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Nimishamba Temple, Srirangapatna

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Nimishamba temple is located near the historical town of Srirangapatna en route to Mysore from Bangalore. Srirangapatna is of great religious, cultural and historic importance. Those of you who recall a television serial called ‘The Sword of Tipu Sultan’ on Doordarshan will be able to co-relate this place well since Srirangapatna was Tipu’s capital. There are a number of places around Srirangapatna which are of interest for tourists. During the week long vacation over the year end eve, visited a number of places including this place since it is just 130 kms from Bangalore and ideal for a day trip. Instead of writing about all the places in one article, I wish to provide a detailed info on each place separately. Let me start with Nimishamba temple 🙂

This temple is about 2 kms from Srirangapatna town and on the river banks of Kaveri aka Cauvery. Soon after passing the town, a road towards left leads to many places including this Nimishamba temple. Other places on this route include Tipu’s summer palace, Gumbaz and Paschima Vahini (Sangama). The road to reach this temple after deviating from Bangalore-Mysore highway is not so great, nevertheless it is just 2 kms! There is ample parking space for vehicles including buses. Also, a number of road side hawkers do sell pooja material. Head over to the flowing river if you wish to! The two kids in the pic are my nephews. Click on the images above to see it bigger. The temple tower is maintained well with some good painting work which you can witness in the pic.

Nimishamba is another name of goddess Parvati, the name Nimishamba seem to have come from the fact that the goddess grants the wishes of its divotees in a minute! (‘nimisha’ means a minute in local language Kannada). Inside the sanctum there is an idol of the goddess along with ‘Sri Chakra‘ carved out of stones. This Sri Chakra is believed to be inscribed by a king called as Muktharaja on a stone and then went into self-mortification. Later on this Sri Chakra was installed along with the Goddess idol by the succeeding rulers of this place by then. When you go there for a visit, forget not to carry a couple of lemons which the priests over there keep it on ‘Sri Chakra’ and perform pooja. Then they will return it back to you, which is believed to bring in good things to a devotee’s life. It is suggested by priests that you can either keep those lemons in the praying room of your home for certain number of days and then drop them in flowing fresh water or consume the lemons as juice.

Along with Goddess Nimishamba, there are other idols too inside the temple including ‘Mukthikeshwara’ (Lord Shiva), Ganesha, Surya Narayana and Hanuman. The cement sculptures of goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswati can be seen at the entrance on either side of the main tower. Most of the time, the temple will not be crowded unless some local school kids come here on an excursion. On the way back to the parking lot, there are a number of stalls to buy some fancy stuff at a cheaper price (told by my better half, so it got to be true!). One thing you shouldn’t miss while returning back to main road is ‘Tender Coconuts’ 🙂 It is my favorite drink and I m sure you will enjoy the freshness with sweet taste!

More places around Srirangapatna will be covered in upcoming posts.

Update : After a much struggle to find the contact number/details of the Nimishamba temple authorities, here it is for you: +91-8236-252640, Ask for Krishnappa for any Sevas. Also there is an accommodation facility at a walkable distance from the temple.

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    • It is the former – ‘ನಿಮಿಷಾಂಬ’.
      ನಿಮಿಷ ಎಂದರೆ ಒಂದು ಕ್ಷಣ, ಅಂದರೆ ಇಲ್ಲಿನ ದೇವಿಯು ಭಕ್ತರ ಕಷ್ಟಗಳನ್ನು ನಿಮಿಷದಲ್ಲಿ ಪರಿಹಾರ ನೀಡುವ ತಾಯಿ ಎಂದೇ ಪ್ರಸಿದ್ಧಿ ಹೊಂದಿದ್ದಾಳೆ. ಈಕೆಯು ಪಾರ್ವತಿಯ ಸ್ವರೂಪವೇ ಆಗಿದ್ದಾಳೆ.

      Reply

  2. I want to visit NIMISHAMBIKA TEMPLE IN NEXT MONTH AUGUST. Kindly inform the temple timings. THANKS SIR.

    Reply

  3. Dear Mohan
    i am from tamil nadu and i want to visit nimishamba temple..please let me know the temple timings..is the temple closed in the afternoon?

    thanks
    Mohan kathirvel

    Reply

  4. Sir/Mam, may i know how to get the photo of rangaswamy which is a sleeping position at srirangapattana, i mean the photo of tht one the same as tht god how its in srirangapattana.actually v went to srirangapattana last week n i got it from ther but unfortunately i lost it in srirangapattana railway station itself. pls tel me how is it possibl to get it online the same photo..

    Reply

  5. dear sir,
    we planned to do our fathers death ceremony near cauvery river, nimishambha temple. we have any facilities over there. please let me know the details.
    thank you.

    Reply

  7. Mohan ji, Please let me know at what time we may have Dharshan of Original Srichakra ( i.e. not covered or decorated)

    Reply

  8. I am much impressed with the temple as heard from above devotees. Soon I want to visit the temple. Can someone please be kind enough to send the sthothrams of Shri Nimishamba Devi such as Ashtothara sthothram/namavali/any other slokas and mantras for my daily chanting via email. The texts may be in English/Tamil/Malayalam.

    May God Shri Nimishamba bless the one whoever send me the same.

    With kind regards,

    Venkat

    Reply

  10. Thanks Mohan for the detailed information. I am going to visit Srirangapatnam Temple and Nimishamba Temple next week along with my parents. Are there good hotels available in the vicinity to stay there or should I stay in Mysore?

    Reply

  11. Can someone please let me know the darshan timings for the temple? We will be driving from Bangalore so want to make sure we coordinate with the timings. Many thanks.

    Reply

  12. I visited the temple on poornima day and I was blessed by devi now I pray amma to give me mentel peace and good health I want to visit again.
    the temple is very good and I have been blessed by devi and cauvery also very clean and may devi blessing be on everyone

    Reply

  14. Thanks a lot for useful information,
    really interesting style of writing, may godess NIMISHAMBA bless you,
    Me and My Anna visiting this tomorrow to get blessings for our whole family.

    Reply

  15. A very well short but apt coverage about the temple.

    You feel like making a trip no sooner you finish the reading.

    I am going tomorrow itself.

    Thanks Mohan.

    Vydhyanath

    Reply

  19. i need to get my wish fulfilled very desperately but unfortunately i do not live in India. Can i pray whole heartedly from far away and then when my wish is fulfilled, i can come to India for Darshan? Or one has to go there for darshan before making a wish? please guide me. Many thanks.

    Reply

  20. A beautiful write-up about Nimishamba and definitely worth many visits by the devout. I am not one but plan to visit this temple along with my wife very shortly. However, due to some constraints, I would like to avoid going there on very crowded days, if I can help it. May I, therefore, know which would be the days I should avoid visiting that place ? Thanks already.

    Reply

  22. can somebody please give me the phone number of the nimishamba temple office at Ganjam, srirangapatna to find out when full moon day poojas are held ?

    Reply

  27. I am planing to visit the temple very soon could any one pls tell me root map to temple from bangalore.

    Thanks
    Ashok

    Reply

  28. Hi Mohan,

    thanks for all the infm,
    earlier i went mysore , by the time i might have got blissings of her.
    but i do remember for sure, can i have phote of this, as we are planning to go there.

    thanks
    Mohan

    Reply

  29. Thank you for this lovely post. We are hoping to visit Nimishamba next week. Along with this we want to visit a temple called Kshanamba Temple which is supposed to be on Court Road just before Srirangapatnam. My mother is yearning to go there after hearing about it on TV. Do you have any idea about it? Will be so grateful for any info:)

    Reply

  31. A nice read… my GK just traveled northward 🙂

    I think I had been to this temple some years ago… but wasn’t aware about all the info associated with it.

    Cute nephews you have. The younger one seems to be a brat in the garb of ‘bhola bachcha kuch nehi jaanta’ 🙂

    Reply

  32. Wow… nice travelogue Mohan. Looks like you have made the best use of the vacation. Thanks for all the info… seem to be a nice place to visit.

    Reply

  34. Wow Mohan .. cud nt be better I think .. u hv hd a wonderful time .. I hv wonderful memories associated with the place. Mom keeps telling me that I used to cry to come bk to Blr each time we visited Ajji mane in Mysore and they hd to lure me saying that they r taking me to Nimishamba 😉

    Reply

  35. Lovely post Mohan. It made me nostalgic. From Bangalore with In-Laws in Mysore . Tender coconuts on a hot summer day is pure bliss ; the icing on the cake is the tender coconut flesh after the drink ..!

    Reply

  36. Last time when I visited Mysore, I had been to Srirangapatna. But I have not visited the Nimishamba temple. I had made a note to visit this temple. I thank you for the detailed information. Tender coconut is the only natural food which cannot be adulterated and rich in nutrition. I am also fond of tender coconuts.

    Reply

  37. I was there sometime back on a sad occasion… didn’t have the mood to explore. Great informative post on the temple.

    I wish you and your loved ones a Very Happy and Safe 2010!

    Reply

    • Sorry Indrani, I can understand the circumstance. Sangama is the place where most of the people around southern Karnataka immerse the ashes of the departed and perform obsequies to their ancestors in the kaveri waters.
      Thanks for the wishes and I too wish you and your family the same.

      Reply

  38. You brought back some good old memories… Once, we had even waded through the river to reach a hill-temple on the other side (have forgotten the name!). And tender coconuts… it’s one of the very few relatively unpolluted food/ beverages now. But what amuses me is the packed version available these days. We have tetrapacks of juice, and also the whole coconut is opened and re-wrapped in plastic and sold. Would only suggest people to avoid these and go in for the natural one, when available.
    And coming to lemons, I don’t think we can consume them all Mohan. Only particular lemons can be consumed (when explicitly instructed to do so) and that only by the person(s) intended. So better way is to keep them in the praying room/ vehicle/ handbags (depending on your purpose while doing pooja at the temple) and dispose off in running water or kept below an ‘ekka’ plant after a period of time (normally 15-21 days).

    Reply

    • Hi Aparna, that hill is called ‘KariGhatta’ or ‘Neelachala’. There is a temple of Lord Vishnu aka Srinivasa on that hill 🙂
      True, nothing can match tender coconut in natural form. Well, I don’t know about the right way of using those lemons. We were told by the priest over there to do one of the two things that I have mentioned above! AFAIK, if preferred the first option, it should be disposed after 21 days or else consume it in less than 3 days after the temple visit. Thanks for the additional info though 🙂

      Reply

  39. The coconuts of Karnataka are on a different level. Very sweet and refreshing. I remember my uncle who owned coconut fields, climb up a tree and bring back tender coconuts which we would drink to our hearts content.

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    • True… most of the tender coconuts sold in Bangalore come from this belt between bangalore, mandya and mysore! Anytime, tender coconut is the best drink 🙂 There are times where in I have skipped food for tender coconuts while at my native place! your comment made me recall that.

      Reply

    • Hehe… why not? make the most of the vacation and spend some good time with family without having to think about work related stuff! so much of peace of mind 🙂
      Thanks… happy new year!

      Reply

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