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Articles: Travelogue | Mookambika Shrine of Kollur
- Prof. venkata ramanamurty mallajosyula
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Pilgrimage Center of South India BY MANOJ SADASIVAN
Kollur, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, a place referred to in the Skanda Purana, and believed to have been the refuge of several sages and yogis, including the Adi Shankaracharya, is one of the most revered pilgrimage sites of South India.
The Mookambika Shrine
The temple of the Goddess Mookambika, Mother of the Universe, is situated in Kollur, 140 kms away from Mangalore, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. The holy shrine is in the foreground of lush tropical forests covering the Kudajaddiri hills on the banks of river Souparnika, which is a confluence of the mainstreams Kasitheertham and Agnitheertham originating from the Kudajaddiri hills.
In this ancient temple, the Mother of the Universe is represented as a young girl sitting in the mystic Padmasana yogic pose, four-armed, holding the conch and the discus, and expressing the 'Abheeshta' and 'Abhaya' mudras that promises life's natural desires and fulfillment, and the assurance of freedom from fear respectively.
It is believed that the graceful idol, made of an alloy of five metals (Panchaloha), was installed by Sri Aadi Shankaracharya himself. Before Sri Shankara's arrival there was only the Jyotirlingam in the shrine, almost flat and round, placed in front of the idol. Inside the Sreekovil (the inner recess) prayers can be offered to Lord Ganesha and at the Shankara Simhasanam, the spot where the holy saint meditated and had the gifted vision of the Universal Mother.
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