Kallu Ganapathi Temple
Kallu Ganapathi Temple is one of the beautiful temples hidden inside a small village called Shiriyara of Udupi district. This temple is unknown even to many natives of Udupi, and it makes a perfect entry for our Udupi Unexplored series. This temple is 28 km from Udupi and 15 km from Brahmavara. It is very much near to Mekkekattu Nandikeshwara temple, just 3.5 km to be precise.
Reaching Kallu Ganapathi Temple
We had planned to visit Kalluganapati after visiting Mekkakattu. From Mekkekattu temple one needs to come back to the giant arch and proceed a small distance of 100 m towards Barkur and right diverting road to Kalluganapathi can be seen. When we visited, there was a board present indicating the direction to the temple. This small road goes through the patches of village houses and paddy fields. The last stretch of 200 m is not asphalted but can be travelled easily by any vehicle.
Kallu Ganapathi Temple Surroundings & History
The temple is situated inside a rock cave surrounded by the small, lush green forest and paddy fields. As soon as we entered the cave like structure surrounded by large boulders, we observed that temple is maintained really neat and clean. A well paved path goes through the cave created by boulders and leads the visitors to the temple. The priest was courteous enough to show up at the temple exclusively for us, as there were no devotees present there when we visited.
He also explained us about how this temple belonged to the Barkur kingdom. He was naturally annoyed by the government of not taking enough care to develop and popularize this beautiful temple. After a quick darshan we walked around the temple structure surrounded closely by huge rocks. This was kind of Yana caves experience with sunlight entering only from above the rocks.
Viewpoint
A small path by the right side of the temple will take you to the beautiful viewpoint. The stretch of green paddy fields and the river flowing amid of them is a treat to watch. This river flowing adjacent to the temple is a tributary of Sita river which in later stages joins Arabian Sea.
We spent some time here taking photos and crawling and exploring through the amazing caves.
Kallu Ganapathi temple is a perfect evening getaway with a holy touch.
Reaching Kallu Ganapathi Temple
Live the experience!!
Do watch this short and crisp video on our visit to this beautiful temple and let us know your thoughts.