An Eulogy of a Monument
Cultural History of India
Manipal Institute of Communication
Done by, Bipasha Mukherjee Devesh Bhatt Manasha Ganeshan Venumadhav Bhat M
Vadabandeshwara temple is one of the most prominent and oldest temples of Udupi, the temple town.This temple is more than 800 years old. Malpe, the coastal part of Udupi houses the Vadabandeshwara temple. The temple is a few kilometers away from the shoreline. This is one of Karnataka’s oldest temple. This temple primarily worshipped Lord Subrahmanya, although it is famous for housing the deity Lord Balarama, the brother of Lord Krishna. According to folklore, there was a sage by the name Vadabandeesha. He was a lepor. He could not tolerate the disease and he started to penance. Lord Subrahmanya satisfied by his penance decided to relieve him of his disease. The Lord came in front of him and offered to cure him of his suffering, if he built a temple dedicated to the Lord. Sage Vadabandeesha then built the present temple in the Lord’s name. Hence, this temple is also known as Anantheshwara temple. Anantheshwara, being the other name of Lord Subrahmanya. At present the main deity is Lord Balarama, the brother of Krishna. Hence, in one sense we can call this temple as the brother temple of the Udupi Krishna mutt where devotees from all over the world come to experience the lord’s grace. There is a folklore for Lord Balarama being the main deity now. The story goes that due to somebody vandalizing the statue of Lord Subrahmanya one of the arms of the idol broke. Due to this the idol could not be kept in the temple for worshipping. So the people of the village decided to immerse the idol into the temple pond and named the pond Skanda Pushkarani. Skanda, being yet another name for Lord Subrahmanya or literally meaning the God of war. The great Vaishnavite Saint Shri