Temple History

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The temple's first construction was by the king Mayurasharma of the Kadamba dynasty (reign 345 CE – 365 CE). Again, legend holds that Mayurasharma wished to learn of the Vedic rites and the Ashwamedha Yagna (ritual of horse sacrifice). He travelled to Kanchipuram, a major religious learning centre, but there, he was insulted by a horseman guard. He was angered and swore to defeat the ruling Pallava dynasty. Following his defeat of the Pallavas, the king asked some priests to perform a daily yajnato maintain his suzerainty over the region. Mayurasharma's son, King Kangavarma brought Brahmin families from different lineages to maintain administration at the temple.

Atmalinga Temple View.

The classical Sanskrit writer, Kalidasa mentions the "Lord of Gokarna" in his 4th century work, Raghuvamsha. The Gokarna temple is recorded as one of the Paadal Petra Sthalams in the 7th century Tevaram canon of devotional poetry.

The temple is a large complex of shrines and much of it belongs to the later Vijayanagara period  A Vijayanagara emperor once visited the temple and weighed himself in gold.

During the 17th century reign of Queen Chennammaji and her son, Soma Sekharanayaka of Keladi, Visvesvaraya of Halasunadu-Kundapura built the Chandrasala and Nandi pavilions. In 1665, the warrior king, Shivaji  worshipped at the Mahabaleshwar temple after disbanding his army in Gonarka.

In 1676, Fryer, an English traveller, visited Gokarna during the Maha Shivaratri festival and wrote in detail about it at the temple.

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