Heritage Visit

 

INTRODUCTION

 

Honnavar is a town in India located in the state of Karnataka. It is famous for its scenic beauty and the islands that have been formed by the merging  of river Sharavati into the Arabian Sea. It hs hidden treasures of many scenario based beauty spots.  It  mainly catches the attraction of tourist due to its tranquil nature. Monsoon and winter are an ideal time to explore this town. It has lot of surprises to offer .It is an all time destination.

There are many places to visit and explore . One of the spot includes a temple which is around 3 kms far away from Honnavar town called as Rama Tirtha Temple .This place has got its significant history revolving in the ancient time of Ramayana period . Considered to be a holy place it involves many theories and ethics around it. Public as well as private transport is available.

HISTORY

Ramayana is a Sanskrit script composed in 5^th century BCE by sage Valmiki .It is the story of Prince Rama's quest to rescue his wife Sita from Ravana with the help of Lakshmana and group of monkeys. It is believed that during the vanavas Rama, Lakshmana and Sita were thirsty as they couldn’t find water to drink Rama took his bow and shot an arrow towards the forest which created 2 holes making  two small perennial water falls called Rama teertha and Laxmana teertha. Even till date water still flows after thousands of years even if there is a severe drought. The water is so pure and cold, taking a bath here is most pleasurable thing. The place is located at the outskirts (if we can call it so) of Honnavar town. The teertha are about 100 steps down the temple.

Near the 2 teerthas there is a small cave which is entitled to be shelter for many sadhus and

saints. A large number of gurus, sadhus, swamis and saints do their meditation in this cave to

attain spirituality and gain the insight of God. One such swami was Swami Shreedhar. He

meditated at this temple for about 12 years to gain the grace of God. During his stay in the

temple he constructed Dattatreya mandir and Gyana mandir along with his disciples.

Specialty

People say that after bathing in the 2 teerthas it helps in recovery of any skin diseases. It is also believed that the water is considered as pavitra (holy) by the locals due to the common belief that it is somehow connected to the God.It is a very peaceful place to enjoy and meditate .This temple is famous for many mythological stories about Rama and Sita.This temple is also famous because of the blessings of Shreedhar swami as he  completed his penance from here itself. His contribution towards attaining the blessing of God is appreciated.

 

Overall scenario

For an heritage to be a blessed place in itself doesn’t fulfill the soul. Lots of effort needs to be done in order to maintain it and run it. When it some to Rama Teertha the maintenance rate is very poor.  Cleanliness at certain extent is pretty good but still much improvement I needed in this particular area. We request people visiting here to not degrade the property by littering it or throwing any kind of wastes and plastics.

Conclusion

To wrap things up this temple is very underrated and should reach out to as much people as possible because being brought up in the country full of heritage ethics it’s our main duty to acquire knowledge about every religious notions so that we can preserve it for our upcoming generations. Temple visit is a spiritual experience that makes a person better. So, let’s give a new meaning to the temple Rama Teertha by filling the beauty of it through our eyes.

Some insights of temple