Kateel Durgaparameshwari

History

The temple stands on an islet in the Nandini river at Kateel, some 20 to 25 km from Mangalore; the sources we read give different distances. We found no inscription, founding date or named builder in any of them. Incredible India says only that its existence can be traced back centuries, so we leave the date open.

What the place does have is a detailed legend, and it should be read as legend. In the version Indian Heritage tells, the sage Jabali needed Nandini, daughter of the divine cow Kamadhenu, for a sacrifice to end a famine. She refused to come to earth, and he cursed her to be born there. She prayed to the goddess, who promised to appear in her midst. HinduPad adds that Nandini emerged as a river from Kanakagiri.

The demon Arunasura held a boon against death by any man, animal or bird of land or water. When he pursued the goddess she vanished behind a rock in the river; he struck it, and she came out as a bee and killed him. That is why she is also called Bhramari, from the word for a bee. Sources differ on who Arunasura was, a fleeing minister in one telling and a demon king in another, and on what followed; HinduPad has her then appear as a linga in the middle of the river.

Even the name is told two ways. Indian Heritage takes it from katee, the middle, because she sits in the middle of the river. Wikipedia derives it from the Tulu kati, centre, and ila, area, placing Kateel midway between the river’s source at Kanakagiri and its meeting with the sea at Pavanje.

Kateel is also tied to Yakshagana, the region’s night-long dance drama. Indian Heritage notes a troupe belonging to the temple, and Wikipedia credits it with six, though on a citation we could not trace, so treat the number as unconfirmed.