This week our Monday trip to a temple in and around Bangalore took us to the lesser known, Shrungagiri Shanmukha Temple (Six Faced God) in Rajarajeshwari Nagar. This temple is close to where we live in Konankunte, but we still used Google’s help to guide us correctly and without us getting lost in the many lanes and by lanes.
As the story goes, it was Lord Shanmukha's own will to choose the barren Hillock in Rajarajeshwari Nagar as His abode and manifested in His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Bharathi Theertha Mahaswamiji of Sri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri’s dream. Sringeri Swamiji entrusted Dr. R. Arunachalam with the job of building Shrungagiri Sri Shanmukha Temple on this hillock. Thus ordained and blessed, Dr. Arunachalam's extraordinary visionary capacity guided him to design the entire temple structure based on the very name of Lord Shanmukha, which means a Six Faced God.
From the temple’s website: The Crystal Dome stands at a commanding height of 42' from the top of the Temple Gopuram, embedded with 2500 Nos. of 1' diameter crystals. During day time, when direct Sun Light falls on the crystals, the same is converted into a beautiful Rainbow pattern. In the evening, the crystals are illuminated by 27 Watt LED lights, each crystal disseminating 16 colour combination lights, forming 138 patterns. The temple roof is fitted with a Sun Tracking System having 2 vertical and 2 horizontal sun light sensors, which position themselves to face the Sun from morning till evening and track maximum Sun rays at any given point of time during the day. The Sun rays thus tracked are directed on to the main deity, from any direction, enabling Surya Kirana Abhisheka to Lord Shanmukha from sunrise to sunset.
We had the good fortune of meeting Lord Shiva’s entire family, starting with Panchmukhi Ganapathi seated on a lion. This is truly a rare sculpture, because Ganesh’s vahana is his inseparable mouse. As we climbed the stairs to the Arunachaleshwara temple, we had to go past Nagarakatte and the giant sized Trishul and Damroo of Lord Shiva, painted bright yellow, visible from afar. The Shivalinga was amazing: Spatika Shivalinga carved out of crystal clear crystal. Unlike the other ancient temples in the South, This one is very spacious and can even accommodate more than 100 to 150 people on auspicious days when the footfalls are very high. As we entered through the main entrance to our left was an idol of Chandikeshwara. As told in the puranas, Chandikeshwara occupies the foremost position in the worship of Lord Shiva as we can get the blessings of the Lord only through him. He is in a constant state of deep meditation not realizing who comes to the temple. But, he is a person who keeps records of our visit to the temple and so it is customary to snap your fingers or gently clap thrice while uttering Lord Shiva’s name close to his idol, so that he realizes our presence, take his blessings and then proceed to seek the Lord’s blessings.
To his left is Goddess Parvathi – the divine mother! We seek her blessings and then climb to the main deity’s sanctum – Shrungagiri Shanmukha, second son of Lord Shiva. Referred to as God of war and protector of earth, he is also known as Karthikeya or Murugan or Subramanya. The main idol of Subramanya has six faces with three visible as we face the deity. And as we circumambulate, it is possible to see the balance three faces from a window at the back side of the sanctum. Beautifully carved and tastefully decorated with flowers we seek the blessings of Lord Subramanya and his two wives, SriValli and Devasena.
The unique thing about this temple is its giant Gopuram with six faces. The six faces represent the six rays or six attributes; Wisdom, Detachment, Strength, Fame, Wealth and Divinity.
There is a newly constructed hall close the temple, where an idol of Adi Shankaracharya has been placed for people to pay respects to the Jagat Guru. His life story in the form of paintings adorns the walls of this massive hall – certainly a place to spend some time… Just a few hundred steps from this hall is the abode of Gramadevathe: Karumariamman Temple. Visit to Shanmukha Temple is not complete without visiting this amman kovil.
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