Shri Shanishwara Temple Ajri (Chonamane) is stirring the headlines because of a belief that if someone is suffering from alcoholism, then they get rid of it by taking an oath in God’s name. According to Local 18 Kannada, to date, many people have stopped drinking by pledging an oath in this religious institution. Darshan of the temple’s deity is held here on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. There are no charges for most of the services conducted in this temple including marriages held free of charge. Besides the services conducted free of cost, another aspect that attracts tourists to this temple is no caste discrimination practised here. As per popular beliefs, those who indulge in any discrimination based on caste will be cursed by Shanishwara Swami.
Dr Ashok Shetty built this temple in 1984 in the Chalukya architectural style. Ashok said that when he was studying in class first, he brought the photo of Shanishwara swami and started worshipping him wholeheartedly. Later, fearing the family members, he kept that picture in his book and used to worship the photo with staunch devotion. People generally avoid keeping photos of Shanishwara swami in their homes. Due to this reason, he kept his devotion to this deity a secret till class 8th. Soon, Ashok said that he could feel the blessings of the God Shanishwara in his life. It prompted him to proceed further in his devotion to God and he started organising a darshan seva for him in a small hut.
As seen in the video, the darshan seva space has proper seating arrangements for the devotees. An ample ventilation area is also available for them.
In this video, the social media users can see one of the priests dancing probably as per the rituals of the Shri Shanishwara Temple Ajri (Chonamane). He is dancing with two burning logs on his head and the people are watching him in amusement. Some of them are even recording the entire incident on their mobile phones. The temple has been decorated and a massive number of devotees have flocked to the religious institution.
This video was uploaded on YouTube a month ago.