Main travel destination for domestic Indian travelers are to umpteen number of Hindu temples. . Sigandur Chowdeshwari temple is one of them. It is located in a small village of Sigandur also called Dasarighatta near Tiptur of Tumkur District.. It is in an area with back water of Sharavathi before it falls into Jog. It is 202 km from Bangalore and 317 km from Mysore. It is like 4 hours from Bangalore may be 6 hours from Mysore. You will have to reach Sagar and from there to a small village called Tumari where two ferries are launched run till 5:00 pm carrying vehicles and passengers to the other side of backwaters of Sharavathi to a village called Kalasavalli and Sigandur is like 10 km from this village. Karnataka Tourism advertises this temple is abode of Chowdeshwari incarnation of Parvathi who is suppose to be very powerful and just a visit and offering prayers to this Goddess; she will solve any problem before going to court. Large number of devotees come here, clearly to take blessing from this Goddess to solve their problem without them doing much.
We were at Shivamoga and took the journey from there to Sigandur Chowdeshwari Temple. Route 206/148 Bangalore/Honavar Highway for 10 miles into it we reach a bifurcation where it Main Highway 206 continues to Sagar and a left sided State Highway 52 is road that takes you Kollur Mookambika. It is winding way becomes mountainous also called Sampekatte Kollur road has a distance to 72 miles to Kollur. Approximately 3 hours. Roughly 10 miles from Kollur there is deviation to Sigandur from 52. This road is called Sigandur road is under construction to an asphalt road still in gravel and mud stage. Driving is hard and slow bumpy. It is 37 km drive could take one hour or more. This way you could visit famous Kollur Mookambika and Sigandur in one trip in one day and return to Shivamoga.
Sigandoor is a small village can’t even make out or even completely missed it because of the Temple and surrounding areas are being developed using heavy construction materials. Soil here is like Iron ore containing soil of Kemmannugundi or Bababudangiri. Red and dusty, stains your clothes and footwear. After you park your vehicle and leaving your footwear you will have to walk on rough gravel road and enter inside a large hall covered with metal sheet where people congregate probably for meals offered by the temple and Homas are performed.
The Legend says; Long time ago there was a king in Kingdom of Nandavara is called Nandavaram in Telugu is located in the State of Andhra and is near Kurnool.
Nandavaram is a small village in the Banagana Palli town (mandal) of Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh. Nandavaram is earlier days called as Nandavarapuram and in much earlier days it is called as Anandavarapuram.
The village is best known for the famous Chowdeshwari Devi [KasiVishalakshi] temple. It is said that the Goddess Chowdeshwari has come all the way from Varanasi to Nandavaram via an underground tunnel [which you can see in the temple premises] in just one day.
The King of Nandavaram simply called Chakaravarthi of Nandavaram. He was an ardent worshipper of Goddess Chowdeshwari (Kasi Vishalaxi). Since there was no Chowdeshwari temple in Nandavaram, he went to Kasi every morning and returned by evening. This could do it because of some mystic Magical Power bestowed on him by Goddess Chowdeshwari.
Once Maharani wanted to come with him with the intention of spying on him and she went there although she was in her periods. Visiting a holy shrine by wife of devotee in periods will have bad consequences. Hence King of Nandavara lost all his magical powers. He could not return to Nandavara like he did with Magical Powers. As the King was worried and stuck in Kasi, he met a group of Brahmins who were worshipping and doing Chandi Homa for celestial powers. These Brahmins offered the king half of earned Punya and with that he got magical powers back. He was able to return to Nandavaram with his Queen the same day from Kasi He promised these Brahmins Land and place to live and left.
A few years later famine hit the Kasi area and Brahmins moved out of this place came to Kurnool area and met the king and asked him to give them the land he promised. King conveniently forgot the promise and thought he could brush aside these poor Brahmins and did not give them anything and treated them badly. Brahmins prayed to Goddess Chowdeshwari to remedy problem with the king. Chowdeshwari arrived by underground tunnel in one day to Nandavaram and King realized his mistake and offered the Brahmins the land he promised. These Brahmins settled down in Nandavaram. These Brahmins called themselves Nandavarks and Chowdeshwari became their Family Deity. There exists even today a Temple of Chowdeshwari on banks of Tunga at Kurnool District at Nandawaram. This temple was built by Nandavara Chakaravarthi.
Legend says that Chowdeshwari came from Varnasi thorough underground tunnel in one day. This deity was so powerful, people who visualized died of heart attack instantly. So temple Garbagudi was shut permanently and another deity idol made which resembled the original. The temple structure is elevated so that the current deity sits exactly above the place where he original deity resides. There is a flight on the East side of this elevated temple to go to the Garbagudi of the original Deity, but no one is allowed to go there. The Local Brahmins who arrived here before the Varnasi Deity arrived here are called Nandavareeka Brahmins who are originally from Kasi or Varnasi. They have contributed to this temple’s development and are only Brahmins allowed inside Garbhagruha to perform pooja.
300 years latter this incident, a Palegar called Jasavantha Raya of Tiptur went to Nandavara and prayed sincerely to Chowdeshwari and request her to accompany in all his conquests and she did. Latter on she wanted to settle near Tiptur because it was a natural beauty with river valleys and mountains. This place then called town of Jasavantha raya now called Dasarighatta or more popularly Sigandoor.
This Mythological story of Sigandoor and legend appears farfetched. It is after all a Myth. It looks like Chakaravarthi Nandavara lived soon after the fall of Vijayanagara Empire around middle of 1500. Although he was called Chakaravarthi, he was only a king of a small town of Nandavaram near present day Kurnool AP. It is highly improbable he travelled to Varnasi and returned the same day. It is distance of 1500 km by national highway from Kurnool to Varnasi. It is a jet travel to a cover a distance of 3000 km in few hours. I have a feeling this mythological story was somehow floated during those middle ages when people believed in their Kings as Vickers of God. A king of small kingdom former vassal of larger empire of Vijayanagara had now to prove his mettle when he carved out his kingdom. He let this myth spread. The fact that he left early morning at 4:00 am and returned by night indicated that his effort to maintain the clandestine story. It is possible that the King hid in his Harem along with the queen so people can believe that he is in Kasi praying to Goddess Chowdeshwari or Kasi Vishalaxi for their well being. As you know after the fall of Vijayanagara Empire there was a real fear of invasion from Muslim expansion by Deccan Sultanates and threat to their religious institutions. Similarly whole story of him and his wife who could not return to Nandavaram because of loss of Mythical Power and subsequent restoration of it by Varnasi Brahmins is also farfetched. It is possible King was tired of being boxed in his Harem decided to lead a more normal life. The famine in Kasi and subsequent arrival of Brahmins from Varnasi and establishing in Nandavaram and arrival of Goddess Chowdeshwari through underground tunnel in 24 hours to teach the king a lesson and being entombed in a under the ground Garbagudi to prevent harm to devotees and subsequent building of over the ground Temple and consecration of a locally sculpted Chowdeshwari idol right above the original ferocious idol underground, are equally mythical. There should be more earthly explanation for it.
Less mythical would be Palegar Jasavanatha Raya 300 years later probably when Moguls were being replaced by British in Indian Subcontinent. It is realistic to think Jasavanatha Raya was trying to expand his territorial power and established a Temple in present day Sigandoor. His entire story about Chowdeshwari travelling to Sigandoor from Nandavaram is an embellishment, more likely he brought artisans and sculptors from there and carved out a similar idols at Sigandoor and sanctified it.
The present day anecdotes of many personal problems especially involving Land Disputes are as believable as any other personal anecdotes. Govt. of Karnataka and other States who unlike any other Secular Democracies in developed countries has a total control over Religious institutions especially Hindu Temples. Their Travel Tourism Dept is promoting the beliefs of these anecdotes. Temple itself appears to have taken by this and sells Indulgences with a power to ward of house burglary and other forms of crimes against the public. I hope they will find something suitable for Chain Snatching. The sanctity of temple is diluted by turning it into commercial tourist attractions. State government blatantly indulged in diversion of the wealth of Hindu temples, and their use to fund non-Hindu purposes, is a flagrant travesty of the principle of separation of religion and State.
To the practicing Hindu all deities represent the One Supreme Reality and Being in diverse ways and forms that make the divine accessible to all levels of religious and spiritual temperaments. The images of our gods and goddesses are not just stone or metal idols. They are profound symbols and splendorous representations of the One in its many manifestations, they are holy reminders of the divine being everywhere, they are aids to meditation and worship, and they are also ceremonially sanctified centers of spiritual energy and divine grace. The exploitation of this mindset by politicians and others is a disgrace. Scientific Community calls it a Blind faith. Blind faith is preferred to modern science and reasoning by the faithful as science would reduce sanctity of supernatural to material cold analysis.
In a culture like ours where blind faith go back thousands of years, It is also a culture where social and educational systems do not foster, and in fact discourage, questioning minds. In addition our education system does not address the issues of rationality at all. It is very skills-focused and does not attempt to encourage people to question or to think independently. The traditional administrations of our temples need revamping for modern times, such reforms and reorganization should be led by practicing Hindus and their leaders, and not by outsiders from the government or non-Hindu constituencies.
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