01Across the Zuari
The Sahyadri Khanda of the Skanda Purana tells how Shiva, hiding from Parvati in the form of a tiger, startled her, and how her cry, ‘trahi mam girisha’, save me, Lord of the mountain, became his name here, Mam-girisha, Mangesh. His first temple stood at Kushasthali, today Cortalim, on the south bank of the Zuari. In the 1560s, as the Portuguese pulled down temples in their territory of Salcete, the families who served Mangesh took the linga by night across the river to Priol, in lands then under the Adil Shahi kings of Bijapur, and set it up there.
02A Maratha-era temple
The present temple was built in the 18th century, after the Maratha advance into the Goa hinterland, and the village was later granted to the deity. It is the Goan temple at its best: a whitewashed hall with a domed sanctum, a tank in front, and a seven-storey deepastambha lit at festivals. The Mangeshkar family of singers, Dinanath Mangeshkar and his daughters Lata and Asha among them, took their name from this village.
The life of this place
- 1560sThe linga is carried from Kushasthali (Cortalim) to Priol to escape Portuguese demolitions.
- 18th centuryThe present temple is built under Maratha protection.
About 22 km from Panaji on the Ponda road; Shantadurga at Kavlem is a few kilometres on. Dress modestly; shorts are not allowed inside.
