Mangala Devi Temple, Mangalore
– Legends
Mangala
Devi:
As per legend, Vikhasini, the daughter of Hiranyakasipu
wanted to avenge the death of his father at the hands of Lord Vishnu. To
achieve her goal, she desired to have a son with Lord Shiva who would be
powerful and competent enough to challenge Lord Vishnu and destroy him. To
realise her wish, she started performing intense penance on Lord Brahma.
Pleased with her penance, Lord Brahma appeared before her and asked her to wish
for a boon. She wished for a powerful son who could slay Lord Vishnu.
Lord Brahma rejected her wish stating that Lord Vishnu
is immortal. However, she would get a brave and invincible son from Lord Shiva.
Lord Brahma visited Kailash and informed about his boon to Vikhasini. Lord
Shiva along with Lord Brahma went to the abode of Lord Vishnu and expressed his
displeasure. Lord Vishnu pacified Lord Shiva that everything would be rectified
when the time comes. Meanwhile, Vikhasini disguised herself as Goddess
Parvati and had a union with Lord Shiva.
Once, the union was over, she left for her kingdom. She
feared that the devas would harm her unborn son during her journey to her
kingdom. She buried her foetus inside the Earth. Eventually, a great demon was
born and was named Andasura by Vikhasini. She briefed Andasura about the
annihilation of Hiranyakasipu by Lord Vishnu and asked him to seek revenge for
the death of his grandfather. He attacked the Devaloka and conquered it.
The devas along with Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva and Brahma
went to Adi Parasakthi for help. She agreed to destroy the demon for the
welfare of the devas. Meanwhile, Andasura was searching for Lord Vishnu in the
celestial world. Sage Narada directed him to a place where Goddess Parashakti,
disguised as a beautiful maiden was waiting for him. Enamoured by her beauty,
the demon came close to her and tried to misbehave with her. Goddess Adi
Parashakti got furious and slew him with the trident.
She addressed the devas and the gods that Lord Vishnu
would incarnate as Parasurama and annihilate the 21 generations of evil
Kshatriyas. Further, he would perform penance at the place where she killed
Andasura. Parasurama would build a shrine with Linga and a Dharapatra. The
shrine was lost due the vagaries of time and remained hidden under the earth.
Veerabahu, the king of Tulunadu was childless. He made Bangaraja as his
successor. Bangaraja ruled his kingdom in just manner and brought immense
prosperity to the region.
One day, Goddess Mangala Devi appeared in his dreams and
informed him about the shrine under a mound where the Nethravati and
the Phalguni rivers intersect. King Bangaraja along with Saint Bharadhwaja rediscovered
the shrine and constructed a small temple around it. However, again nature took
its course and the
temple was hidden under the earth. During the ninth century CE, Kundavarman,
the most famous king of the Alupa dynasty was ruling over Tulu Nadu.
During his rule, two saints of Nath sect namely Machindranath
and Gorakhnath from Nepal reached Mangalore by crossing the Nethravati river.
The place where they crossed the river came to be called as Gorakdandi. They
chose a place at the banks of the Nethravati where Sage Kapila had his ashram
once. On hearing their arrival, the king visited and paid homage to the saints.
Pleased with his humility, they informed him about the presence of the hidden
ancient shrine built by Parasurama.
The saints showed him the place and asked the king to
dig the
place. The Lingam and the Dharapatra symbolizing Mangala Devi were
retrieved and installed in a grand shrine built by Kundavarman. Even today, the
two temples of Mangala Devi and Kadri have maintained their
connection. The hermits of Kadri Yogiraj Mutt visit Mangala
Devi temple on the first days of Kadri temple festival and offer prayer and
silk clothes. The city of Mangalore derives its name from the main deity of the
temple, Mangala Devi.
Mangalore:
As per legend, a princess named Parimala / Premala Devi
from Malabar renounced her kingdom and became a disciple
of Matsyendranath, the founder of the Nath tradition. He renamed
her Mangala Devi after her conversion to the Nath sect. She came to the
region along with Matsyendranath. She fell ill near Bolar in Mangalore and died
eventually. The
Mangala Devi temple was built in her honour at Bolar by the local people
after her death. Thus, the city got its name from the
temple.
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