Kallu Ganapati Temple: Offbeat Rustic Gem near Udupi

Housed inside a cave of boulders, this temple dates over a thousand years. It enjoys a rustic location surrounded by pristine farmland and nature of the Dakshina Kannada region of Karnataka. I am referring to the Kallu (stone) Ganapati temple, a hidden gem located near Saibrakatte, Udupi district.



During my 10 day monsoon motorcycle ride across the Western Ghats of Karnataka, I happened to reach Kota, the hometown of my friend and popular travel blogger Shrinidhi Hande. It was he, who recommended visiting this offbeat temple and that’s how we planned an evening visit to this temple and the nearby Mekkakattu Nandikeshwara temple.

It was drizzling when we started our respective motorcycles from Kota and the 12 kilometer green route via farms, streams, rivers, paddy fields and villages gave us perfect company. State highways turned into winding village roads and we finally reached this place full of boulders in the middle of absolutely nowhere. A narrow passage (I had to duck n crawl at many places) through the boulders led us to a small shrine with 3 stone idols. The one at the center is Lord Ganesha, while the ones at either side are that of Lord Shiva and goddess Parvati. It is believed that these stone idols and the boulders above it have been created by nature, while the small temple structure was built under the sponsorship of King of Barkuru. There is a small house adjacent to the temple where the priest lives in. Mangalarti ceremony is performed by the priest every morning and evening and these lights add a lot of vibrancy to the otherwise dark interiors of this temple under boulders.



While the temple is fairly simple, the view from the top of it is seriously beautiful. Ancient steps carved on to these boulders lead you to a fairly wide and flat top side of the rocks. From here, you can see a small meandering stream, a road bridge, coconut palms, huge swathes of paddy fields and lots and lots of green cover. This is the kind of place fit for a relaxing picnic or a meditative session.  I would definitely recommend visiting this hidden gem of a temple.

To see more photos of this temple, to know more of its history and to know the exact route, read the blog post on this temple by Shrinidhi Hande.