A Trip to Mookambika Temple in South India

Mookambika Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to the Goddess Mookambika Devi in the state of Karnataka, which is in the southern part of India. For people from outside India, The city of Bangalore, if you have heard of it before, is in the same state of Karnataka and that should give you a rough idea of where the location is.

I am from Bangalore and that meant we were pretty close enough to make this trip. Not close enough though, as Kollur(the place where the temple is at) is about 400+ km from where we are. We were evaluating the best way to get to the place and we had many options. We could drive down the whole 400+ km, we could take 5.5 hours overnight train till Mangalore, arriving in the wee hours of the morning and then take a bus for the next 120 km or we could take a 55 mins flight down to Mangalore and then take the bus all the way to Kollur.

Driving down wasn't definitely an option for us, considering the distance that needed to be traveled and also not knowing the route meant we would take that much longer to reach the destination. After much discussion, we decided on taking the flight to Mangalore and then using the bus for the last 120 km.

The flight was uneventful and like any other quick one hour flight. After taking the baggage from the airport, we then took a cab and headed to the bus stand. We had not looked up the timings for the buses and was expecting to have a delay but was however happy to notice that buses were readily available. In fact, these buses were waiting for having a good amount of passengers come on board and then depart the station.

About three hours into the trip, the region we were going through turned out to be this heavily forested area, a lovely view to look at while the bus grudgingly moved on to take us to the destination. It was about 5 in the evening when the bus entered the Kollur Bus stand. The stand was about a short distance from the temple and the hotels close to the temples.

After checking in to the rooms, we had a shower, changed clothes and got ready to visit the temple. I wish I had my own photos from the visit but sadly I never did capture any photographs and have only the photos taken by my parents on their phone which I am sharing here.

The Goddess is considered to be the one to pray to especially for students as the Goddess is associated with learning.

The huge light tower you see in the photo is right inside the entrance and in front of the entrance to the central temple where the shrine is. This, as you can see in the photo, is lit by cotton wicks in ghee or oil, all the way up to the topmost tip.

They also at this point was taking the deity from the shrine to be placed on a chariot and to be taken around the outer path circling the inner shine.

The above picture is of the chariot being prepared as they waited for the deity to be brought outside.

This was a shoulder-carriage thing in which the deity would be placed as it is being taken outside.

Yes, that's a golden chariot.

I think the best thing about the temple is the utmost peace that you find and feel inside your heart when you are there. It's the most powerful thing. Something that needs to be experienced and felt.

I am glad that I was able to.

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