Popularly known as Surya temple it is well known for mud made offerings (called as Mannina Harake in Kannada)i.e if any wishes or prayers made by devotees to get rid of their issues or for the fulfillment of their desires, once it’s fulfilled they will be offering an idol of mud associated with their wishes.
Eg. If you wish and pray to buy a car/house and it’s done then you will be offering a car/house idol made of mud.
There is a HarikeBana (a garden of Swayam Udhbhava linga)near the temple where devotees pray and wish their requirements and offer the same in the form of mud once their wishes come true.
Initially, when you go there for the first time you can only do the Sankalpa. Once your Sankalpa is fulfilled you can go there & do the offerings. The offerings are available in temple premises only & they are clay Sculptures (Mannina Gombey) of your request (Like if you want the job you can offer a chair & table if its marriage you should offer Vadu vara if its ear or eyes problem offer an ear or eye Sculptures likewise). The cost of these clay Sculptures is priced between RS 50-200.
- It attracts a huge number of devotees a day and its believed to be a good devotional place.
- It is one of the important places to visit near Dharmasthala.
- It is around 16Kms away from Dharmasthala via Ujire.
My journey experience:
We traveled to Dharmasthala by bus and had a pleasant darshan of Lord Manjunatha Swamy in the morning and hired a Jeep for local sightseeing which consisted of Sri Rama Mandhir, Surya and Southadaka (Lord Ganesh temple). It was a beautiful trip with the family enjoying the green beauty with a drizzling rain on a devotional mood. It is really worth visiting this place at least once in a lifetime.
My experience with this place:
This place is surrounded by beautiful greenery, lakes, ponds, and Kalyani’s. A walk to Harike Bana is memorable and very nice to see a lot of mud offerings made by devotees. There are special pooja’s available in the temple which can be performed on devotees requests. There are a lot of devotees visiting this place regularly. The road is bit pathetic form Ujire to Surya i.e around 6-8 Kms. Govt has to think of repairing or laying a new road.
Tips or Suggestions:
There are no regular transport services to Surya. You can hire a jeep from Dharmasthala or a shared service from Ujire if you are not traveling by own vehicle. The temple timings are 7.30AM to 2 PM and 4 PM to 6.30 PM. You can call on Phone: 08256-202200/202814 Cell:9632274829 for further details and also visit