Kateel or Kateelu is a temple town in the Dakshin Kannada district of Karnataka. It is considered as one of the holiest temple towns of India and the main attractions here is the Durgaparameshwari Temple. This beautiful temple is situated on an islet in the middle of the River Nandini. It is a very popular temple and is flocked by thousands of devotees every year.

Mythology says when Goddess Durga killed Shumbha and Nishumbha, their minister Arunasura fled to escape and after the battle was over he started torturing the Gods and Goddesses of heaven. The angry gods decided to stop rain on earth and thus started misery of the people here. Seeing the pain of the people, Maharshi Jabali decided to perform rituals to appease the gods and went to request for Kamadhenu, the holy cow. When he got to know that Kamadhenu was busy for some other rituals, he was told to take his daughter Nandini. The sage requested Nandini to go with him but in turn she started abusing the earth and its people. The angry sage cursed her that she would have to flow as a river on earth forever. Hearing this the cow started begging for mercy and the kind hearted Sage Jabali took pity on her and told her that to free herself from the curse she had to pray and please Goddess Adishakti. She did as she was told and was successful in pleasing the Goddess. Adishakti appeared in front of her and said that though she could not free her from the curse of the sage she would take birth as her daughter and purify her.

In the meantime, the power of Arunasura had increased to an ultimate after he got a boon from Lord Brahma that he could not be killed by the trinity or any human being or animal with legs. Goddess Saraswati gifted him with the Gayatri chant. He easily defeated the heaven and started ruling on it. The helpless gods and goddesses prayed to Adishakti to save them. The goddess said that she was helpless till Arunasara chanted the Gayatri Mantra so he had to be distracted in some way. The gods sent Brihaspati to divert and poison his ears. Slowly, the demon started believing that he was god himself and made his subjects worship him. One day Adishakti took the form of Mohini, a woman with bewitching beauty and started walking in the garden. When Arunasura got the news he went and approached her for marriage. Mohini in turn refused him and laughed at him for running away from the battlefield and escaping a woman. The angry demon raised a storm to kill Mohini and the Goddess merged into a rock to escape this. The demon cut the rock with his sword and from it came out many bees as the Goddess had taken the form of a brutal bee called ‘Bhramara’ and stung him to death.

After this all the gods and goddesses prayed to her to calm down and extend her blessings on them forever. She therefore became a stone in the middle of the River Nandini. ‘Kati’ means waist and ‘Ila’ means earth thus saying that the linga rose on earth in the waist of the river Nandini purifying it and this is known as the Durgaparameshwari.

• Footwear is not allowed inside the temple.
• Photography is not allowed inside the temple.
• Contact the offices for any donations to be made or any special offerings.
• The other contact no. is +910 8242200591.

• The temple remains closed on Sundays.

• The nearest airport is the Kammannugundi Airport.
• The nearest railway station is the Mangalore Central Train Junction.

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