Sangameshwara Temple, Koodli

At Koodli in Shivamogga district, the Tunga and Bhadra rivers meet to form the Tungabhadra, a major tributary of the Krishna — a confluence (sangama) regarded as sacred in its own right, marked by a small riverside shrine housing a Nandi image at the exact point where the two waters join. Overlooking this confluence stands the Sangameshwara Temple, dedicated to Shiva under the name Sangameshwara (“lord of the confluence”), dated to the 8th century CE and considered the oldest surviving shrine at the site.

Koodli’s significance extends well beyond this single temple: the town was historically a much larger pilgrimage and scholastic center before a decline that followed regional conquests in the 14th century, and it remains home to two mathas representing rival schools of Vedantic philosophy — a Shankara Mutt upholding Advaita, traditionally associated with Adi Shankaracharya, and the Koodli Arya Akshobhya Tirtha Mutt upholding Dvaita, founded by the Madhva-tradition saint Akshobhya Tirtha in the 13th-14th century. This makes Koodli one of the few places in Karnataka where a major river confluence, an ancient Shiva shrine, and living centers of both major non-dualist and dualist Vedanta traditions coexist at a single site.