– Padmavati Manoharan
The Murudeshwar Temple in Karnataka is a must visit for nature lovers and of course, the devotees of Lord Shiva, who would love to look at the magnificence of the Shiva statue there. The huge Shiva statue made me stand awestruck and mouth shut, looking at the grandeur of the Statue. The Murudeshwar temple is built on the Kandukla Hill in the quaint town of Murudeshwar, which lies in the Bhatkal Taluk of the north Kannada district. Yes! This is the best part. Since the temple is located here, the temple and the statue are surrounded by beautiful views of the Arabian Sea which falls on three sides of the temple.
Basically, Murudeshwar is one of the forms of the great Lord Shiva who is being praised by devotees throughout the world. The most famous and breathtaking view there is the massive Shiva statue nearby the temple Shrine. You can spot the statue even from really far distance. This monumental statue is about 123 feet tall and it took 2 years to finish the statue.
The other interesting fact about this Shiva monolith is that the statue will sparkle once the sunlight falls on the statue. We could actually see that the statue is strategically built in a way so that it will shine when the morning light falls on it.
Right next to the statue, a 20- storey tall Gopuram is built. There are elevators inside the Gopuram, so that the devotees and visitors could go on top of the Gopura to take a breath taking aerial view of the whole place including the awe inspiring view of statue surrounded by the Arabian sea. This one view is totally worth travelling all the way from your place to Murudeshwar.
There is an interesting narration behind the building of the temple. It is that, Ravana had received the lingam as a gift from Lord Shiva for his penance. Ganesha tricked Ravana into forsaking the lingam, but planted it at Gokarna. This infuriated Ravana which made him to uproot the lingam, eventually breaking the lingam into pieces. One of the pieces fell at Kandukla Giri where the Murudeshwar temple was later built.
The temple is not just a pilgrimage site. Since the Murudeshwar beach stretches for a few kilometres north of the temple, it is a wonderful picnic spot as well. You can go to this place just for its extra ordinary ambience that you’ll get in no other pilgrimage spot. Just going to a temple itself will work on your mood enormously and induce positivity. In that case, this place, a temple and a monumental statue presented with an aerial view is simply a must visit.
Since there is no other place to visit in Murudeshwar other than the temple, you can plan a one day trip to visit the place. There are lots of hotels and resorts near and quite far from the temple. So, one can find no issue in staying there.
If you think that it is a pilgrimage spot and only elderly people can enjoy it, then you are wrong. It is the kids who will enjoy the most. Because the location of the temple is such that, the ambience there will make us so enthusiastic, even the kids. You are allowed to play in the beach as much as you want and when the sun starts to set, the atmosphere there becomes so exquisite.
With such an ambience and unique location, your visit to Murudeshwar will be etched in your memories forever. Plan a trip and you’ll never regret choosing this place.