Goravanahalli Mahalakshmi Temple is a

Hindu temple A Hindu temple, also known as Mandir, Devasthanam, Pura, or Kovil, is a sacred place where Hindus worship and show their devotion to Hindu deities, deities through worship, sacrifice, and prayers. It is considered the house of the god to who ...

located in Goravanahalli, a village in

Tumkur district Tumakuru district is an List of districts of Karnataka, administrative district in the state of Karnataka in India. It is the second largest district in Karnataka by land area with an area of 10,598 km2, and fourth largest by Population. It is ...

in the Indian 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 ...

Legend

A poor man named Abbayya was blessed by

Sri Shri (; , ) is a Sanskrit term denoting resplendence, wealth and prosperity, primarily used as an honorific. The word is widely used in South and Southeast Asian languages such as Assamese, Meitei ( Manipuri), Marathi, Malay (including In ...

Mahalakshmi Lakshmi (; , , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, , ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the goddess of wealth, fortune, prosperity, beauty, fertility, sovereignty, and abundance. She along with Parvat ...

. For his unwavering devotion, Abbayya was awarded the blessing of wealth. He began doing

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

work which led his home to be called ''Lakshmi Nivas''. Abbayya's brother, Thotadappa, joined Abbayya in his charity work. After Abbayya's death, Thotadappa performed poojas to the Goddess. He was asked by

in his dreams to build her a

shrine A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...

. Hence, Thotadappa built the Goravanahalli Mahalakshmi temple in dedication to the Goddess. Thotadappa started performing poojas.

History

Upon arriving at Goravanahalli in 1925, Kamalamma (a pious devotee) saw the neglected state of the temple. She settled there in 1952 and started performing poojas for the Goddess. Other people started arriving, waiting in queue for the

darshan Darshan, a Sanskrit word meaning "sight" or "viewing", may refer to: Ceremony and religion * Darshan (Indian religions), the auspicious sight of a divine image or holy person; also a school of Hindu philosophy * Darshan (Judaism), a Scriptural ...

of Sri Mahalakshmi. In due time, the temple gained fame through the word of mouth.

References

{{Coord, 13, 28, 19.6, N, 77, 16, 58.7, E, display=title Hindu temples in Karnataka