The historic Sri Venkataramana Temple, popularly known as Mallyar Mutt (to distinguish it from another Venkataramana Temple in Mel Gangolli), is one of the oldest places of worship in the Karnataka region. It is one of five temples constructed by the Mahale family of Honavar (originally the Mallya family), who were prominent and influential traders as well as courtiers of the Keladi Nayaka rulers. Of these temples, the one in Venkatapura could not be traced. The other three are fairly well known.
- Shri Venkatramana Temple, Hejamadi
- Shri Veera Venkatramana Temple, Honavar.
- Shri Varadaraja Venkataramana Temple, Kasargod
The Mallyar Mutt temple was constructed at the initiative of Narayana Mallya of the Mahale family, who wielded considerable influence at the Keladi court. A stone inscription dated 1662 records that the village of Gangoli was granted as an inam by King Bhadrappa Nayaka of Nagar (r. 1661–1663) to Narayana Mallya. In 1668, Narayana Mallya commenced construction of the temple in the eastern part of the village and endowed it with lands yielding an annual income of 120 muras of rice from his inam holdings.
In its early phase, the temple consisted only of the sanctum sanctorum. The inner halls, corridors, compound walls, flagpoles, and temple pond were added later. The idol of Lord Venkataramana was consecrated in 1674, after which the administration of the temple was entrusted to the Senapur Acharya family.
A stone inscription dated 1674 at Senapur records that Queen Channammaji granted an annual cash endowment of Rs. 400 to the temple, drawn from the revenues of the village of Senapur. In 1789, Tipu Sultan resumed this cash grant and imposed taxes on the lands endowed to the temple and held by the descendants of Narayana Mallya. Unable to meet these demands, the family abandoned the village.
In 1800, Captain Munro, the first Collector of Kanara, reassigned the responsibility of managing these lands to Naranappa Nayak. The archakas (temple priests) continued to pay the assessments levied during Tipu Sultan’s period. In 1870, one member of this family sold his half share of the endowed lands.
Subsequently, the remaining holdings were handed over on 16 March 1945 to the 22nd Pontiff, Sri Dwarakanath Teertha Swamiji, of the Partagali Gokarna Math. Notably, Gangolli was the birthplace of both Sri Dwarakanath Teertha Swamiji and Sri Vidyadhiraj Teertha Swamiji.
Resources: History of Dakshinatya Saraswats by VN Kudva
P.S. For a detailed account of the exceptionally influential and astute Mallya (Mahale) family during the Nayaka period:
- see pages 150–158 of the following dissertation:
https://repository.ubn.ru.nl/bitstream/handle/2066/196150/196150.pdf - Read the discovery of their family history by the Kamats’ on https://kamat.com/kalranga/konkani/mahales/index.htm