The richest temples

Tamil Nadu is popularly called the Temple State of India. Karnataka stands third in the country in the number of temples.

Our State is fortunate that it has a variety of temples covering all the districts. Temple construction, as it is today, began during the Chalukya era and the Aihole-Pattadakal area in Bagalkot district is a testimony to this skill in temple art.

The temples in Karnataka have been constructed by dynasties such as Gangas (Mysore, Talakad and Shravanabelogala), Kadambas (Banavasi), Chalukyas (Badami, Banashankari, Aihole, Pattadakal, Banashankari), Rashtrakutas (Dharwad, Raichur and Bijapur districts), Hoysalas (Belur, Halebid), Vijayanagars (Hampi), Wodeyars (Mysore, Srirangapatna), Kalchuris (Bijapur district), Nolambas (Kolar, Mulabagal).

Today, Karnataka has over 34,000 temples and the Muzrai Department is officially in charge of  these religious institutions in the State, including temples, have sesto9mated the income from the temples during 2010-11 at Rs. 194.96 crore.

Bangalore alone contributed Rs. 9.45 crores from its 1,000 temples.

The department has rated the Kukke Subramanya temple in Kukke near Dharmastala as the richest outside Bangalore with an annual earning of Rs 35 lakh.

The temple Male Mahadeshwara Temple in MM Hills near Mysore   is ranked second with an income Rs 18 lakh, Mookambike Temple in Kollur is third with an annual revenue of  Rs 15 lakh.

The other temples which come in the list of rich institutions are:   Durga Parameshwari Temple in Kateel temple stands fourth with  Rs 9 lakh, Nanjundeshwara in  Nanjangud is fifth at Rs 7 lakh.

The Banashankari temple in Bangalore is not only the richest in Bangalore but in the State aswell. Its annual revenue during 2010-11 was Rs.2.36 crores.

A private temple, Krishna of ISCKON, earned approximately Rs. 3 crores during the period.

The ISKCON Temple is a landmark in Bangalore and it attracts almost 1.7  lakhs visitors and devotees a month.    

The Banashankari Temple has perhaps the only deity which is worshipped during Rahu Kala. For all other deities, Rahu Kala is inauspicious.

This temple was built in 1915 by a devotee, Somanna Shetty, who installed the deity of Banashankari which he had brought all the way from Badami in Bijapur district. The original deity is in Banashankari near Badami.

The Dodda Ganapathi temple on Bull Temple Road in Basavanagudi, Bangalore, received 10 lakhs devotees and visitors during the year. Another popular temple in Bangalore is the Kumaraswamy or Subramanya ytemple on Kumaraswamy Road in Hanumanthnagar It received over five lakh devotees.

The Muzrai Department has listed the top five government-controlled temples in Bangalore. It has 1,061 muzrai temples in Bangalore under its control.
The Banashankari temple with Rs 2.36 crore revenue is followed by Dodda Ganapathi temple with Rs 93 lakh, Kumaraswamy temple with Rs 42 lakhs, Anjaneya temple in Banaswadi with Rs 37 lakhs and Kaadu Malleshwara temple in Malleswaram with a revenue of Rs 35 lakhs.

The department says between 2007 to 2010, the Kukke temple’s total revenue earned stood at Rs 91.75 crore. This temple was followed by  Durga Parameshwari of Kateel (Rs 22.07 crore) and Sri Manjunatha Temple at Kadri (Rs 5.63 crore).

During 2007-08, the income at  Subramanya temple was Rs 24.3 crore. During 2009-10, it touched Rs 35.75 crores .

 Of the 30 most revenue-earning temples, the top eight are in the Dakshina Kannada region. Of the top 30, thirteen are from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.

The famous Sri Chamundeshwari temple in Mysore stands at tenth in revenue.

The richest temple in India is the Padmanabha Temple in Tiruvananthpuram, which is followed by the Tirupathi temple. Next comes the Shirdi Sai Baba Temple in Shirdi and fourth is the

Jaganath Puri temple in Puri, Orissa. Next comes the Siddhi Vinayak Temple in Mumbai and then the Vaishno Devi Temple in Jammu and Kashmir.

The other rich temples are Somnath in Gujarat, Krishna Temple in Guruyavoor, Meenakshi Temple in Madurai and Kashi Vishwanatha in Kashi-Benaras.