TempleStory
Photograph of Bappanadu Durgaparameshwari

Bappanadu Durgaparameshwari

TempleMulki, on the Shambhavi

A Hindu temple whose founding legend credits a Muslim merchant, and which still carries his name.

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Speciality

The single clearest illustration of what this coast actually is, and it is sitting on a riverbank in Mulki.

Founded
Inscriptions cited from the 11th c.
Deity
Durgaparameshwari
Tradition
Shakta

Don’t miss

Near this place

History

Bappanadu stands on the Shambhavi river at Mulki. Inscriptions are cited as dating the temple to the eleventh century, with the sanctum assigned to the fourteenth.

The name comes from the founding account. A merchant called Bappa Beary, a Muslim trader, is credited in the local legend with the temple’s establishment, and the place took its name from him. The story is carried locally and consistently, and whatever its historical basis, the fact that it is the story the community tells about its own temple is the point.

The deity is known among Tuluvas as Ulladi. The main image here is in the form of a linga, which is unusual for a goddess temple, and five lingas are worshipped on a single panipeeta as Moola Durga, Agni Durga, Jala Durga, Vana Durga and Agra Durga.

Set it beside Dharmasthala, an hour or so inland, where a Shaiva temple is administered by a Jain family with Madhva priests, an arrangement credited to Vadiraja Tirtha in the sixteenth century. Then set both beside Kudroli. Three temples, three different crossings of a line that is usually described as uncrossable.

Plan your visit

Where
Mulki, on the Shambhavi
District
Dakshina Kannada
From you
Not shared

Good to know

Anna Prasadam
Not yet verified. Please ask locally.
Dress code
Not yet verified. Please ask locally.
Photography
Not yet verified. Please ask locally.

Poojas and timings

Not yet verified. We publish a schedule only after confirming it with the temple office. Schedules on this coast change on festival days, and a wrong one can cost a family a long drive, so please check locally before you travel.

Best time to visit

We have not yet confirmed this temple’s festival calendar, so this is the coastal dry season only. The riverbank is best outside the monsoon.

Get directions in Google Maps

Sources

Most English-language writing on these places is travel and devotional material that repeats itself. Where sources disagree we say so, and where something is tradition rather than record we say that too.