History

The Sharavu Mahaganapathi Temple is one of the most well known tourist attraction Place in the city of Hampankatta, Mangaluru, Karnataka. This temple is well acclaimed as one of the most popular temples of the southern part of India. The premises of the Sharavu Mahaganapathi Temple have a number of shrines, which are meant to pay homage to a number of deities like Kadri, Sharavu, Kudroli and Mangaladevi.

The name “Sharavu” is derived from “Shara” which means arrow. There is a mythical story behind the coinage of the name of this temple. It is popularly believed that a king called Maharaja Veerabahu, who used to rule in the region of Tuluva region, killed a cow by sheer mistake by shooting it with an arrow. He in reality meant to shoot the tiger which was standing besides the cow. But, his unculpable terrible sin had to be erased, for which he did install a “Shiva Linga” as per the suggestion of a great seer Sri Bharadhwaja. This Shivalinga has been worshipped by the Maharaja as Sharabeshwara. This sacred place was termed thereafter as “Sharavu” and the newly formed temple tank as “Sharatheertha”.

The most important of them all is the Sharavu Sharabeshwara. Large numbers of devotees throng to this temple during the special auspicisous festival like Ganesh Chaturthi and Samakranthi. Sacred Darshana of the deity is a blessing for the visitors. At other times like Rathothsava and Laksha Deepotsava or ‘Festival of Lights’, the temple is visited by devotees to seek sacred darshana of the deity.