The Sharavu Mahaganapathy Temple
is one of the most well known tourist attractions that are situated in the city
of Mangalore in Karnataka. This temple is well acclaimed as one of the most
popular temples of the southern part of India.
The name “Sharavu” is derived from
“Shara” which means arrow. About eight centuries back, the “Sthalapurana” or local legendary
depicts, a very powerful king, Maharaja Veerabahu 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”.
This temple attracts thousands of devotees every day. On the special occasions like Sri Ganesh Chaturthi, annual Car Festival or “Rathothsava” starting on Chandramana Yugadi, Deepothsava or Festival of Lights and on Shankasti Chaturthi days, a very large number of devotees do have the sacred “Darshana” of Lord Sharabeshwara Lord Mahaganapathy. This temple is indeed the center of a variety of cultural activities like Yakshagana, Dance Drama etc. and also of humanitarian as well as social service activities.