The North Karnataka districts of Raichur, Vijayapura (formerly Bijapur), Yadgiri, Koppal and Vijayanagara (Hosapete) have been known as birthplace of Haridasa tradition in medieval Indian history. The region, now known as Kalyana Karnataka (including the districts of Kalaburagi and Bidar) has seen many staunch devotees in the Bhakti Movement surpassing all worldly barriers and bonds to immerse themselves in such devotion that Gods and Goddesses themselves have appeared in various forms and blessed these devotees.

One such temple that has an immensely powerful story behind its origins is the Mahalakshmi Temple situated in the town of Kallur (also spelt Kalluru). The name Kallur in Kannada language literally translates to a town of rocks and that is exactly how you will find it – a canvas full of rocks and boulders strewn randomly by nature to form hills and terrains of Raichur. As we navigate through the narrow motorable road between the rocks and the houses in the town, we reach Kallur Mahalakshmi Temple.

This tale dates back to an era when Mohammed Adil Shah ruled over Bijapur (now Vijayapura), circa 1627 to 1656. A pious learned brahmin by name Lakshmikantacharya was living in Bijapur with his large family and equally large number of students who were undergoing Vedic studies in his gurukul. Their family deities were Sri Narasimha of Toravi (near Vijayapura) and Sri Mahalakshmi of Kolhapur. It was their family tradition to visit Kolhapur and seek blessings of Sri Mahalakshmi before carrying out any auspicious ceremonies like weddings or thread ceremonies in the family.

Due to some unavoidable circumstances, the family had to migrate from Bijapur. Lakshmikantacharya and his immediate family moved to Kallur while few relatives moved to Kinnal and few others to Gangur. Kallur was a small non-descript town, a few kilometers away from the provincial headquarters of Raichur that has seen change of hands several times between Bahamani Sultans and Vijayanagara Kings in the previous century.

Lakshmikantacharya and his family had settled in Kallur and grew old with time. When he reached the ripe age of 88 years, there came an auspicious occasion in their household. As per the tradition, they were supposed to travel from Kallur to Kolhapur and seek Kolhapur Mahalakshmi Devi’s blessings for the family function. Due to his advancing age and fragile health, Lakshmikantacharya was not able to travel far distances. This lingering thought gradually turned him sad and as he was going to bed one night, he prayed to Sri Mahalakshmi and sought her guidance on how to proceed.

That night, Lakshmikantacharya had a strange dream. He dreamt that Goddess Mahalakshmi appeared in his dream and told him not to worry about coming to far away Kolhapur for her darshan and blessings; Impressed by his devotion, she herself would come to him and bless him.

Next morning, Lakshmikantacharya woke up unable to determine whether Goddess Lakshmi indeed appeared in his dreams, or was it his imagination. Nevertheless, he went on with his morning oblations and started the morning pooja.

As Lakshmikantacharya sat preparing for his daily pooja, he began with preparation of sandalwood paste. This is a process where a piece of Sandal wood varying from 6-12 inches is moistened and rubbed on a slab of sandstone. The wood gradually pulverizes, lending with the moisture creates a fine fragrant paste. This sandalwood paste is offered to the Gods and Goddesses during the pooja rituals.

As he progressed with grinding the wood piece on the stone, he was mesmerized and could not believe what his eyes saw. The image of Goddess Mahalakshmi first appeared on the sandstone as an outline and gradually continued to become more defined. Lakshmikantacharya was ecstatic with joy. He worshipped the statue of Mahalakshmi that appeared on the sandstone. He established a small temple in his house premises and continued daily poojas with utmost dedication.

Once, Lakshmikantacharya was travelling with his students via a village called Mamdapur near Raichur. A farmer was tilling the soil in his land and just as Lakshmikantacharya and his group were passing by the land, the plough got stuck in the soil and wouldn’t budge. The farmer approached the learned men who were passing by his land for guidance. This was a time when it was not uncommon to find treasures buried underground. Those were turbulent times in history where invading rules and their armies would plunder and destroy the temples and loot the wealth of people living in the border regions of Raichur. People often dumped statues of deities, boxes and trunks of family wealth and jewels in the tube wells or bury them underground to protect it during war times and extract them during times of peace.

Lakshmikantacharya suggested the farmer to dig the portion of land where the plough was getting stuck. If it yielded any treasure, the farmer could keep it and if any deity’s idol was retrieved, Lakshmikantacharya would take charge of it.

As luck would have it, a beautiful black stone statue of Lord Venkateshwara adorned by Sridevi and Bhudevi on either side emerged from the excavation. The farmer respectfully gifted the idol to Lakshmikantacharya and Lakshmikantacharya was overjoyed. He brought the statue back home to Kallur and installed it besides the sandstone statue of Mahalakshmi.

Within the temple sanctum, the holy water or teertha was habitually kept on a slab of stone. One fine day, the archakas started seeing the outline of Lord Hanuman on that stone. This stone statue was installed in a small temple opposite to Lakshmi-Venkateshwara temple within the same premises.

The temple has an unbroken tradition of pooja being performed by the descendants of Lakshmikantacharya. Devotees from all over India come and pray to Goddess Mahalakshmi and Lord Venkateshwara. Few devotees who come to do seva and seek blessings have a ritual of tying coconuts in the temple. Once their wishes are fulfilled, they come to the temple and remove these tied coconuts after performing special pooja.

During the Navaratri festival, the 10 days festival (usually October – November), special decorations and poojas are carried out. Devotees flock in large numbers from near and far making the temple premises vibrant.

An ancient Shiva temple that pre-dates Vijayanagara period according to some historians. This temple is much larger than Mahalakshmi Temple and has a few stone inscriptions. It also has a Gopura that was built during Vijayanagara period. Further study by historians and archaeologists could reveal the period and the patronage of temple origins.

As the name suggests, this temple is dedicated to Lord Maruti or Hanuman and is situated on top of a boulder-strewn hill. According to local folklore, a pregnant woman who worshipped Lord Maruti and visited the temple daily started finding difficulty in climbing the hill one day due to her advanced pregnancy. She climbed half-way and started gasping for breath, unable to climb any further. At that very point, Lord Hanuman came down from the hill and gave her darshan. That point is where the present day temple stands.

Kallur is situated in Manvi taluk of Raichur district in North Karnataka. It is at a distance of 22km from Raichur on Raichur-Manvi state highway ( Map from Raichur to Kallur). The road for most part is good and motorable. The most convenient way to go to Kallur would be to reach Raichur by road or by train and go to Kallur from Raichur by road.

There are several buses that ply between Raichur and Kallur throughout the day. You also get taxis from Raichur that take you to Kallur and back.

Kallur is a small town. There are a few autorickshaws that may take you from the bus stop to the temple. Kallur Mahalakshmi Temple is a family managed temple. The temple itself is built within their family premises. They have few basic amenities for visiting devotees. The temple is smaller in comparison to other grand temples of Karnataka, but the sanctity and following is very powerful.

The priest’s family can arrange Anna-prasada for visiting devotees only if there is prior intimation by the devotees to the priest family. There aren’t many restaurants in Kallur so people may find restaurants in Raichur more palatable.

Given the proximity to Raichur, it is recommended to stay at Raichur rather than at Kallur. There are many hotels in Raichur across price range.