Kantesha, Brantesha and Shantesha

These names sound very much like Shiva but in reality they are names of very well-known Hanuman or Mukhya Pranadevaru temples.

While two of the temples are in north Karnataka, one is n south Karnataka. People of north Karnataka believe that they would be blessed and all their sins would be washed away if they see or rather visit all the three shrines in a single day.

The people north Karnataka perform sankalpa after completing their Harake (vow) of seeing all the temples at one go.

All the three places are near to Ranebennur and people from Karnataka can start their tour from this place. For Bangaloreans, visiting Brantesha first would be ideal and they can see the other two Hanuman temples later.

The temples are Kanteesha of  Kadaramandakgi and Santesha of  Satenahalli are in Haveri district, while Brantesha of Shikaraipura is in Shimoga district.

Since people visit it in a day, the trip is called Kadaramandagi Kantesha -Shikaripura Brantesha and Sathenahalli Shantesha.

Let me first come to Kantesha.

The idol of Kantesha is in Kadaramandagi village which was earlier known as Khantesh puri.

Several thousands of years ago, Hanuman lived in this village. He once saw the Sun and mistaking it to be a fruit, began flying towards it. Since then, this village was known as Kadara Man Dalagi.

Karada or Kadira means rays, Man Dala means group and G ameans gaminisidavanu. In Kannada, it takes the meaning Hanumantha.

Another meaning of the village is brightness.  

There is an interesting legend behind the Hanuman idol here.

Long ago,  some thieves stole buffaloes from a village in Dharwad district and buffaloes came to Kadaramanadalagi. The thieves wanted to make money by selling these animals.

The owners of the buffaloes traced the thieves to Kadaramanadalagi and came there armed with weapons. They too pitched camp at the village and awaited the day when the thieves would come out and try to sell the buffaloes.   

The thieves did not know what to do and took shelter at the Hanuman temple. Seeing the idol, they fell at its feet and sought its help in getting over their problem. They ardently prayed to Hanuman to save them from the clutches of the villagers.

They told Hanuman that they would continue praying before him if they were saved from the humiliation of being caught and punished. Hanumantha obliged and in a jiffy changed the colour of the buffalo skins to white.

The villagers could not identify their buffaloes and went back. Since then, the Hanuman here has become very popular and he is believed to help all people in distress.

Another legend is that after the Kurukshetra War in Dwapara Yuga, the Pandavas realised that they had Hanuman Lanchana. The King Janamejaya, installed this Hanuman here along with several other idols in various places.

The Saturday pujes are very important and no villager would dare to miss them. In case he absents himself and goes out of  the village on some work, the work will not be done.

When Hunime falls on a Saturday, villagers spread a blanket or rug in front of the deity and place peeled out bananas. Then comes the  Paraku seve to Hanuman where people sleep on the rug upside down and eat fruits from their mouth. They do not touch the fruits with their hands.

The Kadaramandalagi temple has an impressive eight storied gopura which tapers towards the top. In front of the big gopura, is another smaller gopura through which you enter the temple.

There is a small pond on the right side of the temple with a small Mantapa in the middle. The teppotsava  or Float festival is held here and attracts a large number of people.

The famous Kriti

“Yestu pogalali naanu,

Ennodeya ninna

Vishista Mahimegalannu” is written about this deity here.

The deity here is called Bheemanaavatara. The idol here looks you straight in the eye. Generally, Hanuman is found facing sideways.

Kadaramandalagi is just eight kms from Ranebennur. It s on the road to Byadgi. There are plenty of buses and taxis. 

The next place you can visit is Satennahalli.

The Hanuman idol of Satenahalli is called Shantesha. This is in Ranebennu taluk of Haveri district. You can plan your visit to cover  Kadarmandalagi-Byadgi-Chikkerur-Satenahalli.

The idol here was conscrated by Bramanye Theertha, the guru of Vyasa Theertha or Vyasa Raja. The idol here is very similar to Hanuman idols consecrated by Vyasa Theerha. 

he third temple of Hanuman is in Shikarapura in Shimoga district. This is the Brantesha and the idol here was consecrated by Vyasa Raja.

The last few years have seen tremendous development of Shikaripura and this is reflected in the  renovation of the temple too.

The temple or rather Hanuman is also called Hutcharaya Swamy.

If you are in north Karnataka, you can make Ranebennur the base and travel to all the three Hanuman temples.

Ranebenur has some well-known temples, It also has Raghavendra Swamy and Uttaradhi Mathas. You can reach Ranebennur from Bangalore by bus or train. which is on National Highway No 4.

The Moola Brindavana of Satyabhigna Theertha, one of the pontiffs of the Uttaradhi Matha, is here. The Brindavana of Hrikesha Theertha, one of the eight disciples of Madhwacharya, and the first saint of the Palimara Matha, is located here. The Lakshmi Narasimha temple was consecrated by  Vidyadheesha Theertha,

If you have time, visit Bada village of Kanakadasa, Kaginale, Chikerur and Haveri. They all have important temples. 

A temple to a dog

A dog is man’s best friend and this is best exemplified by the fact that a temple is dedicated to this animal near Bangalore.

The temple to the dog has been built in a small village in Chennapatna taluk of Ramanagar district. It is 60 kilometres from Bangalore and perhaps this is the only temple built in modern times dedicated to a canine.

The temple was built n 2009 and is next to the temple of a village deity. Villagers believe that the dog can stop any wrong doing. They say that the dog is always with the village deity and works alongside the goddess.

This is not the only temple to a dog in Karnataka.

There is a second temple dedicated to a pet dog in Ranebennur in north Karnataka.

Ranebennur is a  town in Havari district. It has a sanctuary for black bucks and several beautiful temples. It is popularly called the gateway to north  Karnataka.

A resident of Ranebennur, Chandrashekara Kulkarni, has built a temple for his pet dog there.

The pet dog called Raja  died in 2008 and Mr.Kulkarni built a small temple in its memory the next year. Since then he has been organising fairs. The first fair was held during Vijayadashami and it was a big success.

Locals and Mr. Patil’s family believe that the dog has miraculous powers and they throng the temple.  There are plans to construct a primary school named after Raja Narayanaswamy, which is the full name of the dog.

There is another temple that boasts of a peculiar connection between man, animal and god. There is temple dedicated to Kali in Buxar in Bihar.

Buxar or Baksar was the place where the Battle of  Buxar took place between the British and the Mughals on October 1764..

The Indian Army led by Mir Kasim attempted to regain the province of Bengal from the British. Kasim was helped by the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam 2 and Siraj-ud-Doula of Oudh. The Indians lost and the British gained a foothold into India. The rest, as they say, is history.

(Today, the battleground is located atKatkauli, a small village 5 kms from Baksar. There is a stone memorial built by the British in memory of the victory.)

Coming back to the topic, dogs come to this temple every time a pooja is performed. They do not bark or attack anybody who come to the temple.

The dogs wag their tails when aarti is conducted during the evening and bark in unison when the temple bells are rung. The priest and visitors feed the dogs Prasad. This has been going on for the last 40 years.

For those who look down on these temples, I have only one fact to state. Alexander the Great was so fond of  his Tibetan hound that he built a temple for it when it died. The entire account of  Alexander and his dog is written by Pliny.

Every dog has its day, right.