Kamalashile

Vasu, P and I decided to go to Kamalashile while I was in Mangalore. Kamalashile is a small village near Sidhapura midst a forest, known for its temple of Durgambha.

We took a bus to sidhapura from Kundapura and then another bus to Kamalashile. The bhatru (Priest) at temple explained to us that it was a udbhav shile (Natural rock formation) and a sacred mud is filled around it and the mud he said would act as medicine. I made a mistake by asking him – Can I have some of this mud? He got suddenly excited and told me that it was not mud but Prasad, a sacred offering of God. For my mistake, I had to hear for a lecture of few minutes. My friends could not stop giggling at me. Well, I could have explained to bhatru that if I had referred to it just as a mud, I would not have asked for it to take home. But from this experience what I learnt was, how I must think before speaking and what difference a slight change in a synonym can make.


Bhatru was kind enough to ask a helper at temple to take us to the cave on top of a hill. A shopkeeper outside told us that he was an official guide to the cave and he would have taken us. He suggested we go walking to witness the scenery. We told the temple boy to join us there. The walk up was too tiring; no wind; burning tar road. Saw a huge tree on the way.

The cave is the mulla sthana (Place of origin of the temple) there are several udbhav moorthi’s of Ashlesha, Lakshmi, Ganapathi. The cave was completely dark inside and it was scary walking in, as there were plenty of bats flying all around us. The boy went deep into the cave and then said – These are Godly bats, they would not touch you, but wild bats, they would drink human blood. Saying so, he switches off the torch light throwing us into absolute darkness. “See, blind people would feel like how it is today.” P was too scared of the wild bat story that he immediately forced the torch onn. :-)



We came back to have a tasty lunch. Everyone at the temple was very kind and would force us to have food and asked us to come with family next time. The ladies who served insisted that we should eat more as we had walked all the way up to cave. Everyone at the temple now knew about us and we had become instantly famous.

We thanked the boy and handed over some money, which he hesitantly took. He did not even look at the amount. He offered us a visiting card and asked us to come again with family. Touched by the niceness of the villagers we returned back; watched a Blacksmith at work while waiting for bus. He had designed the blower himself.


We hitch hiked back on a jeep to Sidhapura; boarded another bus to Udupi. The conductor whom we had never met before asked if our trip to Kamlashile was fine. We were shocked about the fact that we had suddenly become so popular.

The trip was short, yet very interesting and funny. There are several such temples and villages in Dakshina Kannada and udupi district that I myself have not explored. We decided to make such short visits every time while in Mangalore.

Comments

  1. These kind of trips are the most satisfying..I would like more details from you regarding how to get there.
    And whats Ashlesha ? I thought its a star..
    Lakshmi

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  2. Sure- You need to reach Kundapura, From here many buses ply to Sidhapura. At Sidhapura there is a divitaion to Kamalashile wich is about 6km from here. Localites can guide you well once you reach Sidhapura.

    Ashlesha means Naga (Form of Snake lord)

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  3. Hi Ajeya,
    You use many local words in your posts which make it very interesting to read. Your comment on my blog made me laugh out loud. Really! No twins ....LOL

    Regards

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  4. Yet another memorable trip of yours. Enjoyed reading it. :)

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  5. Anu - Hahaha,Ok...Thanks...Sometimes it is difficult to keep the same emotion if translated.

    Indrani - Thanks

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  6. Hi Ajeya... Sorry for the late response... Actually, internet at our place is down for the past 1 month....
    So what you upto these days?

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  7. Broken Mirror - Oh ok..Nothing much, just few travels. Havent got time to sit and write any scripts....Did you? Are you working on any now?

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  8. Well yes... Working on 2 new projects... One short film and another a documentary.. Done with the shooting for both... Editing going on...

    Regards,
    Sumanth (Forgot to leave my name in the previous comment :))

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  9. Nice posting ....read my next story, Rahul and the missing key

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  10. AnonymousMay 24, 2008

    You are really going to some of the unknown places (to us) and these kind of trips make me more satisfied... to know about the locals. However, sometimes, because language problem it may not be that fruitful.

    Nice narration.

    Keep it up. :-)

    Cuckoo

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  11. @Broken Mirror (Sumanth)- Great. Do invite me when you film the next...Would like to learn something.

    @Imagination - Sure

    @Cuckoo - True, Thanks.

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  12. AnonymousJuly 01, 2008

    Ur blog site is extremely intreresting. The way u have expressed ur feelings in sagara & the usage of ur mother tongue in between is v.good.But it would be good if u mention the date of ur visit to these places so that it would be better for the future reference for others who read ur blogs.All the best for ur future posts.

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  13. Thanks Preethi,

    Sure will write the dates from now on.

    ReplyDelete

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