Kudajadri

I had offered my mind a journey to mookambi, the well known devi temple in Karnataka. So haven't had a second thought when the diwali holidays are announced. Four days in hand and a long cherished journey to start. Started from Thiruvananthapuram at 7 pm. Three of my friends joined on the way. Reached mangalore around 9 in the morning. We had a waiting time of 5 hours for the connecting train to Uduppi/Mookambika. Decided to spend that time for sight seeing in bangalore. Could manage to see Mangala devi temple and Manju Natha temple.
The city got its name from the hundreds(or thousands) of years old Mangala Devi temple. Situated in a small campus, the temple has a beautiful inner atmosphere. Devi is in Linga roopa. On the contrry Lord Manju Nath dwells in a big temple with vast campus. There are 9 sacred ponds, neatly maintained and believed to free masses from loads of sins that are accumulated through day to day deeds. The bath was really soothing after our 'whole night' journey. There is a small astream, named 'Ganga' on top of which a Ganesh diety is worshipped.

Manjunath temple is said to be the root of famous temple in Dharmasthala(Which we missed in this journey). Had a nice darsan and simple,free yet tasty lunch from the temple. We rushed back to catch the train. After around 3 hours we could find ourself in Udupi, famous for its Krishna temple and related tales.(Click Here for details about Udupi) .
Next morning we started to Mookambi. Around 2-3 hrs journey is there between udupi and Mookambika. Temple is surrounded by a the western ghats at some distance.
To be continued...