one can stop and visit temple dedicated to lord Rama which is known as 'Ram Kshetram'. The structure of this temple is magnificent. Colors used for this temple are very attractive. There is huge Mandap in the temple. It is worth for quick stopover. After this we visited Dharmasthala temple which took around 1 hour. Please note that you will hardly find any person speaking in Hindi, so be prepared for language barrier when communicating with people even if with security guards.
Ram Kshetram
Dharamasthal temple
Lord Manjunath Swami ( Source: Google Images, not captured from my
camera as photography of idol was prohibited)
After Dharmasthala we went to Kukke which is around 50 km from Dharmasthala where Kartikeya is worshiped as Subramanya, lord of all serpents. Kukke Subramanya is abode of nagas. Here pooja is offered to lord Subramanya merged with sepent king Vasuki. Hence, it is believed to be the ultimate solace for salvation from any sort of naga doshas. Sachin Tendulkar has also visited this temple to perform Kalsarpa Pooja (you will find his pictures in temple premises on google). The temple is surrounded with beautiful hills and mountains. We returned to Udupi by evening to spend night in the hotel.
Kukke Temple
Mahaganapti Temple, Kukke
On day 3, we started our towards 'Murudeshwara' which I have covered in separate post. On the way we visited temple dedicated to lord Ganesh in the village of 'Annegudde' which is around 30 km from Udupi. The deity statue is different in it's kind.
Annegudde Temple
Lord Siddhivinayaka ( Source: Google Images, not captured
from my camera as photography of idol was prohibited)
After visiting Annegudde and Murudeshwara we went to Gokarna to visit temple dedicated to lord Shiva known as 'Mahabaleshwara' and world famous OM beach. The hemadpanthi temple is again around 2000 years old where lord Shiva exists in form 'Atmalinga'.
Gokarana Temple
OM beach is another location where thousand of tourists gets attracted. The beach is in form of OM when observed from top. This is only one kind of beach in the world in shape of OM. After visiting OM beach we went to Sirsi for our night halt.
On next day morning we visited local attraction in Sirsi Marikamba temple. This temple dedicated to goddess Durga. The outset of temple itself is different and beautiful.
Sirsi Temple
Goddess Marikamba ( Source: Google Images, not captured
from my camera as photography of idol was prohibited)
After visiting Manikamba temple, we visited 'Sahastralingam' which is located at around 20 km from Sirsi. It is place where thousands of Shiv-lingas are carved on rocks in the Shalmala river and on its bank. It is amazing to see so many Shiv-lingas in different shapes and sizes, many of them eroding due to running water of the river. This place amidst jungle and nature surrounding it is just thrilling. There is also one hanging bridge built on the river. Overall it is nice and peaceful place to visit for a change to spend good time in nature. There is another place 'Yana rocks' near Sirsi which has rock formation but we avoided it as it was raining heavily in that region.
Shiv-lingas of different shapes and sizes in flowing water of the river
Hanging bridge on the river
Shalmala river
After it we visited Jog Falls which is second highest waterfall in India. As it was just beginning of rainy season, there was not much to see at Jog falls. We were able to locate only 4 to 5 segments of waterfall and it was just like any other waterfall and it was just like any other waterfall one we see at lonaval-khandala. Please note that, if you wish to visit Jog Falls, you must visit it in mid or post mansoon season.
Jog Falls
After visiting Sirsi, we went to place known as 'Kollur'. It is village surrounded by high mountains and dense forest. This place is pilgrimage for families from Kerala which is famous for temple of Goddess 'Mokambika'. This village has very few hotels for accommodation and most hotels and eateries provides only Kerala food. If you want to see typical south Indian village lifestyle you must stay in this village at least for one night.
Kollur Village
Kollur Temple
Goddess Mokambika ( Source: Google Images, not captured
from my camera as photography of idol was prohibited)
Next day we went back to Udupi which is around 53 km from Kollur to catch our return train.
Coastal Karnataka trip is pure bond of divine nature and majestic temples and its culture. One can not miss it to experience peace of mind and direct contact with beautiful nature.
