Sri Guru Madiwaleshwara Matha, Wakkunda

Sri Guru Madiwaleshwara is a 19th Century Lingayath saint who setup his first monastery on the bank of a stream near Garag village. Madiwaleshwar's disciples built temples and setup more monasteries in his honor at other places like Nichanki near Kittur and Vakkund village on river Malaprabha bank near Bailhongal.

Feb 16, 2022

The discovery of monastery of Madiwaleshwara was a surprise. I had come to Vakkund to see the XII Century temples situated on a mound on the left bank of river Malaprabha. Madiwaleshwara Matha was on the way to the ancient temple from the village. I parked my car at the monastery and walked rest of the way to the river. The mound was an island hence I couldn't make it to the temple. I took a few pictures of the island and returned. The poojari had completed the morning rituals and left, probably the temple would be open again in the evening for a few hours.

The Matha is surrounded by sugarcane fields, the ambiance is nice. The monastery seems to have the basic facilities like a kitchen, store room, courtyard and rooms for guests. However, there's no Swami as such. The monastery is well maintained, very neat and tidy.

This is the temple within the monastery. The framed picture at the top is Guru Madiwaleshwara's. As per his biography, Madiwaleshwara's roots are connected to Mallasarja Desai of Kittur. Madiwaleshwara is said to have traveled well including a trip to Nepal where he was a guest at the royal palace. Also he was a contemporary of Shishunala Sharif and Nagalinga Swamy of Navalgund.

The water level around the mound will recede in a few weeks. I've planned to visit Vakkund again, probably last week March or first week April.
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