Bhagamandala is a

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

place in

Kodagu Kodagu district () (also known by its former name Coorg) is an administrative List of districts of Karnataka, district in the Karnataka state of India. Before 1956, it was an administratively separate Coorg State at which point it was merged ...

district of the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n state of

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

Location

Bhagamandala is situated on the river

Kaveri The Kaveri (also known as Cauvery) is a Rivers of India, major river flowing across Southern India. It is the third largest river in the region after Godavari River, Godavari and Krishna River, Krishna. The catchment area of the Kaveri basin i ...

in its upstream stretches. At this place, the Kaveri is joined by two tributaries, the Kannike and the mythical Sujyothi river. It is considered sacred as a river confluence (' or ', in

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

respectively). Bhagamandala is located 133 km south-east of

Mangalore Mangaluru (), formerly called Mangalore ( ), is a major industrial port city in the Indian state of Karnataka and on the west coast of India. It is located between the Laccadive Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bengaluru, the st ...

. It has an average elevation of .

Pilgrim centre – Bhagandeshwara Temple

It is a common practice for pilgrims to take a dip in the and perform rituals to their

ancestor An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from ...

s before proceeding to Talakaveri, the birthplace of

. A temple of Lord Supremo Shiva in the name of Bhagandeshwara embellishes the place. It is the local belief that Kaveri, revered as Dakshina Ganga, comes out of the matted hair locks of Shiva here. During Tula Sankramana which falls on 17 or 18 October, pilgrims assemble here in large numbers.

Three river meet

A short distance from the , there is a famous temple known as Sri Bhagandeshwara Temple, where ''

murti In the Hinduism, Hindu tradition, a ''murti'' (, ) is a devotional image, such as a statue or icon, of a Hindu deities, deity or Hindu saints, saint used during ''Puja (Hinduism), puja'' and/or in other customary forms of actively expressing d ...

'' (sacred images) of Bhagandeshwara ( Ishwara), Subramanya and Ganapati are installed. This place is also known as Bhagandeshwara Kshetra, from which the name Bhagamandala is derived. The temples in this area are built in Karavali (West Coast) style.

History

During 1785–1790, the area was occupied by

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (, , ''Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu''; 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799) commonly referred to as Sher-e-Mysore or "Tiger of Mysore", was a ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery ...

. The temple was burnt and destroyed. He renamed Bhagamandala to Afzalabad. In 1790 King

Dodda Vira Rajendra Dodda Vira Rajendra was the ruler of the Kingdom of Coorg from 1780 to 1809. He freed the kingdom from the occupation of Tipu Sultan, the king of Mysore. He later aided the British in their fight against Tipu Sultan. Dodda Veera raja construct ...

took Bhagamandala back into an independent Kodagu kingdom. Bhagamandala is located about 33 km from the district headquarters Madikeri and is connected by paved roads from Madikeri,

Virajpet The town of Virajpet also spelled as Virajapete () is township of the district of Kodagu, in India's southern States and union territories of India, State of Karnataka. It is the main town of the ''Virajpet taluka'', south of the district, and b ...

and nearby places in

and

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. Government and private buses are available on all of these routes.

Padi temple

A short distance from Bhagamandala is the temple at Padi, which houses the deity Lord Igguthappa and is one of the most sacred shrines of the Kodava people.

Aiyangeri temple

There is one more temple at Aiyangeri, named "Chinnathappa", which houses the deity Lord Sri Krishna, considered by the people of the village to be the most sacred shrine in their home land. There is a festival once a year in the month of February or March, where the "Golden Flute" will be brought out from the temple.

Mount Thavoor

Mountains North Tala Kaveri Coorg India Feb24 A7C 09525

Mt. Thavoor is a peak overlooking Bhagamandala and Mt. Koppatti (elevation ; ), which may be considered its twin peak is nearby and both these serve as trekking routes for the Shola forest range.

Kashi Math

Bhagmandala Shri Kashi Math is a branch of Shri Kashi Math Samsthan,

Varanasi Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.* * * * The city has a syncretic tradition of I ...

located in Bhagmandala.

Climate

Bhagamandala experiences a

Tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate subtype that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ' ...

under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

Rainfall

Bhagamandala is the highest rainfall receiving station in the

district, every year. In 2018, it received an annual rainfall of . In 2019, Bhagamandala received of annual rainfall, this time falling behind Hudikeri, which received of rainfall. In 2022, it received a total of rainfall, making it the 4th highest rainfall receiving station in

, after Kundapura (5806mm), Ajekar (5730mm), and

Byndoor Byndoor is a taluk and Town Panchayat in Udupi, Karnataka, India. Byndoor is located on NH-66 which is between Panvel and Kochi and is one of the main stations along the Konkan Railway line after Udupi and Mangalore. Railway station Byndoor ...

(5284mm). In 2024, even though Karnataka as a whole, received 19% excess rainfall, Bhagamandala hobli received 23% deficit downpour. It failed to breach the mark consecutively for two years, receiving only 4481mm of rainfall in 2024.

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20071023221250/http://kodagu.nic.in/tour/bhagamandala.htm {{Settlements in Kodagu district Tourist attractions in Karnataka Hindu temples in Kodagu district Hill stations in Karnataka