Male Mahadeshwara

Male Mahadeshwara (Male Mahādeśvara) is the great folk-Shiva of southern Karnataka's shepherd country — worshipped across the Chamarajanagar, Mysore, and Mandya districts, and across the Tamil Nadu border in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri. The Male Mahadeshwara Betta temple, perched at 3,500 feet in the Eastern Ghats, is one of Karnataka's most popular pilgrimage sites. The temple's principal priesthood is the Kuruba shepherd community. The Kurubas are non-Brahmin Shaiva pastoralists whose r