Shri Durgaparameshwari Temple

Hello friends, again, long time since a new blog has been published, so, this is one which talks about the Shri Durgaparmeshwari Temple in Keetal, Karnataka.

The Shri Durgaparmeshwari Temple is one of the most famous temples of Karnataka because of its religious importance mainly but also the rituals that are carried out in this temple.

Before talking about its rituals, let us know about the temple. It is situated towards east of Mangaluru in Kateel and is located on an island in Nandini river. The temple is dedicated to the goddess Durga Parmeshwari in the form of an Udhbava Moorthi. The reason of the creation of the place is interesting, let me talk about it. So, there was a demon known as Arunasura who secured special powers from Lord Brahma that no two or four legger creatures could kill him. So, with this boon, he wreaked havoc on earth, and no one was able to stop him, Goddess Durga saw this and to save the world, she turned herself into a rock. Arunasura attempted to kill the goddess by the storm, but she had become a rock by then, which made him furious that caused him to crush the rock. Inside the rock, were an army of bees that emerged, stinging Arunasura to death because bees were neither two legged, nor four, hence they could override the special powers of the demon. To celebrate this victory, sages and saints performed special pujas and eventually established the Durga Parmeshwari Temple.

Now, let us talk about its architecture. To start off, the divine rock that we spoke about in the previous paragraph of Goddess Durga is an udhbhavlinga which means that it was self-manifested and not installed by anyone unlike other temples and this makes it special. The golden chariot housed at the temple complex is the biggest gold chariot in Karnataka and it is worth around four billion rupees or 180 million dirhams. The architecture of the temple resembles the Kerala style of construction. In the entrance of the temple, there is a rock which is the Raktheshwari form of the Goddess from where she came out as a bee to kill the demon Arunasura.

Major festivals celebrated at the Kateel Durga Parmeshwari Temple are:

1. Annual Festival – Every year, the temple flag is hoisted in the temple called as the Dhvajarohana.

2. Vasanthotsava – The festival marks the beginning of the spring season by following special poojas and rituals for the goddess and lots of flowers, fruits and vegetable are offered to the goddess first and then later distributed to devotees as Prasadam.

3. Sri Krishna Janmashtami – The temple celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna in a grand manner by following the ritual of Mosarakudde(an earthen pot filled with buttermilk that is hung on top between two poles)

There are more festivals celebrated in an amazing and fun manner which enlightens the people of that region, but there is one major ritual that is followed yearly that almost attracts the people from different countries, which is the Agni Keli ritual also known as Thuthedhara.

It is a literal game of flinging fire balls at each other as teams. Two teams are formed that come from parts of Karnataka especially from the Kodetur and Attur villages. Playing with fire makes it a dangerous sport, especially without any protection. The reason behind people playing this game is said to be because of an event that had occurred during the birth of Durga Parmeshwari. To get rid of a demon, all the gods transferred their respective powers to a pit of holy fire, to a holy flame, which in turn was given to Goddess Durga and when all these flames came together, the combined power of all those weapons gave rise to the Goddess. However, to please the goddess, one must follow a lengthy procedure. First, the temple is decorated like a bride, followed by a host of venerations that are to be conducted and then begins the Goddess’s special and unique procession. As this procession progresses, the hearts of the people start to beat faster, as they get close to witness the amazing game. The reason for the people of villages Attur and Kodetur participating in the game is believed to be because of the struggle that might have taken place between these villages hundreds of years ago, and it is a symbolic representation of the battle between them. Before starting the game, the players apply vermilion (Kumkum) all over their bodies and place some flowers over their ears. Both the team players get palm fonds which is burnt to commence the game. They also have a stick with fire on top, which they collect from the burning palm fronds, and then the war starts, people throw the sticks from one side to the other and people get anxious and anxious.

So, this was all about the temple, it’s architecture, history and its amazing ritual called as Agni Keli. Please do comment and like if you learnt something new form this blog.

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Thank you!

Credits

OMG, Yeh Mera India! – For information and idea

Hitendra Molleti – Checking and assisting in writing