Maddur

Maddur town is located in the middle of the Mysore-Bangalore route. If you are travelling by train you will start hearing the name ‘Maddur’ from the vendors who are selling a special vada produced in this town and sold in the name of ‘Maddur Vada’. This non-descript town is quite a peaceful place and has a few ancient temples. The town lies on the right bank of the river Shimsha.

Marudur was formerly a place of importance. It lost its glory after the destructions caused during the war of Tipu with the English. It was during these times that gun power and explosives used for warfare were manufactured and stored here, giving rise to the story that this ancient place got its name Madduru from maddu. In Kannada maddu means gunpower, but wherein this place got its name ‘Maddur’ from guarding deity of this place ‘Madduramma’.

Ancient Maddur

Maddur has a long rich legacy, starting from the Mahabharat times. As Arjuna had visited this place on pilgrimage this place was known as ‘Arjunapuri’. River Shimsha also bears the name of the Kadamba, from a rishi who resided on its banks. In later times Vishnuvardhana of the Hoysala line is stated to have given Maddur inam to the Srivaishnava Brahmans. He is also stated to have built the Maddur tank and the temple of Varadaraja The agrahara was called Narasimha-Chaturvedi- Mangalam, after his son.

Three great ancient temples namely Sri Ugra Narashima, Sri Varadharaja, and Sri Rama in town, and the deities of these temples are feast to the eyes. The processional images of the temple are those of the Varadaraja and Rama temples are kept in Ugra Narasimha Swamy temple. The vigraha of Sri Anjaneya here depicts a dasa bhava keeping His hand close to His mouth as seen in Chola period vighraha.

The palm leaf containing the shala-purana had been examined by the Archaeological Department. Maddur is called Arjunapuri and also Kadambakshetra There are two inscriptions in the Narasimha temple and one is dated in 1150 AD. Another at the outer entrance has been set down to the 10th century. In the inscriptions, Maddur is called Marudur and also Narashimha-Chaturvedimangala.

All these prove that the name of this place is not from Maddu, the gun power. All these prove that the name Maddur is either from Marudur or Madduramma.

Sri Madhvacharya and followers

Sri Madhvacharya (CE 1238–1317), had professed Dvaita philosophy. He is considered as the rebirth of Sri Hanuman. In his school of thought worship of Sri Hari [Sri Vishnu] and Sri Mukhyaprana [Sri Hanuman] is important. Therefore all followers of his dvaita philosophy worshipped these deities.

Sripadaraya or Lakshminarayana Tirtha (c.1422 - c.1480) was a Dvaita scholar, composer, and pontiff of the Madhvacharya mutt at Mulbagal. He is widely considered the founder of the Haridasa movement along with Narahari Tirtha. He was guru of Sri Vyasaraya. Gopinatha Swamy was his upasana moorthi.

Sri Vyasaraya is known for his installation of many Sri Mukhya prana devaru [Sri Hanuman] throughout south India. Both Guru Sri Sripadaraya and Shishya Sri Vyasaraja were on tour and when they visited this holy place Maddur they decided to install Sri Hanuman. Accordingly, they installed Sri Mukhya Prana on the bank of river Shimsha, and on the special day, prana pratishtha was done.

Temple for Sri Anjaneya

Over some time the rulers of the kshetra and visiting kings contributed their might and constructed a temple for Sri Anjaneya Swamy. The main deity is facing east and the river Shimsha. The garbhagraham is large and there is a mantapam in front of the garbhagraham. Devotees can have the darshan of the Lord from the mandapam itself. It is a simple temple without any frills. With Shimsha River as background and Sylvan charming you around, the devotee automatically acquires calmness in mind. Thus with peace of mind devotees will be able to pray to the Lord. Since the temple is on the bank of the river, the temple is known by the name Hole Anjaneya Temple, where Hole means river in Kannada.

Hole Anjaneya

Lord of this kshetra is facing east and is seen walking northward. His lotus feet adorn nupuram and thandai. Lord is seen wearing kaupeenam. Lord's strong thighs show the might of the Lord. His bosom adorns a garland made of three rows of beads. His ‘uttariyam’ is seen over His shoulder. The yagnopaveetham is seen flowing from His left shoulder. His both wrist is seen with kankan and his upper arm He is wearing a keyur. While His left hand is holding the sowghandhika flower, his right hand is seen raised showing ‘abhaya mudra’. Kesam is neatly tied to form a tuft. There are symbols of Chandra and Surya in the vigraha.

The Lord here is an Avathaarathraya Hanuman. The long tail symbolling Sri Hanuman, the sowgandhika flower symbolises Bhima, tuft symbolises Madhvacharya. The bell at the end of the tail of the Lord indicates it was installed by Sri Vayasaraja, and the presence of Surya and Chandra indicates it was installed by Sri Sripadaraja. Both these saints had indicated that they professed Dvaita philosophy through Sri Hole Anjaneya by keeping His middle and index figure longer.

 

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SRI HANUMAN THINKS DIFFERENTLY, THINKS FAST
THINKS AHEAD AND ACTS FOR SURE

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Ed [October 2020]
Updates: [Jan 2025]

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