Katala Basadi - Udupi-Kundapur Road Trip Part 1

Hello dear hivemates, don't you love it when you have to visit a place for a function and luckily it happens to be in a beautiful location? One of my Colleagues was getting engaged and hence we were off to her hometown a small Village called Nandrolli, Bellala Village, Kundapur. My colleagues and I decided to leave our city, Mangalore early so that we have enough time to visit a few temples on the way. We took a bus to Surathkul where our colleague was waiting to pick us up in his car.

We went on to visit some of the famous temples on our way which included Bappanadu Sri Durgaparameshwari Temple, Bappanadu Village, Mulky. It is a beautiful destination which is popular for its amazing powers of the Goddess herself. The Dhol that is played during the Religious Pooja there is very pretty popular.

At around 10 in the morning, we reached Katala Kana Basadi, An abandoned temple built by Jain Community. There is a huge pillar right at the entrance which is an attraction in itself. It is a tourist spot which was recognized by the Government.

It is said that this place has been a part of many Kannada Cinemas back in 1990s. We met a localite there, who was one of the guide, who was voluntarily doing this job of a guide as a profession after his retired life. He claimed to be the resident of the surrounding and further explained how this Katala Basadi used to be a great tourist place.

He explained about the place in detail to us. The meaning of "Katale" in Kannada is "Darkness". Basically there are two temples there, and other small places where the Jains worshipped God. Quite shockingly the diety of the temple was Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva.

The temple where Lord Vishnus idol was kept was made out of one huge stone and it was completely covered from all sides except for one small part in the entrance. Therefore making it completely dark around the temple. This is how, the name Katala Basadi came up.

Further, Lord Shiva was situated in a shrine nearby which wasn't completely closed but it was open on the top. Therefore he said the other temple was called "Belaku Basadi" Wherein "Belaku" means "light".

According to him, alot of invasions had happened and alot of attempts were made to invade the temple. Thereby the original Murthy of Vishnu is said to be not there now. And the temple had no worship. There were some stones, present in the shrine which were sacred.

Further, Jain kings had written a "Shasana" On a Stone. Shasana means Law and the Kings back then Engraved certain Laws on Stones to preserve it permanently. Further, it also had a place for worshipping the Theerthankaras of the Jains. Whatever he explained to us, I was able to put it up in my own words in front of you all. I would not authenticate this information but I am pretty sure, there is history to this place. However, thanks to him , we got to know about the One of the Abandoned temple of Barkur.
Do visit this place someday, It is a beautifully built place. Our Journey shall continue.. Stay Tuned.