Idagunji Sri Ganesha Temple- Karnataka

Address

Idagunji Road, Idagunji Katri,

Uttara Kannada District,

Karnataka 581423

Moolavar

Sri Ganesha

Introduction

Shree Vinayaka Devaru is dedicated to the god Ganesha (Vinayaka), located on the West Coast of India in the Idagunji town in Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka state, India. The temple’s popularity as a religious place is recorded by about 1 million devotees visiting it annually. It is one of the six famous Ganesha temples on the west coast of India, which is also popularly called the “Ganesha Coast”.

Puranic Significance

The importance of the temple is attributed to a legend, occurring at the end of the Dvapara Yuga before the onset of Kali Yuga (the present epoch or era). Every one feared the advent of Kali Yuga, as the god Krishna was about to leave earth for his divine abode at the end of Dvapara Yuga. Sages started performing austerities and prayers seeking Krishna’s help to overcome all impediments of Kali Yuga. Sages led by Valakhilya started rituals in Kunjavana, a forest area on the banks of the Sharavati River in Karnataka which joins the Arabian Sea. During this period, he encountered many obstacles in performing the sacrifice and was very disturbed. He, therefore, sought the advice of the divine sage Narada, seeking suitable ways to tackle the problem. Narada advised Valakhilya to seek the blessings of Ganesha – the remover of obstacles – before restarting his sacrifice.

At the request of the sages, Narada selected a site for the rite on the banks of the River Sharavathi, at Kunjavana, seeking Ganesha’s intervention. Even the Trinity (the gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) had visited this place in the past to bring an end to the demons who were involved in destroying the earth. The gods had even created the sacred lakes Chakratirtha and Brahmatirtha at that time. Narada and the other sages created a new sacred pond called Devatirtha. Narada invited the gods and requested Ganesha’s mother Parvati to send Ganesha. The rites were performed and hymns recited extolled Ganesha. Pleased by their devotion, Ganesha consented to remain at the site to help them conduct the rituals without any trouble. On this occasion, one more lake was also created and named as Ganesha-tirtha to fetch water to the temple. The same location is now called the Idagunji, where the Ganesh Temple was built by the devotees around 4th-5th century CE.

Special Features

The central icon of the Idagunji Temple dates to 4-5th century CE. The image of Ganesha in dvibhuja style, similar to that of the Gokarna Ganesha temple, nearby Idagunji. He has two arms and is standing on a stone slab. His right hand holds a lotus bud, and he holds a modak sweet in other hand. He wears a garland across the chest in the style of a yagnopavita (sacred thread). Ganesha is adorned with a necklace of small bells. A rat, the vahana or vehicle of Ganesha, always depicted alongside Ganesha, is not depicted in this image. The image is 83 centimeters tall and 59 centimeters in width and is placed on stone pedestal.

THE IDOL

The temple is quite big. The Ganesha idol is in a standing posture, with extremely short legs, and a depression on the head. The “Dwibhuja Ganapathy” or two handed Ganesha is holding Modaka and Padma (Lotus) in his hands. The idol is of black stone.