Situated about 35 km from Mangalore is the quaint town of Moodbidri as it is now called or Mudabidure or Biderayanagara or Venupura or Vamsapura as it has been called at various points in history. All these names are linked to the wild bamboo (Bidure) growth in the area and the Venu (flute) made out of them. But all that is history now! Today, you will hardly find any bamboo growth in the region except for a place called ‘Soans Farm‘ established by the Soans group that runs a couple of other eco-tourism spots along the coast of Karnataka.
A Google Search on ‘Moodabidri’, will bring up a lot of articles around it being the Jain Kashi with its most popular 1000 pillared Jain temple which is a legend in itself. However, there are very very few articles on the three GSB temples that are core to the town – the Venkatramana temple, the Mahalasa temple and the Karnik Hanuman Temple. The Venkataramana and Hanuman temples are strongly associated with each other.
It is a tradition that before commencing any auspicious occasion, a prayer is offered to the deity to request his/her blessing that all the festivities are carried on without any vighn (interruptions). In Moodabidri, before commencing any festivities at the SVLT temple, a prayer is offered not just to Lord Venkataramana but also Lord Hanuman. Similarly, any such offering for festivities at the Hanuman temple is also offered at the Venkataramana temple. The visit to one is incomplete without a visit to the other. Lord Hanuman is the Mukhyaprana while Lord Venkataramana his Lord (Odeya) is the Sarvaprana.
As the title suggests, Hanuman (Hanumantu) temple here is very well known for fulfilling the wishes of his devotees. In fact, it is popular locally as the Karnik (wish-fulfilling) Hanumanta temple. Often devotees from all castes and religions come here with their wishes offering tender coconuts in return for fulfillment of their wishes. The fact that the temple receives on an average 5000 tender coconuts (elleniru) every day is a testament to people’s faith.
We do not have exact historical records but is believed the story starts about 900 years ago. Moodbidri at that time was governed by the Jain Chowta chieftains who governed these lands for the Vijayanagara empire (feudal system). One day, when the local Chowta chieftain was unwell, the herbal medicine prescribed by a GSB called Shrinivas Mallya helped cure the chietain. Pleased by this the Vijayanagara rulers gifted Mallya with three statues – the Hanuman, Marigudi Mahamayi and Subramanya. The Hanuman statue was installed in a small temple with a thatched hay roof. Then in 1932, one Anantrai Vitthal Prabhu made a generous donation to renovate the temple. The temple as we see it today was rebuilt in 1991, through the blessings of the Shri Kashi Math pontiff Shri Sudhindra Teertha Swami. Recently in 2016, the temple space was expanded to accommodate the growing number of devotees.
There have been many interesting stories on the miracles experienced by those who have faith in our Karnik Hanumantu. Some of the more known ones are here:
- In 2013, ancient and precious idols core to the Jain religion were stolen from the Siddhanth Mandir in Moodbidri. Apparently, the head of that temple committee on the advice of a friend committed to offering 1008 tender coconuts to Lord Hanuman and prayed for the return of the idols. All the stolen material was found soon after.
- A few decades back, when the temple was less popular and there were limited visitors, one day, the archak (priest) realised that he had no tender coconut to offer during the pooja. He went to a local farm and asked a labourer to give him a tender coconut from the coconut tree. The labourer said he cannot give one without the permission of the master. The priest returned disappointed. In some time, the owner of the land arrived at the temple with tender coconut. It seems after the priest had left the farm, the coconut tree caught fire and when the landlord came rushing, the labourer told him what had happened. As soon as the fresh coconut was offered to the Lord, the fire cooled off.
- One day two devotees, both neighbours arrived with conflicting prayers. One, a farmer was hoping that it would rain the next day and the other who had his daughter’s marriage the next day wished that the rain should not dampen the celebrations. Hanuman did not disappoint both. Miraculously, it rained on the fields but there was no rain on the neighboring wedding venue.
For those interested in hearing the miracles bestowed by Lord Hanumantha from the beneficiaries themselves check out this video in Kannada
P.S: I feel like God divined for me to write this article. It so happened that the Youth of GSB did an amazing video on these temples. I have never visited them but a deep long unfulfilled desire in my mind overwhelmed me and it somehow felt that God was listening. As if by a miracle, in a week my wish was fulfilled.