Mangalore Mangala Devi Temple

A famous king of the Ahepa dynasty: Kundavarma was ruling Tulunadu. It was during his rule that two holy saints Gorakanatha and Machendranatha of the Natha cult visited the city of crossing the river Nethravathi. The place where the two saints crossed the river is known as 'Gorakdandi'. Both of them selected a spot near the bank of the river Netravathi which at once upon a time was the centre of activities of sage Kapila.When king Kundavarma came to know about the saints, he came to meet them. After introducing himself, he offered the saints help after paying them his respects and patronage. Pleased with his qualities and humility both of them requested the king that the kingdom should be sanctified. They requested the king to donate them some land in order to build a hermitage so that they could later on make it a centre under his protection and patronage for their spiritual activities. The saints told the king that at one point of time a holy temple was there in his land which was built in the memory of goddess Mangaladevi. The two holy saints also showed the king the location where this entire historical episode had taken place. They asked the king to dig the land and take out the Dharapatra and the Linga representing Mangaladevi. A beautiful and magnificent temple of Sri Mangaladevi was built on the land based on the instructions of two saints.