SRI VADIRAJA VIRACHITA “TEERTHA PRABANDHA” – STEP 26 ಶ್ರೀ ವಾದಿರಾಜ ವಿರಚಿತ “ತೀರ್ಥ ಪ್ರಬಂಧ”.

SRI VADIRAJA VIRACHITA

“TEERTHA PRABANDHA” – STEP 26

ಶ್ರೀ ವಾದಿರಾಜ ವಿರಚಿತ “ತೀರ್ಥ ಪ್ರಬಂಧ”.

  

SRI KOLLUR KSHETRA/ಶ್ರೀ ಕೊಲ್ಲೂರು ಕ್ಷೇತ್ರ

ಮೂಕಾಂಬಿಕಾ ಕೃಪಾಲೋಕಾದಾಕಾಂಕ್ಷಿತಫಲಪ್ರದಾ|

ಮೂಕಾನಕೃತ ಮೇ ಶತ್ರೂನ್ ಏಕಾಂತಿಕಜನಪ್ರಿಯಾ||56||

MookAmbikA krupAlOkAdAkAnkShitaPhalapradA|

MookAnakruta mE shatrUn yEkAntikajanapriyA||56||

SUMMARY: Goddess Mukambika, who is kind and sympathetic, fulfills desires, loves ardent devotees of Lord Vishnu, made my enemies dumb.

It is said that a few people were envious of the mystic powers and popularity of Sri Vadirajaru. A few of them were Brahmins from Taulava or Tulu-speaking region; some were saints. All those envious people once sent a boy to Kolluru and told him to live there in a secret place, without getting noticed by anyone. Later, they spread a false allegation that Sri Vadirajaru had tortured and killed that boy. Goddess Mookambika then beat that boy with a whip in dreams as well as during daytime. She frightened the boy by luring him to be bitten by snakes. She told the boy: “Do not stay here. Go to Vadiraja Muni.” Ignoring the threat some wicked people unleashed on him, the boy met Sri Vadirajaru, explained to him whatever had transpired. Sri Vadirajaru showed that boy to the public so as to remove the mistaken opinion of people.

According to another source, a sage called Kola appealed to Goddess Mookambika to kill a demon named Kamha and she killed the demon. Sri Mookambika silenced some of the jealous detractors of Sri Vadirajaru. Therefore, she came to be known as Sri Mookambika.

By fulfilling all the desires of her devotees, the Goddess made her devotees dumbfounded or speechless. She also silenced those who were playing silly tricks to defame Sri Vadirajaru. Therefore, she came to be known as Mookambika, where “Mooka” means dumb. She would also expose the enemies by exposing their wicked deeds so that they bowed their heads in utter shame.

ಕ್ವಚಿತ್ ಪೃಥಿವ್ಯಾಂ ಪರಿತಶ್ಚರಂತೀ ನಭಃಸ್ಥಲಂ ಕ್ವಾಪಿ ಮುಹುರ್ವ್ರಜಂತೀ|

ವಿಪಕ್ಷವಿಧ್ವಂಸವಿಧೌ ಸ್ಫುರಂತೀ ಕಾತ್ಯಾಯನೀ ಕಂದುಕವದ್ವಿಭಾತಿ||57||

Kwachit pruThivyAm paritashcharantee naBhahasThalam kwApi

murvrajantee|

VipakShaviDhwamsaviDhau sPhurantee kAtyAyanee kandukavadviBhAtee||

SUMMARY: Goddess Durga, who visits earth now and then to kill enemy demons and frequents the sky regularly, shines like a ball.

It is said that “KaAtyAyanee kandukavadviBhAti” had been given as a problem in an assemblage of scholars and Sri Vadirajaru decoded it in his own inimitable way.

While playing with ball, it keeps moving from one team to another. Sometimes it moves in strange manner and when kicked with raw force, the ball springs up into the open sky. Similarly, Mookambika Devi visits earth to liberate the world from the torture of demons. She also roams about in the space or sky. If the demons living on earth run into the sky with their mystic power, Mookambika chases them and kills them in the battle. Therefore, she has been compared to a ball.

Kollur is about 30 miles from Kundapur. A temple dedicated to Mookambika is there at Kollur. In this shrine there is a Linga with gold lines.

Earlier, a sage named Kola was doing penance near Sahyadri mountain range. Lord Eshwara was impressed by his penance and appeared in front of the sage. Lord Eshwara told the sage that later, Lakshmi Devi would bless him and the place would be called after his name, Kolluru. After some years, a demon called Kamhasura worshipped Bhairavi Devi and secured a boon of not getting killed by anyone. The demon threw sage Kola, who was in deep meditation, to a distance and began living there. When the demon started torturing common people, Tripurabhairavi descended there to kill Kamhasura, who fled to Rushyamooka Mountain. Later, demon Mahishasura defeated Indra and began troubling pious people. Meanwhile, sage Kola woke up from meditation, realized that he had been thrown away by Kamhasura. He saw that Kamhasura and Mahishasura were troubling good people. Sage Kola worshipped Lakshmi Devi and requested her to relieve the world from the tyranny of Kamhasura and Mahishasura. Goddess Lakshmi came there, killed Mahishasura. Eshwara, who had come down to witness the battle between Lakshmi and Mahishasura, created Sri Chakra with divine radiation in the form of a Linga and adored it with the divine presence of Lakshmi Devi. The Goddess also killed another demon called Vetrasura and dissolved into the Jyotirlinga in the form of Sri Chakra light. When Eshwara was about to present boons to Kamhasura, who had done penance, the deities appealed to Sri Lakshmi to prevent Kamhasura from securing the desired boons. Accordingly, Sri Lakshmi made him dumb. Since then, Kamhasura came to be known as Mookasura and the Goddess as Mookambika. Mookasura became very furious for not succeeding in his attempt to secure boons and started creating trouble in the entire universe. Mahalakshmi again descended, killed him and entered the Jyotirlinga. The greatness and divine quality of Kollur Kshetra finds mention in Skanda Purana.

Kollur is said to be a very powerful Shaktipeetha. Sri Sankara also visited this place, consecrated a Sri Chakra and an idol of Mookambika here.            

RaupyapeeTham kumArAdri kumBhAsee DhwajEshwaraha|

KrODagOkarNa mUkAmbAha saptaitA mOkShadAyikAha||

ರೌಪ್ಯಪೀಠಂ ಕುಮಾರಾದ್ರಿ ಕುಂಭಾಸೀ ಚ ಧ್ವಜೇಶ್ವರಃ|

ಕ್ರೋಡಗೋಕರ್ಣ ಮೂಕಾಂಬಾಃ ಸಪ್ತೈತಾ ಮೋಕ್ಷದಾಯಿಕಾಃ||

As mentioned in the above Shloka, Udupi, Subrahmanya, Kumbhasi, Koteshwara, Krodashankaranarayana, Gokarna and Mookambika are the seven most powerful holy places. Of these, only Gokarna is in north Karnataka district and six are in Dakshina Kannada district alone.

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