Goravanahalli Mahalakshmi temple is in the Tumkur District of Karnataka.

It is one of the most famous temples near Bangalore.

Legend

In Goravanahalli village lived a cowherd called Abbayya.

He was very poor.

He used to take his cows out for grazing every day.

At noon, he used to take food near a pond.

One day, while he was having food he heard a female voice “Shall I come with you, shall I come with you”.

He got scared at first.

He thought it could be some evil spirit.

Then he summoned up courage and said - “You can come if you won’t harm me”.

When he looked in the pond, he could see the idol of Mahalakshmi.

He took it home and started worshiping it.

In some time, Abbaya became the richest person in the village.

Construction of the temple

After Abbayya died, his brother Thotadappa continued the puja.

Lakshmi Devi appeared in his dream and asked him to build a temple for her.

It was Thotadappa who built the temple.

After Thotadappa, Chowdayya continued the puja.

The temple remained unattended between 1910 and 1925.

A devotee called Kamalamma came to Goravanahalli in 1925 and worshiped Devi for one year and then left.

She came back in 1952 and renovated the temple.

Timings

6.00 am to 12.30 pm

5.30 pm to 8.00 pm

Nearest Railway Station

Tumkur - 22 km

Nearest Airport

Bengaluru - 85 km

Knowledge Bank

What was the subject of the poems of Surdas Ji?

Krishna bhakti. His poems were based on the Subodhini commentary of Srimad Bhagavatam byf his Guru Vallabhacharya.

What does Ganesha mean?

In Sanskrit, Gana (गणः) means group and Isha (ईशः) means the Lord. Ganesha means the Lord of groups. In Vedic philosophy, everything exists in groups. For example: 11 Rudras, 12 Adityas, 7 seas, 5 sensory organs, 4 Vedas, 14 worlds, etc. Ganesha is the ruler of all such groups which means that he is the Lord of everything.