DHARMASTHALA - SRIMANJUNATHA DEVALAYA

Here is a spiritual treasure of inexhaustible worth that is raising the Mother Bharat to the pinnacle of ineffable glory. This divya kshetra mirrors the most worshipful religious tolerance, and the highest virtues of co-operation and commendable cohabitation. Ironical it may appear that this highest and most adorable Saivate Deity has a Vaishnavate Preist, and to crown as it were, the temple built, developed, and is maintained by a Jain Pithadhipathi. It is justifying its name -- Dharmasthala by being the unofficial seat of highest judicature, for adjudicating civil cases, whose verdicts are accepted as divine and all abiding. It has many creditable points, as its emergence itself is imbued with divine mystery.

Dharmashthala temple possesses seven separate temples -one for the Chandranathaswamy, who was worshipped by the venerable Jain Perggades first, and four for the Dharma Daivas, one for Manjunathaswamy and the final one for Annappa, who became instrumental in making this shrine into an All-faith temple of eternal importance and universal adoration. It is befitting then that he too should receive adoration. Hence his presence in a separate shrine. Kuduma, the place once dominated by one temple for Jairis, now proudly boasts of having seven, the most veneration-worthy separate temples, catering to the needs of all people.

Of the seven deities worshipped with all paraphernalia, Manjunathaswamy receives Agrapuja. The Sivalinga is about three feet in height and is well adorned with floral decorations in such an enchanting way that it me erises the devotees at a single sight. Many commendable traditions are practised for the benefit of all classes of people. A miss not temple of intercontinental fame.

It lies 56 km off Mangalore, the famous city in the South Canara district of Karnataka.

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