T. Narasipur, Venugopalaswami Betta and Nanjangud Trip - I

Last saturday, which incidentally was an Ekadasi we (6) made a trip to temples around Mysore. Well, we started as early as 5:15 in the morning!!

T. Narasipur:
'T' stands for Tirumakudalu, refering to the confluence of 3 rivers - Kaveri, Kapila and Spatika (hidden river like Saraswathi in the Triveni Sangamam). This is the place where Kumbha Mela happens once in 3 years. Needless to say, the place is divine :) We took a holy dip here.

Pancha Lingam:
The main attraction in this place is the "Pancha Lingam" (5 lingams) consecrated by Sage Agasthya.
There is an interesting legend behind this. Sage Agasthya felt that this place was Dakshina Kasi (Kasi of the South) and wanted to install a Shiva Lingam here near the holy confluence. So he asked Lord Hanuman to fetch a Lingam from Kasi (Varanasi) itself. When Hanuman din't come before the end of auspicious time, Agasthya himself made a Lingam from the local earth and consecrated it. When Hanuman came back and saw that the Lingam was installed, He, out of anger, hit the Lingam hence deforming it. From the deformed portion the mythical river Spatika came out (considered to be as sacred as Ganga). Even now, water comes out from the Lingam on top and the same is provided as Theertham / prasadham for devotees. (We got the same!!). This Lingam is called Agasthyeshwara. The temple has Someshwara and Markandeshwara also inside. The Lingam brought by Hanuman was installed outside (1 minute walk from the temple) and is called Hanumantheshwara. The fifth Lingam is around 2 km from the Agasthyeshwara temple and is called Gargeshwara. One will be welcomed by a gigantic idol of "Arthanareeswara" at the temple entrance. One more interesting thing here is that there is a Ganesha shrine, where the devotees can pray and lift the idol (small one). If one is able to lift the idol, then his/her wish will come true. Believe me, there is nothing associated with the strength of the individual. We were able to see people who were unable to lift the idol!!!

Madhwa mutt:
Just on the banks of the river, very close to the Agasthyeshwara temple, there is a mutt containing the Brindavana of Sri Sri Raghunatha Teertha who came in the lineage of Sri Sri Madhwacharya Himself. Sri Vyasaraja started writing the "Tatparya Chandrika" but couldn't finish it in His lifetime. When asked, He said, He will incarnate as the 10th Guru (as Raghunatha Teertha) in His lineage and finish the same. In addition to the Brindhavanas, there are 108 Anjaneya idols with Sri Panduranga and Chakram (similar to the one in Nava Brindhavana). It was an awesome sight!! Legend says that 108 of the Vanara sena that accompanies Sri Rama, were direct incarnation of the Devas and these 108 Anjaneya idols symbolise those 108 Devas!! There is also a HUGE number of Nagaraja idols outside!! We went round it, with a little fear :)

Gunja Narasimha Swamy temple:

This Narasimha swamy temple is on the other bank of the river (Kaveri or Kapila). When we went, bridge repair work was going on and hence we had to walk across the bridge and take an auto to the temple. The legend behind this temple is - Lord Narasimha came in the dream of a washerman and said that there is a idol of Himself along with gold coins under the stone where he washes clothes daily and asked him to build a temple. He also told that by building the temple, the washerman will get slightly (as much as a seed) more virtue than he would have got by visiting Kasi - and hence the name Gunja Narasimha.
Believe me, these places are really GREAT!! Do plan a visit somtime. Just awestruck at seeing how many temples have Sage Agasthya's mark in South India.

The remaining temples will be covered in part II of this blog.

Cheers!!