The Ganesha that the Gods worship

Did you that the Holy Trinity of the Hindus, or the Triumvirate-Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara-together installed a God in India and that place is in Karnataka.

This is also the God that Rama worshipped before taking on Ravana and Krishna worshipped to get himself rid of the curse of Samyantaka Mani.

The place is Kurudumale and the temple here is dedicated to Ganesha. Kurudumale is in Kolar district and it is situated in Mulabagailu taluk. It is 12 kms from Mulabagilu and 110 kms from Bangalore.

Kurudumale is well known for the Saligrama Ganesha idol. This is one of the biggest Ganesha idols of its kind. It is 13.5 feet in height. This makes it much bigger than the Ganesha idol on Bull Temple Road in Bangalore.

The legend of this temple goes back to the Krita or Satya Yuga, which is the first of the four yugas. Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara built the temple so that the demon Tripurasura could be killed.

Tripurasura was a demon and he had become very powerful thanks to a  boon. He could only be killed by a person who gets married but also lives a life of a celibate.

The demon  soon became vain and began harassing people, sages and even gods. He lived a well-fortified forest and none dare take him on,  The Gods too did not know what to do, Tripurasura was becoming more and more powerful.

The Gods then got together and made Shakthi. They gave Shakthi in marriage to Ganesha. Shakti then transformed herself into weapons that Ganesha could use.

The weapons that Shakti herself transformed into can be seen in the idol here. Ganesha then takes on Tripurasara and kills him with

Shakti. Tired after the duel with the demon, Ganesh comes here and takes rest.

During the Ramayana period, Hanuman who could be forgetful, came here and prayed to Ganesha.

On Ganesha Chaturdashi and other festive occasions, more than 1,000 kgs of butter is needed to cover the statue.     

In earlier days, the idol was better known as Kotadri and the hill on which this idol is situated was Kotamale. This word  came to be corrupted to Kurudumale.

Infact this place is so holy that locals say that Gods and goddesses come here and worship the idol. Kaundanya Rishi too comes every midnight and worships the Ganesha.

The Vijayanagar Emperor Krishna Deveraya built the temple for Ganesha. It is said that Ganesha himself appeared in his dreams and asked to construct a temple. Krishna Deveraya also built the temple courtyard.

A little away from the Ganesha temple is a temple dedicated to Shiva. This is much older than the Ganesha Temple and it is known as the Someshwara temple.

The temple is believed to have been repaired by the Cholas. It is built without any foundation. Architecturally, this temple is unique as half the structure is built by Jakanacharya while the other half is by his son Dankanacharya.

This Ganesha is said to be very powerful. Whatever you wish for will come true, or so the saying goes,

By the way, our texts tell us that Kurudumale is the place where the Gods come from heaven to spend some time, Why don’t  you tare some tome off and visit the temple.