Kaup Shri Hale Mariamma Temple History and Pooja Rituals
One Brief Story
Our temple Kaup Shri Hale Mariamma is having a history of over 2.5 Century. “Kapuda-Appe” (Mother of Kaup Town), “Mariamma”, “Dandina Mari” is some of the historical names of the Goddess of Kaup Shri Hale Mariamma.
History shows that KELADI RULERS (keladinayakru) started ruling Kaup after Vijayanagar Rulers. In the year 1743, Keladi ruler BasappaNayaka built one fort namely “MANOHARA GADHA” near kaup Light House and another fort in Mallar village at a distance of 2-3kms from Manohara Gadha. One can see the ruins of that Manoharagadha behind the present light house but no such ruins are available at Mallar fort. These information are available in page no.593 of book “Tulunada Poorva Samskrithi” [by Shri M Govinda Pai]. During the keladi rule pooja rituals of Shri Mariamma Devi were looked after by people from “Kotemane” which still exist. The administrators of Shri Hale Mariamma Temple had renovated this Kotemane on 9-3-2001.
According to beliefs, Hale Mariamma was worshipped by the warriors of Keladi Nayaks known as “Rana-veeraru” or “Ranyadavaru” as their Goddess known as “Dandina Mari” and they used to stay in “Mallaru kote mane”. The pooja rituals were performed by “kote servegara” family who were staying at kotemane. Hale Mariamma was worshipped in this Mallar fort before Tippu Sultan came to power and even afterwards. The 14-15 Acres of land known as “Ranakeri” at present where these Shree Mariamma Worshippers “Ranaveeraru” or “ranyadavaru” used to stay belongs to Shree Hale Mariamma Temple as per land revenue department. After the Keladi Rulers, it came under Tippu Sulthan’s rule and later came under British Rule.
Tippu sulthan ruled between 1750 and 1799 and later when British ruled, the temple was looked after by their representative called as “Ugrani” and during this period, the procedures of performing pooja were affected and not being performed according to the customs. As it was not functioning properly ‘Ugrani’ requested Shree Devi to shift the place of worship to a place where people gather and worship her appropriately. Shree Devi agreed and accordingly place of worship was shifted to new a place existing at present and was worshipped once in a week i.e. every Tuesday. This new place was a lowland area and water used to accumulate during rainy season. Hence in the beginning they used to make a temporary shed and “Gaddige” (Throne) and later discharge it after completing the pooja on every tuesday. In the year 1849 this temporary arrangement was replaced with a permanent Gaddige and later in 1942 this Gaddige was consecrated at newly built temple made out of stone.
In between Sri Madda Hegde took the matter to civil court for taking over the administration of this temple but at the end in 1861, ruling came in favour of GSB Samaj of kaup village as the administrator of this temple.[suit no 7/1857 in the court of subordinate court, mangalore between Laxmana Savantha alias Madda Hegde Vs Sri Ramnath Shanbhogue and others].
The existing place of Shri Hale Mariamma was earlier known as Palli-Padpu or Palla-Padpu. This name may have come into existence as this place was water lodging lowland area.
At present in Kaup there are 3 temples worshipping the same Goddess Mariamma. Initially there was only one Mariamma temple which is under administration of Konkani Mutt Shree Venkatramana Temple now known as Sri Hale Mariamma Temple and later due to difference of opinion and lust for administration two more temples of Mariamma namely Hosa Mariamma Temple and then Kalya- Marigudi or 3rd Marigudi came into existence. These two Mariamma temples are under the administration of Karnataka Government Endowment (“Department of Endowment”). All the 3 temples follow same pooja procedures and the Darshana Pathri’s of all these temples are belonging to the same family.
The pooja rituals and customs followed by this temple are different compared to any other temple. There is no particular Idol (Murthi) in Shri Mariamma Temple. Earlier pooja was only for “Gaddige” and later they used to keep one “Kalasha”on this gaddige and worship it. At the end of the day “Kalasha visarjan” was done. During Maripooja, idol made out of wood known as “Hongaraka” is prepared and pooja is to be performed to this idol which is decorated with jasmine flowers and garlands and at the end of the rituals this idol will be discharged. In the year 1966 our Dharma Guru Kashi Mathadish H.H.Shrimad Sudhindra Threetha Swamiji advised that Kalasha should be kept on the rice in the Gaddige and to give a Goddess Devi structure to this Kalasha or the Idol made out of wood and henceforth it was followed. There is no permanent idol in this temple and pooja is performed to “Gaddige” known as “Gaddige pooje”, along with this “Kumkumarchane” and “Flower Pooja”(hoovina pooje) are also being performed. “HarakeMaripooje” is the big seva for the Goddess which is also known as Dodda seve. “Gaddige Pooja” is an important Pooja in Mariamma temple, which is not common in any other temples. It shows that pooja is for that place of worship rather than to the idol.
The uniqueness of this Mariamma Temple is that here Goddess is worshipped in two different forms. Every tuesday she is worshipped in form of Mahalaxmi with a ‘Satvik’ (peaceful) nature and during Maripooja she is worshipped in form of Mahakali.
Among seven unique historical events or festivals that are performed in tulunadu, Kaup Maripooja is one.( As per Dr.Paduru Gururaj Bhat’s article on seven very important events in Tulunadu “Kaup Maripooje” is one and other six major events are Udupi Paryaya, Bappanadu Dholu, Arasara Kambala, Kavatharu Ayana, Dharmasthala Deepostsava and Padubidri Dhakke Bali. All these have their own unique attraction in tulunadu). All together three Maripooja are performed every year in our temple at an interval of four months referred as Kalavadi Maripooja. One in the month of March known as Suggi Maripooja, another in July known as Aathi Maripooja and later in November known as Jarde Maripooja. In addition to these there is “HarakeMaripooje” at an interval of 14 days known as Doddaseve which can be performed by any individual based on booking done for the same.
Navaratri is celebrated in a grand way in our temple along with Chandika Havana to the Goddess by the Tens of kaup. Even Harake Chandika Havana can be performed by any individual any tuesday (Subject to availability) based on booking done for the same.