kumbla temple

This temple is located in Kumbla 12 Km north of Kasaragod on N.H.17 highway. It is the family temple of Bhakta family and was established about 400 years ago by Late Shri Thimmappa Bhakta and later the Punar Pratishtha by Shri Gurudatt Bhakta. The main deity is Shri Santhanagopalakrishna. The deity is seen here holding a baby in the hands as if to be handed over to the devotee. Many believe that the deity can bless devotees with no issues for long, after marriage, to have children.

The important festivals are the Foundation Day (Punarprathistha Divas), Magha Shudha Trayodashi, Gokulashtami Shravan Bahula Ashtami (Janmashtami) & Gita Jayanti (November/ December).

Bhakta families migrated from Goa in 1560 A.D. on account of the Portuguese persecution and settled down in Kumbla, a trade and commerce centre with port facilities those days. Somewhere in 1600, when many family members of the Bhakta family were childless, they approached the oracle in Sri Anantheswar Temple in Manjeshwar and they were directed to install an idol of Shri Santhanagopalakrishna in the residential premises. Thus about 400 years ago the idol was installed as family deity by Shri Thimmappa Bhakta. On account of economic reasons, many members of the family migrated to different places in search of livelihood and nobody thought of erecting a temple for their guardian deity. However in the year 1997 Shri Gurudatt D. Bhakta of Mapusa Goa one of the descendants took initiative in reconstructing a new temple on the original site. Accordingly a shrine was erected and the deities were reinstalled by him on 19th February 1997 with the daily viniyoga sevas and annual celebration by a Registered Trust.

Kumbla in Kasargod district is 12 km north of Kasargod town and was the ancient seat of Rajas of Kumbala. The town stands on a bold peninsula in a lagoon seperated from the sea by a sand spit and connected to it by a narrow channel. Parthi Subbha, father of Yakshagana was born here in the 18th century. There is another famous Gopalakrishna temple at Kanipura in Kumbla.

Anathapura, the only lake temple in Kerala is 5 km. from Kumbla. This 9th century temple is the original abode of Anantapadmanabha, the deity of Sree Padmanabha Swami Temple at Trivandrum. The temple is surrounded on all sides by water and a bridge connects it to the temple premises. There is a cave nearby the lake and atop the cave there is a Ganapathy temple.