Srikanteshwara Temple, Nanjangud: timings, history and visiting

The temple page of the Karnataka HRI & CE (Muzrai) Department gives two daily sessions:

• Morning: 6:00 am–1:00 pm
• Evening: 4:00–8:30 pm

Between 1 and 4 pm the temple is closed, so plan the drive from Mysuru either side of that gap. Entry is free; the same department runs online booking for darshan tickets on its portal. On chariot festival days and at Shivaratri (the great night of Shiva) crowds are enormous and waits are long.

The deity is Shiva as Srikanteshwara, also called Nanjundeshwara, the god who drank the poison. In the story of the churning of the ocean, Shiva swallowed the halahala poison to save the world, and the name remembers that act. The temple's own account, drawn from the Skanda Purana, places the sacred site at the meeting of the Kapila and Kaundini rivers and links it with Shiva's victory over the demon Keshi.

Nanjangud is enough of a pilgrimage centre to be called Dakshina Kashi, the Varanasi of the South. This is a working temple rather than a monument, and lakhs of devotees come every year.

The temple grew over a thousand years, each dynasty adding a layer:

• Ganga dynasty: the origins of the shrine.
• Cholas, 11th century: the garbhagriha (inner sanctum).
• Hoysalas, 13th century: the front mandapa (pillared hall).
• Vijayanagara period: the brick-and-mortar shikhara (tower over the sanctum).
• Wodeyars of Mysore: the great gopuram and mandapas. The 120-foot gateway tower was built in 1845 by Devarajammanni, wife of Krishnaraja Wadiyar III, and carries seven gold-plated kalashas.

The whole complex measures about 385 by 160 feet. A stone Nandi about eight feet tall was installed in 1644, and Tipu Sultan is remembered here for calling the god Hakim Nanjunda, the healer, after his elephant's eye was cured.

• Shoes off at the entrance; this is a working temple.
• Festivals: the Dodda Jatre (the great chariot festival) brings out five decorated chariots, pulled by devotees along the ratha beedi, the chariot street. On these days and at Shivaratri, expect very large crowds.
• Time it: arrive early in the morning or after 4 pm; the temple is closed in between.

The temple is on Rastrapathi Road in Nanjangud, on the right bank of the Kapila (also called the Kabini), a tributary of the Kaveri. The Muzrai Department gives the distance from Mysuru as about 25 km (the visit card above shows an older estimate of 23 km); by road it takes around 45 minutes. A taxi for a half-day round trip is the simplest option, and the trip fits neatly into a morning: leave Mysuru early, have darshan before the midday closing and be back for lunch.