Pernankila Mahalingeshwara Shri Mahaganapathi Temple

Pernankila Mahalingeshwara- Shri Mahaganapathi Temple

Pernankila Mahalingeshwara and Shri Mahaganapathi Temple is situated in Pernankila which is about 20 km southeast of Udupi in Karnataka. A scenic pond is present adjacent to temple. Lord Ganesha deity here is believed to remove obstacles from one’s life. The Ganapati here is called Udbava Ganapati as it is believed to have self manifested from earth.

Legend has it that Lord Mahalingeshwara idol was installed by Kharasura for Trikala pooja.

It is interesting to note that the Ganesha idol here has only the head and has an interesting folk story associated with it.

According to the legend that Lord Ganapati idol was found by a farmer named Perna while plowing the field and when he curiously checked something caught in the plow, he saw the idol of Balamuri Ganapati. Same night in his dream, he was ordered to take two kopparis and keep one in the place where the idol was found and the other to the side of Shivalaya. After placing the Kopparis, a beautiful idol of Lord Ganesha appeared underneath the Koppari placed at the side of Shivalaya. This is the Udbhava (self manifested) Ganapati. The village was named Pernankila because of Perna.

The historians have dated the idol to early 6th century and the temples to 8th century AD. An inscription of late 13th century can be seen near the pond at Mahalingeshwara temple. It talks about the donations made by the Alupa queen Balla Mahadevi to the temples of Peranankila.

Pernankila Shri Mahaganapati is fond of appams prepared out of rice ghee and jaggery. On the Ganesh Chaturthi day nearly one quintal rice is used to prepare 50,000 appams and distribute among the devotees. Every month nearly 70,000 appams are prepared and distributed as ‘prasad’ to the devotees who visit the temple.