kumbla temple

This community temple of GSBs is located in Kumbla 12 Km north of Kasaragod on N.H.17 highway. The temple located in the GSB colony about 2 km from kumbla railway bridge and near to the kumbla river. The deities are installed on a three step simhasana or throne. The principal deity Veera Vittala is on the first step of the simhasana. On the second step is the idols of Sri Rama with Sita and Lakshman. On the third step are the Utsav murthies of Veera Vittala, Sree Devi and Bhoomi devi. There is an idol of Ganapati outside the srikovil.

Veera Vitala temple

There was a dispute for succession among Srimad Sumatheendra Tirtha and Srimad Vasudendra Tirtha for succession to the Samsthan's peetha during 1834 AD. Srimad Vasudendra Tirtha, filed a case in the Calicut court for division of the mutt which was favoured by the Court in 1850. As per the custom and practice during those days, Srimad Vasudendra Tirtha entrusted the important records of the Kashi mutt samsthan and the valuables in the form of gold,jewellery etc., not required for the day to day use, to Kumbla Nayak's Bhandasala for safe custody. However, Srimad Vasudendra Tirtha attained samadhi in 1859 and Srimad Bhuvanendra Tirtha became head of Kashi mutt (1859-1885). During 1857-1860 period there was a dispute going on among the Kumbla Nayak's family for partition of their family properties. On hearing about the dispute, Srimad Bhuvanendra Tirtha rushed to Kumbla un-announced to take possession of the Mutt's belongings entrusted to the Nayak's family. On arrival at Kumbla, Swamiji proceeded straight to the Bhandasala, where the belongings were kept. On opening the sealed safe-custody room, Swamiji found all the records and valuables intact, and was immensely pleased.

During the above visit, Swamiji was staying at the Sri Mukhya Prana temple (the family temple of Kumbala Nayaks), the only place then available for stay. As this place was very small, Swamiji suggested that all the GSB samaj members of Kumbla should join together and construct a temple for the Samaj and entrusted the leadership and responsibility to Rayappa Nayak, then head of the Nayak's family. The temple was eventually built and Prathista ceremony was performed in 1877 AD, by Srimad Bhuvanendra Tirtha himself. The idol of Sree Veera Vittala installed in the temple was in the possession of the then priest Bhandarayana Bhat.

There are some family shrines near this temple - Shri Laxminarayana Temple and Shri Hanuman Temple (Kumbla Nayak's family), Sree Mahamaya Temple (Rama Bhat's family), Shri Ganapati Temple (Pundaleeka Bhat Family) and Sree Santhana Gopalakrishna temple (Bhakta family).

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. The name Kumbla/Kumbale was derived from Kanipura (or the land of Kanwa Maharshi). It is the center for the nightly folk opera called Yakshagaana. Parthi Subbha, father of Yakshagaana was born here in the 18th century.

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.