SREE SHARADAMBAL TEMPLE, SRINGERI

After having darshan at Horanadu Annapoorneswari the previous evening, we left by road, in the morning (02 04 22) to Sringeri from Horanadu.   Sringeri is at a distance of 43 Kms and takes a good one and a half hours, being a hilly terrain.   It forms part of the Chikkamagalur dist of Karnataka.   Sringeri temple is at the banks of River Tunga.  We reached the temple at 8.00 AM and had darshan without any Queue.  The crowd was minimal on that day and we had divya darisanam of the Goddess. 

Adisankara meditated here and on the banks of River Tunga saw a snake spread its hood over a pregnant frog protecting it from hot Sun.  Depicting the same, there is a sculpture on the banks of the river.  The peetam he established here is known as the Dakshinamnaya Sringeri Sharada Peetam.   The Goddess here is Sharadambal who is an incarnation of Goddess Saraswati and also worshipped as Ubhya Bharati.  It is believed that by worshipping Udaya Bharathi one can get the blessing of the trinity, Brahma, Vishnu and Siva.  It is said that the Goddess was made of  Sandalwood and was in a standing posture as installed by Adi Sankara Bhagavatpada.  In the 14thCentury when Vijayanagara Kingdom ruled this place, they replaced the above with a golden Vighraha of Shardambal in a sitting posture.  

The temple complex has around 40 sannidhis including that of Stambha Ganapathi, Sri Vidyashankara temple, Janardhan temple, Harihara temple and Kalabhairava temple to the East.   The Vidyashankara temple has zodiac pillars inside.  The Mahamandapam has huge stone pillars exquisitely carved with deities like Durga, Raja Rajeshwari, Dwarapalakas and Devis which are all sculpted according to the Shilpa Sastras practised in Tamilnadu.

Temple Timings:
6:00 AM to 2:00 PM
5:00 PM to 9.00 PM

Annadhanam is available at Sringeri and following are the timings:
12:00 NOON – 2:00 PM
07:30 PM – 8:30 PM

The Mutt has the Chandramouleeswara crystal vigragha given by Lord Shiva to Adi Shankara.  Special pooja is performed to Chandramouleeswara by the Acharaya every evening.

CHANDRAMOULISHWARA PUJA (BY JAGADGURU)
9:00 PM – 10:00 PM (Normal Days)
8:30 PM – 10:00 PM (Fridays)

There is a book stall in which religious texts in various languages are available.