Sri Mookambika
Adi Shankara is said to have installed the Sri Chakra here, below a hill he had meditated on.
Speciality
The temple is inseparable from the hill above it. Reading one without the other misses most of what the place is.
- Founded
- 8th c. by tradition
- Deity
- Mookambika
- Tradition
- Shakta
Don’t miss
Kodachadri
The hill the tradition starts on. A serious climb, and a different day’s plan from the temple itself.
The Sri Chakra
The geometric diagram at the centre of the worship here, attributed to Adi Shankara.
The forest approach
Kollur is in the Western Ghats, not on the coastal plain. The drive is part of it.
Near this place
Anegudde Sri VinayakaTemple, 32 km away
Sri DurgaparameshwariTemple, 42 km away
PanchalingeshwaraTemple, 44 km away
History
Kollur sits at the foot of Kodachadri, in forest, roughly sixty kilometres north of Udupi in a straight line, and a good deal further by road once it climbs into the Ghats. Temple tradition credits Adi Shankaracharya with establishing worship here in the eighth century, after meditating at the Sarvajna Peetha on the hill and receiving a vision of the goddess. He is also credited with consecrating the image and installing the Sri Chakra, and the daily worship is said to follow rules he fixed.
A separate tradition places the site earlier still, attributing the first temple to Parashurama, the same figure who recurs across the Mukti Sthalas further south. The goddess herself is tied to the defeat of a demon named Kaumasura, or Mookasura in other tellings, from which the name Mookambika is usually derived.
The distance matters practically. Kollur is a long drive from the coastal towns, which is exactly why its schedule deserves care. See the note below.
Kodachadri above it is a separate undertaking: forest, a steep climb, and the Sarvajna Peetha at the top. Most accounts of the temple treat the hill as scenery. It is closer to being the origin.
Plan your visit
- Where
- Kollur
- District
- Udupi
- From you
- Not shared
Good to know
- Anna Prasadam
- Served free to devotees at midday and in the evening.Commonly reported, not yet verified by us
- Dress code
- Not yet verified. Please ask locally.
- Photography
- Not yet verified. Please ask locally.
Poojas and timings
Sources disagree. Kollur is a long drive inland from the coast, so confirm with the temple before you travel.
Best time to visit
As a Devi temple, expect Navaratri to be the busiest period, though we have not confirmed Kollur’s own festival dates. The Ghats road and any Kodachadri plan are both better outside the monsoon.
Get directions in Google MapsSources
- Kollur Mookambika TempleTrawell
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.