Omkareshwara Temple, Madikeri (Coorg)

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Welcome back to my posts on Coorg travel. As I promised in my last post, I will provide details about the destinations in Madikeri.

Let me start with Omkareshwara Temple. This temple is located in the heart of Madikeri city. This is a small beautiful temple built by Kodagu King Lingaraja in 1820 CE. A well-maintained tank in front of the temple enhances the beauty and serenity of the temple.

In India, all the temples have a legend apart from the historical information. This temple too has its own legend. It is said that king Lingaraja killed a "Brahmin" (a person belonging to the Hindu priest community) for his political ambitions. That Brahmin became a "Brahma rakshasa" (a powerful evil force) and started troubling the king. To get rid of the "rakshasa", the king brought a Shivalinga idol from Varanasi (Kasi) and installed it in this place. He named this Shivalinga as "Omkareshwara".

The temple's architecture is both Islamic and Gothic styles. The temple's presiding deity is Shivalinga (Omkareshwara). There are small shrines of Lord Ganesh and Lord Subramanya too found. In front of the tank, there is a small shrine where the idols of Lord Shiva and Parvathi are kept.

The temple's "prakara" (corridor surrounding the main shrine) is full of paintings and photographs of various Hindu Gods, Goddesses, and temples.

Coorg Travel Guide


Do travel to this holy place, which is the most important pilgrimage at Madikeri. We will explore together more places in Madikeri (Coorg) in my next post. Till then....

Happy travelling. :-)

Visit my site, krishnakumartk.com to know about the travel guides and other books that I have written.


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Location: Madikeri, Karnataka 571201, India

Comments

  1. BaluSaturday, March 06, 2010

    i agree with u that the omkareswara temple is an ancient beautiful shiva temple

    ReplyDelete
  2. RajagopalanSunday, March 07, 2010

    Maintenance of temple tank is a rarity in India and this temple stands an exception to this culture1 great!

    ReplyDelete

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