Dharmasthala manjunatheshwara one of the famous temple tulunadu

Dharmasthala is an Indian temple town on the banks of the Nethravathi River in the Belthangadi taluk of the Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka, India.
I 800 years. Local legend says that the Shiva Linga in Dharmasthala was brought to Dharmasthala by a local person with great powers, named Annappa. Legend is that he used to work for the Heggade family. Once when the Heggade he was serving wanted to worship Lord Shiva, Annappa had assured him of getting one linga and vanished from the sight. Next morning, he had already established the linga in Dharmasthala, a few metres away from Heggade’s house. Around the 16th century, Shri Devaraja Heggade invited Shri Vadiraja Swami of Udupi to visit the place. Swamiji visited the place but refused to accept the Bhiksha. The reason behind this was the Manjunatha Idol was not placed as per the Vedic rituals. Now, Shri Devaraja Heggade requested Swamiji to complete this. When the Idol was reconsecrated by Swamiji, he called the place as “Dharmasthala” seeing the roots of charity done at this place.The current Dharmadhikari (Head) of Dharmasthala is Padmabhushan Dr. Virendra Heggade. He has been working selflessly at this place. Some of his works are:
1) Free mass marriages are done every year since 1972 to fight against dowry system.
2) There are more than 15 Educational institutions formed to provide education to rural students.
3) Every day Anna daana (free lunch and dinner) is served at the temple for an average of 10000 devotees.
Special attractions:Apart from the temple, Dharmasthala has a historic museum, where ancient manuscripts and paintings has been preserved. There is a museum named “Manjusha Museum”, where you can find rare Vintage cars.
The Bahubali statue is also a major attraction at this place. It was carved out of single rock and is about 39 feet high. This is one of the five stone statues of Bahubali located in Karnataka State and more than 20 feet in height.