Narahari Parvata: Where Krishna and Arjuna Atoned

The great war of the Mahabharata ends with the winners in grief. Here, on a hill in Dakshina Kannada, the story is that two of them came to put it right.

The temple on top is for Shiva, and it is known as the “Kailasa of the Earth”.

The hill

Mangalore Heritage says that the Narahari Sadashiva temple is on top of Narahari Hill near Melkar, more than 30 km from Mangaluru and 4 km from B. C. Road, Bantwal, beside the national highway between Mangaluru and Bengaluru. It is dedicated to Shiva and popularly called the “Kailasa of the Earth”. It stands about 1,000 feet above sea level, and visitors climb 333 steps to reach it. Roads have recently been built for those who cannot climb.¹

The same page describes the view from the top: the Sulliamale and Ballamale hills to the east, Kadenjamale to the south, the highway on one side, the Mangaluru–Hassan railway on the other, and the Netravati river.¹ The Eco-Heritage pages of the C. P. R. Environmental Education Centre give the same distances and height, and say the hill holds “mythological secrets dating back to the age of Pandavas”.²

The legend

Both sources tell the story the same way. After the Kurukshetra war, Krishna, here called Hari, and Arjuna, called Nara, did penance on the hill to free themselves from the sins of the killing. As a sign of his visit Hari carved a conch (shankha), a discus (chakra), a mace (gada) and a lotus (padma) into the rock, and these became four teertha koopas, holy ponds, which can still be seen. Arjuna purified himself by bathing in them, set up a Shivalinga and worshipped it. That, say the sources, is how the hill got its name, Narahari Sadashiva.¹ ²

The name is read in the story itself. Nara is Arjuna, Hari is Krishna, and Sadashiva is the linga Arjuna set up. Our notes add that elsewhere in India “Narahari” is more often a name of Vishnu as the man-lion, so this reading is a local one.

The four ponds

Eco-Heritage says that, at the top, the four ponds are “perfectly in the shape of” a conch, a discus, a mace and a lotus.² Mangalore Heritage calls them the four holy ponds that “are present even today”.¹ Many Tuluvas come to bathe in the ponds on Aati Amavasya and Sona Amavasya, when a dip is held to be sacred, in what the page calls teerthasnana.¹ Our page on Aati tells how the month of Aati is kept at home.

Worship

The temple is open from 7 am to 7 pm, with pujas at 8:30 am, 12:30 pm and 6:30 pm. Shivaratri, Nagarapanchami and Ganesh Chaturthi are celebrated grandly, and so is the last Monday of the month of Karthika.¹ Eco-Heritage also mentions the anniversary of the renovated Brahmakalasha, the top of the shrine.²

Mangalore Heritage lists some offerings. Devotees believe that they overcome their fears with Baliwadu Seva, and that Pasharpane gives relief from breathing problems. Those who want children offer Thotilu Magu Seva, a cradle offering, and a tender coconut abhisheka is said to fulfil every worldly wish.¹

What we could not find

• A history of the temple. Neither source gives a date, a builder, an inscription or the people who run the temple. Our notes also found no trust, monastery or state record. Everything above rests on the legend and on present practice.
• The place name Panemangalur. Our notes say the temple is near Panemangalur. Both sources place it near Melkar and B. C. Road, so we use that.
• A written source for the story. Both sources are modern heritage and tourism pages. We found no old text or scholarly study for the Krishna and Arjuna story.
• The other hill temple. Mangalore Heritage suggests visiting the Karinjeshwara temple, about 20 km away.¹ We have not yet written that page.

Related

• Kollur Mookambika: The Goddess and the Mute Demon, another place where a legend from the wider Hindu tradition is tied to a hill in Tulunadu
• Aati: Tulunadu’s Monsoon Pause, the month of the bathing days
• Kadri Manjunatha: The Hill of Many Faiths, another temple on a hill

Sources & further reading

The books and articles behind the numbered notes on this page.

1. Mangalore Heritage, “Narahari Sadashiva – A Unique Hill Temple For Lord Shiva” (blog; read 9 October 2026): the location, the climb, the view, the timings, the festivals, the offerings and the legend.
2. C. P. R. Environmental Education Centre, Eco-Heritage, “Narahari Hill” (read 9 October 2026): the location, the height, the legend, the ponds and the festivals.

Both are modern heritage pages, and they tell the legend in almost the same words. We found no scholarly source.