Mavinakere Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple - History, Timings & Entry Fee

At a distance of 24 km from Hassan, Bettada Ranganathaswami Temple is a sacred Hindu temple located at Halekote village in the Hassan district of Karnataka. Situated atop the Mavinakere Hill, it is one of the popular temples in Karnataka, and among the top places to visit in Hassan.

Bettada Ranganathaswami Temple is dedicated to Lord Ranganatha. It is a cave temple with star-shaped architecture and also has a statue of Hanuman. Sri Ramanujacharya, who introduced Vishishtadwaitha, is said to have rested for a while here on this hill and sought the darshan of Sri Ranganatha, offering his devotional bhajans. There is a 3 feet standing idol of the lord behind the Ranganatha stone in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. On the other side of the cave is a Hanuman sculpted on a rock.

As per the history, Mavinakere was the residence of Palegar Lakshmana Nayaka and a ruined fort belonging to the Palegar is situated here. When he ruled this region, he noticed that one of his cows was emptying its milk on top of the Mavinakere hill. Out of curiosity, he followed the cow, and indeed it was emptying on a stone in the cave. From that day onwards, the stone is worshiped as Lord Ranganatha, though at that time there was a dispute that the stone was Shiva linga. The inscriptions call the deity Thiruvengalanatha, who is none other than Lord Vishnu.

Situated atop a small hill, the temple overlooks the surrounding countryside and lush greenery so that the visitors to the temple also get a breathtaking view from the top of the hill. Hemavathi River flows on one side and one can see the tower of Sri Lakshmi Venkataramanaswamy temple, another ancient temple located in Mavinakere. The temple is dedicated to Lord Venkataramana. The idol of the presiding deity is about 3 feet high and is in the form of Chathurbhuja. There is a separate shrine for Goddess Padmavathi. The gopuram/tower of the temple was newly built and the Khumbabhishekha was
performed on 22nd Jan 2010 on a grand scale.

A special procedure called Vaikhanasa Agama is observed to clean the temple and different poojas are done. The grand Rathotsava on Pushya Nakshatra Trayodashi-Chaturdashi, i.e the previous day of Full Moon during Megha Masa, marks the start of a 15 days long grand jatra that takes place at Ranganathswami temple. Thousands of devotees from all corners of the state gather here during this Jatra.

Timings: 9 AM - 1 PM & 2 PM - 5 PM

Entry: Free