Sri Vishweshwara Temple, Yellur

The story of Sri Vishweshwara Temple, Yellur

Sri Vishweshwara Temple, Yellur is a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishweshwara, Shiva, and it is a very old shrine: the temple has a history of over 1,000 years.

It stands in Yellur village in Udupi district, Karnataka, and the temple belongs to the Maagane that comprises Nandikooru, Kalathuru, Kutyaru, Padooru, Belapu and Kunjoor. The single most striking thing here is the temple’s own standing as a classic, age-old example of the Devaayathana style of architecture, which Tantragama experts consider unique.

The place is also tied to devotion in a very direct way. Devotees honour Vishweshwara with tender coconut Abhishekham, lit oil lamps and gold coins, and the temple is known as the divine place of Swayambhu Saannidhya. The account linked to the shrine says Vishweshwara emerged from underground in response to devotion, and that the linga was first understood to have been found by a Koraga mother while she was gathering firewood and leaves in the forest where her son Yellu had been buried.

Vishweshwara is referred to at least in 12 rock edicts and recorded by the Kaifiyaths, which gives the shrine a strong documentary footprint. Vadiraja Tirtha also mentions the temple in Tirtha Prabandha, and the story there is simple: he reached after the day’s puja, found the temple closed, and stood outside to pray.

You can also see that the temple has not been frozen in time. It was renovated and inaugurated in grand functions lasting from 4 March 2009 to 12 March 2009.

As you stand here, look at the shrine as both a worshipping place and a long-lived village temple: the living rituals, the old textual mention, and the renovation all belong to the same place.