Kukke Subrahmanya

The Kukke Subrahmanya temple at Subramanya in Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka, at the foot of the Kumara Parvata hill (1,712m) — one of the most important Nagaradhana (serpent worship) centres in India. The deity Subrahmanya is worshipped as the composite Murugan-Shesha serpent form; pilgrims come primarily for Sarpa Dosha removal rituals (astrological snake-afflictions). The temple's silver-plated five-headed serpent image and the Nagapratishtha ceremony in which the deity emerges from a cave each year on the Panchami tithi are distinctive. The 10th-century Hoysala temple structure was expanded by Vijayanagara and the Keladi Nayakas in the 16th century. Adi Shankara is said to have visited and endowed the temple.