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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Sirsi Marikamba Temple

Sirsi Marikamba Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Marikamba Devi (Durga Devi), located in Sirsi, Karnataka, It is also known as Marigudi. It was built in 1688. Sirsi Shri Marikamba Devi is the "elder sister" of all Marikamba Devi's in Karnataka.

Features

The temple's façade, a 19th-century addition, is painted blue. After one enters through the façade, there is courtyard in the middle, which has cloisters surrounding it. The cloisters are filled with images of deities from the Hindu epics. The changes made inside the temple have hidden any evidence of older structures. The sanctum sanctorum has the central image of a fierce form of the goddess Durga, multi-armed (eight shoulders), riding a tiger and killing a demon. It is believed that the 7-foot-tall (2.1 m) image was retrieved from a pond on the road to Hangal. The temple has very special paintings of murals in Kaavi art, an art form which was popular in the coastal Konkan region of Karnataka. In this art form, now extinct, the top plastered layer of the mural was first dyed with a red pigment, which when removed revealed a lower white layer of plaster over which the murals were created.

Worship

The main priest at the temple belongs to the Vishvakarma (Vishvabrahmin) community.

When Mahatma Gandhi visited Sirsi in 1934 he refused to visit the temple, as animal sacrifice was a prevalent ancient practice at the temple; the sacrifice was in the form of offering of he-buffalo as a sacrifice to appease the goddess. A he-buffalo was specially bred for offering as a sacrifice to the deity during the biennial Rathayatra (chariot festival). Following Gandhi's protest, there was a successful movement in the town to abolish animal sacrifice spearheaded by Keshwain, chief trustee of the temple, in association with Vitthal Rao Hodike, a teacher and dedicated Gandhian of the town.

Mahishasura mardhini image inside temple
Kali image inside temple

See also

References

  1. ^ "Shree Marikamba Temple".
  2. ^ "Marikamba". Archived from the original on 9 March 2016.
  3. ^ "Sirsi Marikamba Jatra 2024: ಶಿರಸಿ ಮಾರಿಕಾಂಬಾ ದೇವಿ ಜಾತ್ರೆ ದಿನಾಂಕ ಘೋಷಣೆ!". News18 ಕನ್ನಡ (in Kannada). 14 January 2024. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  4. ^ "ಮಾರಿಕಾಂಬಾ ಜಾತ್ರೆಯಿಂದ ಶಿರಸಿ ನಗರಸಭೆಗೆ 42.64 ಲಕ್ಷ ರೂ. ಆದಾಯ! 25 ಲಕ್ಷ ಜನರ ಆಗಮನ".
  5. ^ "Sirsi Jatre: ದಕ್ಷಿಣ ಭಾರತದ ಅತಿದೊಡ್ಡ ಜಾತ್ರೆಗೆ ಚಾಲನೆ, ಗದ್ದುಗೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ವಿರಾಜಮಾನಳಾದ ಶಿರಸಿ ಮಾರಿಕಾಂಬೆ". 17 March 2022.
  6. ^ "Marikamba Temple of Sirsi". Kamat's Potpourri. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  7. ^ SouthIndia. Rough Guides. 2003. pp. 262–. ISBN 978-1-84353-103-6. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  8. ^ The Quarterly Journal of the Mythic Society (Bangalore). The Society. 1999. Retrieved 12 August 2013.