About Temple
The Nagesh temple is a small but tidy structure. A visitor feels
delighted on his entering the temple. In the "Garbhagara" the
Linga is standing with its pedestal, under the dome shaped
roofing. Around the "Garbhagara" there is the space for "Pradakshana".
Then comes the bedroom with bed-stead. Facing it is the spacious
square built to marble tiles. On the Southern and Northern sides
the idols (in seated position) of Shri Laxminarayan and Shri
Ganapati are installed. The temple is facing to the west and in
front of it is the tank. The tank water is ever flowing and is
very clean. The tank is so beautiful that it is considered to be
the best among the tanks of all the temples. It is, therefore,
well known all over Gomantaka and is considered to be a
distinctive feature of this temple. There is a proverb in
Gomantak giving the distinctive features of some of the temples
which are : "Pillar of Shri Mangesh", Dome of Shri Shantadurga",
"Tank of Shri Nagesh", "Suqare of shri Mahalaxmi", "Sthal (spot)
of shri Mahalasa" and "Gana of shri kamakshi". This proverb has
thus become popular.n Fonde
This temple was rebuilt in 1702 Saka (1780 A.D.) by one Shri
Wadiye from Kumbarjuvem, on behalf of the two widows
(mother-in-law and daughter-in-law) hailing from the family of
shri narayan Fonde Kamat Kumbarjuvemkar. A mention of this work
is found as follows : "Shri Nagesh temple was a small one in the
past. It was rebuilt by Shrimati Savitri Kamatin, widow of Shri
Naraya Fonde Kamat Kumbarjuvemkar, at her own cost. Then opening
ceremony of the new construction took place of "Falgun Shudha
Tritiya, Shri Shake 1702, Sharvari Sanvatsare".
Period of Shri Nagesh temple
Some Saraswat families belonging to koushik, vatsa and
bharadwaj gotras are the devotees of this shivling which is
considered as their family deity. A distinctive feature of this
devasthan is that it was unaffected by the religious persecution
of the portuguese rulers in the sixteenth century. As such its
sanctity remained unaffected. This was because at that time
Antruj or ponda mahal was not under the domain of Portuguese
power and this facilitated the transit of Saraswat deities -
Shri Mangesh, Shantadurga, Ramnath, Mahalasa, Saptakotiswar,
Ganpati, etc to Antruj and Bhatagram (Dicholi).
In the compound of the Devasthan, there is an inscription which
is a undisputed document about the antiquity of this temple. It
relates to a gift of lands named after 'Vedakhandikechem Kulagar',
Nagzari Mallo, paddy-field and 'Ruvo Kulagar' in favour of the
deities of Shri Mayeen Shenvi Wagle, an officer of the kingdom,
in the year 1413 A.D. or 1335 Saka, during the rule of the king
Veer Pratap Devaraya, of Vijayanagar Empire, At that time, Shri
Nanjan Gosavi was the governor of Goa. The purpose of this gift
was to perform certain cults and offer certain goods to the
deities concerned every year, on the auspicious day of Kartik
Pournima, out of the rent of those lands. (vide Appendix I).
In those times, this deity was being known as 'Nag-nath'. It was
a custom of XII century or even before, to add the suffix 'Nath'
to the names of deities. Here are some of the example :
Manganath (Manguesh), Kapilnath (Kapileshwar), Gananath (Ganapati),
Saptanath (Saptakotishwar), Govenath (Goveshwar), etc. In a
copper plate found at Savai-verem, similar names have been
mentioned. This plate relates to Timma Mantri and is concerned
with a dispute between the goldsmiths and the vaishyas (vanis),
in the year of 1221 saka. At the end of this plate, the oath of
the following deities have been taken: Shri Govenath of Goa,
Shri Spatanath of Narvem, Shri Kapileshwar of Kavlem, Shri
Naganath of Bandiwadgram (Bandivadem) and shri Gananath of
katigram (Khandepar). This is an evidence of the prominence
which this deity was enjoying in the XIII century. (Vide
Goenkaranchi Goembhaili Vasnuk by Shri Wamanrao Warde Walaulikar,
Pg. 84). Moreover, this copper plate is a clear proof of the
existence of this temple even before the Vijayanagar period. It
goes back to Kadamba rule.
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