How Dharmasthala, Karnataka’s temple town, struggles to shake off its shame

Dharmasthala, home to the ancient Sri Manjunatha Temple, a prominent Shaivite shrine administered by the hereditary Jain family, the Heggades, is considered a centuries-old holy abode by its devotees. In a sign of religious harmony, a 39-foot statue of Lord Bahubali, located on a hill near the temple, is also worshipped here. On Maha Shivaratri, the temple attracts over one lakh devotees, with more than 15,000 making the journey to Dharmasthala on foot.

Such is the deep faith devotees repose in this temple. Thousands arrive here daily to seek Lord Manjunatha’s blessings. However, the air of piety and charity was shattered recently when a dark shadow from the past returned to haunt Dharmasthala.

Notably, the history of the Manjunatha Temple in Dharmasthala dates back centuries. “In fact, many historians believe that the Manjunatha deity in the Dharmasthala temple evolved from Manjughosha, a figure in Vajrayana Buddhism,” says Purushottam Bilimale, former professor of Kannada studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), who hails from Dakshina Kannada district. Bilimale is also the chairman of the Kannada Development Authority, a body established to promote the development and use of the Kannada language.

Also read: Dharmasthala ground report: Soujanya case comes alive with mass burial claims

According to Bilimale, legend has it that with the spread of Buddhism in coastal Karnataka in the 4th century AD, the Manjughosha (a Buddhist deity) statue was moved to Dharmasthala from nearby Kadri, a prominent Buddhist centre. “Kadri and Dharmasthala are strongly linked to Tantric Buddhism.

However, it was only later, in the 6th and 7th centuries AD, that Shaivism entered coastal Karnataka, and a number of Buddhist temples were converted into Shaivite shrines — Dharmasthala among them. Meanwhile, in the 9th century AD, Karnataka came to be overwhelmingly dominated by Jains, who entered every sphere of society, including religion, politics, and literature,” he explains.

So today, in the Dharmasthala temple, a deity that was originally Buddhist is now worshipped as a Shaivite god, while the temple itself is managed by Jains. There is also a Bahubali statue in Dharmasthala — all of which, says Bilimale, make this temple a fascinating confluence of many cultures. Despite being an atheist, he admits he was once drawn to the Dharmasthala temple.  

The temple has also been involved in charitable activities: conducting free mass marriages, offering loans, and running a well-regarded educational institution — all of which strengthened the devotion of its followers, Bilimale points out. But today, that faith lies broken, as devotees are “horrified” to learn about the alleged rapes and murders.

The temple town has been embroiled in a spate of mysterious murders, suicides, rapes, and missing persons cases since the 1970s — a pattern that continued through the 1980s and 1990s. This troubling issue was even raised in the Karnataka State Assembly many decades ago, says a senior journalist. While these crimes instilled fear among locals, they did not deter the steady stream of pilgrims and tourists flocking to the temple town. Until October 9, 2012.

Also read: Dharmasthala whistleblower claims trigger locals-visitors trust deficit

A 17-year-old girl, Soujanya was brutally raped and murdered in 2012. Santosh Rao, who was in the area around that time, was arrested but he was later acquitted for lack of evidence. There were huge protests after the courts acquitted Rao, the only accused in the case. The Soujanya case became a turning point for Dharmasthala. All was not well in this temple town marked by charity and godly devotion.

Protests were organised by activists and families, who flagged the deaths of other earlier cases of rape and murder victims like Vedavalli, Narayana, Yamuna, Ananya Bhatt, and Padmalatha. People wanted the real culprits to be found and punished. Still, there was no strong move towards justice for these families.

On July 4, 2025, a former sanitation worker employed at the Dharmasthala temple, surfaced to unveil some dark secrets. This whistleblower confessed that he helped in burying “hundreds of dead bodies” between 1995 and 2014 — many of them women and girls, allegedly murdered after sexual assaults. Racked with guilt, he said he could no longer be silent.

This sensational confession has created a massive uproar. All eyes are now on Dharmasthala, as a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed on July 19 to nail the culprits of these heinous crimes. And this ancient temple town’s image has clearly taken a beating. 

One immediate fallout has been that the number of pilgrims has substantially reduced since this dramatic disclosure of buried bodies in the area. A staff member at the Manjunatha temple admits to The Federal Karnataka, “Thousands of devotees used to visit the temple daily but now only a few hundred are coming.”

The Federal Karnataka reporter who visited the temple found that earlier devotees waiting for many hours to get a darshan of the deity on Mondays (a day of worship for Lord Shiva) got a darshan in just 10-15 minutes. However, the locals are tight-lipped and refuse to be drawn into conversations over the alleged raped and murdered bodies buried in their backyard.

Some temple staff brush aside the drop in the number of pilgrims as normal because of the Ashadha month, when people stay away from visiting temples. “It has nothing to do with the allegations,” said a temple staff defensively.

Sharan Patil, a visitor from Haveri in north Karnataka, feels these allegations concern “certain people” in Dharmasthala. “This has nothing to do with God. Just because crimes happened here, it doesn’t mean we should stop coming for darshan. God has nothing to do with this,” Patil says emphatically.

Also read: Dharmasthala: Why kin of victims still angry despite an SIT probe

However, the backlash of these recent revelations has disrupted the peace of the town. Manjesh, a hotel worker in Dharmasthala, said the recent events have made the locals extremely worried and unhappy.

“There is a dark stain on Dharmasthala now. It is because of the mistakes of a few, all the people living in the town are suffering,” he points out bitterly. “People are now afraid to talk to outsiders. They fear that negative publicity will increase and shame Dharmasthala more. He hoped the issue will be solved quickly and the earlier trust and respect between locals and outsiders will be rebuilt.

S. Balan, a High Court lawyer and an activist, says that many devotees in Mangaluru are shocked that Dharmasthala has become “a place of murder and rape”. 

“People used to visit the Manjunatha temple believing that they would get the blessings of Lord Shiva. But the image of the temple is gradually being dented. The faith of devotees is slowly being eroded as they realise it is a place of mass burial, mass rapes and serial killers. Locals hate what is going on; their land has been grabbed, their girls raped and murdered. They are victims of a feudal setup in Dharmasthala,” he says.

Moreover, now this issue has caught the eyes of the international media as well and cannot be buried anymore, adds Balan.

Somnath Nayak heads an NGO called Citizen Service Trust, which filed an RTI to get information on the number of rapes, suicides and murders in Dharmasthala. “Locals feel there are hundreds of unreported cases, and some people have even seen dead women’s bodies in the forests. Sadly, such incidents are seen as “normal” by some villagers, and many are too scared to speak openly,” he tells The Federal Karnataka.

Nayak, however, feels that these ugly revelations are not going to affect the Manjunatha temple. “People have faith in God, we are not fighting the temple, we are only fighting for justice. It is the constitutional right of the people to get justice. It is not the fault of the temple if some bad people are doing bad things,” he says.  

Interestingly, after Soujanya’s case, the number of suicides dropped by about 80 per cent, and it was only after her murder that a full-fledged police station was set up in Dharmasthala.

Meanwhile, even as Dharmasthala residents are coping with the controversies circling their town, a local resident, Prakash (name changed), shares that after the whistleblower’s statement, the villagers are now living with a new fear.

“People are now scared, wondering where the bodies have been buried. Some are worried whether their own land was used to bury a dead body. There is also fear that police might question them,” he says.

The areas surrounding Dharmasthala include villages such as Puduvettu, Kalleri, Kanyadi, and Boliyaar. These places are dominated by thick forests, and the big question worrying locals is where the police will find the bodies. Until the truth comes out, rumours continue to circulate around Dharmasthala.

Until the SIT completes the search for the buried bodies, the locals are living in dread. They want the investigation to be completed soon so that they can get on with their lives.

Meanwhile, the parents of the victims, who have spent decades waiting for justice, are now urging the SIT to include their cases too in the investigation.

Kusumavati, the mother of the 17-year-old Soujanya; Chandravati, sister of Padmalatha, one of the early victims; and Ganesh, son of Narayana Sapalya, who was bludgeoned to death over a land dispute, have all demanded that SIT should investigate their loved ones’ deaths as well.

Kusumavati, mother of Soujanya, recalls how she last saw her daughter alive on October 9, 2012. Since then, she has fought many legal battles and taken part in many protests, but justice has not come. Now that a new SIT has been formed, she says, “If justice is served, we will build a temple at her cremation place,” she tells The Federal Karnataka emotionally.

Kusumavati’s pain has never faded. While speaking about Soujanya’s tragedy, her eyes still well up with tears. No matter how much people try to comfort her, this mother cannot forget her daughter. She finds peace only by looking at her daughter’s photos, which are placed all around the house. 

Soujanya’s father said the accused were seen near the place where his daughter was last spotted, but no proper investigation was done. The father believed Santosh Rao was dragged into the case without strong evidence. “Later, the court acquitted him due to lack of proof. The real culprit is still free,” he says with sadness.

Chandravati, who is seeking justice for her sister Padmalatha’s death, has demanded that the SIT also investigate her sister’s case. They have been waiting for justice for more than 30 years after Padmalatha vanished into thin air on her way back home from college.

Sujatha Bhatt, mother of Ananya Bhatt, is still searching for her daughter’s remains. Ananya, a first-year MBBS student at Manipal Medical College in Udupi, went missing in Dharmasthala. On a trip to the temple town with her friends, she was last seen on her own near the temple when she went missing. Her friends could never find her. Bhatt says, “I am waiting to do the last rites. Even if the SIT finds her bones, I’ll be able to do the funeral.”

Narayan Sapalya (62), who worked as a temple worker in Dharmasthala, and his sister Yamuna (45), were found murdered at home in a pool of blood. Records show Narayan’s head was smashed with a stone slab and Yamuna was beaten to death with a cement block.

Ganesh, their relative, says their family had lived in Dharmasthala for four generations. They had an old ancestral house and land over 400 years old. Ganesh alleges that when they refused to give up their land, Narayan and Yamuna were murdered. “Now, the family has left Dharmasthala and lives near Belthangady. We’ve lost hope that we’ll ever get justice,” he says.

In his complaint given to officials in Mangaluru, the whistleblower has shared shocking details. Working as a sanitation worker in the Dharmasthala temple from 1995 to December 2014, he cleaned the areas around the Netravati River and nearby areas.

When he came upon the dead bodies, initially, he assumed they were suicides or accidental drownings. But most of them were bodies of women and some were found without clothes or undergarments. Many showed signs of sexual assault and violence and they had injuries on their bodies and strangulation marks.

Also read: Dharmasthala 'mass burials': SIT begins site inspections

Around 1998, his supervisors told him not to report the bodies to the police. Instead, they ordered him to secretly dispose of them. When he refused and said he would report the deaths, he was badly beaten.

Some bodies even had acid burns, he had claimed. In his statement the former sanitation worker says, “To survive, I had to bury the bodies secretly across the Dharmasthala area.” But, he is now willing to show the exact spots where he buried the remains to the police.