Mahabaleshwar Temple, Gokarna
The Mahabaleshwar Temple, Gokarna is a 4th-century-CE Hindu temple in Gokarna, Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka state, India, built in the classical Dravidian architectural style. It is a site of religious pilgrimage. The temple faces the Gokarna beach on the Arabian Sea. The temple deifies the Pranalinga also called Atmalinga or Shiva Linga In legend, it is said that the deity of the temple will bestow immense blessings to devotees, even to those who only have a glimpse of it. Currently, the administrative charge of the temple is with an Overseeing Committee under the Chairmanship of Justice BN Srikrishna, a Retired Justice of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India. It is one of the 275 paadal petra sthalams expounded in the Tevaram, a sacred Tamil Shaivite text written during the 6th and 7th centuries by 63 saints called Nayanars.
Introduction
The temple is one of the seven sacred Muktikshetras or Muktistala in Karnataka. It is a place where many Hindus of Karnataka perform obsequies for their departed. The six other Muktikshetras in Karnataka are at Udupi, Kollur, Subrahmanya, Kumbasi, Koteshvara and Sankaranarayana.The classical Sanskrit writer, Kalidasa mentions the "Lord of Gokarna" in his 4th-century work, Raghuvamsha.
The temple is a large complex of shrines and much of it belongs to the later Vijayanagara period.
In 1676, Fryer, an English traveller, visited Gokarna during the Maha Shivaratri festival and wrote in detail about it.
Location
The temple is located on the shores of Arabian Sea on the west coast of India, near the city of Karwar. It is in the town of Gokarna in Uttara Kannada.Gokarna lies between the Gangavalli and Aganashini rivers.
Legend
The legend of the temple as narrated, links Ravana of the Ramayana, the demon king of Lanka, not only to the Shiva Linga deified in the Mahabaleshwar Temple but also to Gokarna's Bhadra Kali temple. The legend also provides etymology of the place name, "Gokarna".Ravana's mother, a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva, was worshipping a Shiva Linga to bring prosperity to her son. Indra, the Lord of Heaven, who was jealous of this worship, stole the Shiva Linga and threw it away into the Sea. The distraught mother of Ravana went on a hunger strike as her devotional worship of Shiva was disrupted.
Ravana then promised his mother that he would go to Mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva, and bring the main Atmalinga itself for her worship. Ravana then performed severe penance at Mount Kailash to please Lord Shiva and also sang, in his melodious voice, praises of Shiva. He even chopped his own head, and made a harp with threads drawn from his skin and intestine. Lord Shiva was pleased and he appeared before him and offered a wish. Ravana requests the Atmalinga as his boon. Lord Shiva agrees to give him the boon, as per the wish of Ravana that the Atmalinga cannot to stolen or removed by anyone, with a condition that wherever the Atma-Linga is placed on the ground, it would remain rooted at that spot forever. Having obtained his boon, Ravana started back on his journey to Lanka.
As Ravana was nearing Gokarna, Lord Vishnu blotted out the sun to give the appearance of dusk. Ravana now had to perform his evening rituals but was worried because with the Atma-Linga in his hands, he would not be able to do it. At this time, Lord Ganesha in the disguise of a Brahmin boy accosted him. Ravana requested him to hold the Atma-Linga until he performed his rituals, and asked him not to place it on the ground. Ganesh struck a deal with him saying that he would call Ravana thrice, and if Ravana did not return within that time, he would place the Atma-Linga on the ground.
Ganesha called out thrice rapidly but Ravana couldn't come within the specified time. Even before Ravana could return, Lord Ganesha placed the Atmalinga on the ground, tricked Ravana and vanished from the scene with his cows. Ravana then chased the only cow, which was going underground. However, he managed to get hold of the cow's ear, as the rest of cow's body had disappeared below ground. It is this ear now seen in a petrified form, which has given the name "Gokarna" to the place. The word "Gokarna" means "cow's ear" where in Sanskrit gow means "cow" and karna means "ear".
Then, Ravana tried hard to lift the Shiv Linga but failed as it was firmly fixed. Ravana had even fainted; thereafter he gave the name "Mahabaleshwar" to the Atmalinga. Thus, according to the legend narrated, the place now boasts of three divine entities namely: Gokarna, the cow's ear; the Atmalinga or Shiva Linga that is deified in the Mahabaleshwar Temple; and the Goddess Bhadrakali, which are all now divine places of worship integral to Gokarna.
Temple structure
The temple is built of granite in the Dravidian architectural style. The Atmalinga is enshrined in the temple on a square Saligrama Peetha. The pedestal has a small hole at its centre from where devotees can see the top of the Atmalinga.Foreigners, including practicing Hindus of non-Indian origin are not allowed to enter the sanctum-sanctorum and see the Shivalinga.