We visited Gokarna Oct 4-8th, 2011. Gokarnam is a Padal Petra Sthalam in Tuluva Nadu. Tuluvam (Tulu) is one of the five Dravidian languages, others being Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. Gokarna is sung by Appar and Sambandar. The padhigams talk about sea, mountains, forests and animals like elephants, lions, tigers.
Gokarna is a tricky place to visit as it is sandwidched between the Western Ghats and the sea. From Chennai, we took Mysore Express to Bangalore, Hubli Janashatabdi to Birur, Mysore - Talaguppa Intercity to Talaguppa. We were staying in Om Beach Resorts in Gokarna. We had asked them to send a car to pick us up. Talaguppa is a tiny station. You have to arrange prior pick up. There is some interesting history about Shimoga - Talaguppa railway. We reached Talaguppa at 2pm.
Jog falls, India's highest falls, is 10km from Talaguppa. You can see the falls from the top. Or go down 1450 steps to see from the bottom. There are big crowds swimming at the bottom. July - August are probably better to see the falls with full water flow.
We reached Gokarna at 7pm. Gokarna is a very small town/ village. Your stay options are limited. Om Beach Resorts was decent. Other than having darisanam of Mahabaleswarar, Gokarna is also known as a beach resort. Frequented by back packers from abroad as a cheaper alternative to Goa. The place a quaint mixture of divinity, drugs, sun, beaches, sands, mountains and forests.
The next day morning, we started from the resort after breakfast. The temple is 2km/ 15 minute walk. Mind you, the resort is outside the know, amidst hills/ forests, no mobile signals. We walked the lonely path fo5 15 min and suddenly you in the Radham Street, the main street of the village where Mahabaleswarar comes out in procession in a radham. The priests of the temple live the street. The houses have boards proclaiming the names, and every one is a hereditary chief priest.
Our friend had referred us to Shri Anantraj Adi, Hereditary Chief Priest, We learnt his grand father, Dattatreya Adi, father, Parameswara Adi were are Hereditary Chief Priests and now he is the Chief Priest. We went into his home, were welcomed and met his brother. We could see a number of rooms and many families were staying. The families were all guests from other towns, visiting Gokarna, staying at the Priest's home and doing their worship.
We chose to do Ksheerabhishekam and Archanai. The priest brought out a plate on which kunkumam, chandanam, akshadai were all neatly arranged, a vessel of milk and we were ready to go.
A 2 min walk, you enter the Maha Ganapathy temple. This Pillayar, instigated by Naradar, obtained the Athma Lingam from Ravanan, and cleverly placed it in Gokarnam. The priest does the Sankalpam, he chants the mantras and you can worship the Lord yourself. Anyone can touch him, do abhishekam, neivedyam etc. So, we performed the pooja to Pillayar.
Across the road is Mahabaleswarar. Anyone can touch and worship Mahabaleswarar too. The Priest chanted the mantras and we performed the puja. Mahabaleswarar is buried in the land and you can only touch and fell the cavity at the top of the Lord. The temple is a small temple, was not crowded at all. We completed the puja, did pradakshinam , had darisanam of Tamra Gowri, the ambal.
Mahabaleswarar faces the sea. We came out and we were in Gokarna beach. There are many beaches in Gokarna. We walked from Gokarna beach to Kudle beach to the better known Om beach. We found the Gokarna beach very clean, not crowded, not too many waves. Kudle is muddy, full of waves, with foreigners in bikinis and less. We could see syringes lying around. Om beach is crowded with Indians, rocky, muddy, and rough.The whole walk took us 4 hours.
Next morning, we visited Murudeswar, Soleswarar in Bhatkal, Kollur and Mattur, the Sanskrit village. We took a train from Shimoga to Bangalore to Chennai.
Photos
Anantraj Dattatray Adi, Shankar Gangadhar Adi, Chief Priests, Gokarna
Phone 08386 256532, 94496 64428
Gokarna is a tricky place to visit as it is sandwidched between the Western Ghats and the sea. From Chennai, we took Mysore Express to Bangalore, Hubli Janashatabdi to Birur, Mysore - Talaguppa Intercity to Talaguppa. We were staying in Om Beach Resorts in Gokarna. We had asked them to send a car to pick us up. Talaguppa is a tiny station. You have to arrange prior pick up. There is some interesting history about Shimoga - Talaguppa railway. We reached Talaguppa at 2pm.
Jog falls, India's highest falls, is 10km from Talaguppa. You can see the falls from the top. Or go down 1450 steps to see from the bottom. There are big crowds swimming at the bottom. July - August are probably better to see the falls with full water flow.
We reached Gokarna at 7pm. Gokarna is a very small town/ village. Your stay options are limited. Om Beach Resorts was decent. Other than having darisanam of Mahabaleswarar, Gokarna is also known as a beach resort. Frequented by back packers from abroad as a cheaper alternative to Goa. The place a quaint mixture of divinity, drugs, sun, beaches, sands, mountains and forests.
The next day morning, we started from the resort after breakfast. The temple is 2km/ 15 minute walk. Mind you, the resort is outside the know, amidst hills/ forests, no mobile signals. We walked the lonely path fo5 15 min and suddenly you in the Radham Street, the main street of the village where Mahabaleswarar comes out in procession in a radham. The priests of the temple live the street. The houses have boards proclaiming the names, and every one is a hereditary chief priest.
Our friend had referred us to Shri Anantraj Adi, Hereditary Chief Priest, We learnt his grand father, Dattatreya Adi, father, Parameswara Adi were are Hereditary Chief Priests and now he is the Chief Priest. We went into his home, were welcomed and met his brother. We could see a number of rooms and many families were staying. The families were all guests from other towns, visiting Gokarna, staying at the Priest's home and doing their worship.
We chose to do Ksheerabhishekam and Archanai. The priest brought out a plate on which kunkumam, chandanam, akshadai were all neatly arranged, a vessel of milk and we were ready to go.
A 2 min walk, you enter the Maha Ganapathy temple. This Pillayar, instigated by Naradar, obtained the Athma Lingam from Ravanan, and cleverly placed it in Gokarnam. The priest does the Sankalpam, he chants the mantras and you can worship the Lord yourself. Anyone can touch him, do abhishekam, neivedyam etc. So, we performed the pooja to Pillayar.
Across the road is Mahabaleswarar. Anyone can touch and worship Mahabaleswarar too. The Priest chanted the mantras and we performed the puja. Mahabaleswarar is buried in the land and you can only touch and fell the cavity at the top of the Lord. The temple is a small temple, was not crowded at all. We completed the puja, did pradakshinam , had darisanam of Tamra Gowri, the ambal.
Mahabaleswarar faces the sea. We came out and we were in Gokarna beach. There are many beaches in Gokarna. We walked from Gokarna beach to Kudle beach to the better known Om beach. We found the Gokarna beach very clean, not crowded, not too many waves. Kudle is muddy, full of waves, with foreigners in bikinis and less. We could see syringes lying around. Om beach is crowded with Indians, rocky, muddy, and rough.The whole walk took us 4 hours.
Next morning, we visited Murudeswar, Soleswarar in Bhatkal, Kollur and Mattur, the Sanskrit village. We took a train from Shimoga to Bangalore to Chennai.
Photos
Anantraj Dattatray Adi, Shankar Gangadhar Adi, Chief Priests, Gokarna
Phone 08386 256532, 94496 64428
