Mangueshi Temple
— — a white tower lit by oil, in a green Goan valley.
Not only on a wall.
“The principal Shaivite temple of Goa, in the village of Mangeshi about twenty-two kilometres east of Panaji. The deity was carried inland from Cortalim in the sixteenth century to stay ahead of the Portuguese Inquisition, and the present temple, with its white tower and seven-tier oil-lamp pillar, was rebuilt on this hillside in the eighteenth century. At dusk the lamps are lit and the courtyard fills.
Mangueshi Temple, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Shree Mangueshi Temple stands in the village of Mangeshi, in Priol, Ponda taluka, about twenty-two kilometres east of the Goan capital Panaji. It is dedicated to Manguesh, a regional form of Shiva, and is the most visited Hindu shrine in the state of Goa. The deity was moved here from Cortalim around 1560 during the Portuguese Goa Inquisition, and the current complex, with its white sanctum tower, sacred water tank and freestanding deepstambha, was built in the eighteenth century under the patronage of the Hindu rulers of nearby Sonde.
The architecture is unusual for an Indian temple: a whitewashed body with red trim, a low-rise dome over the sanctum, balustraded balconies and a baroque silhouette that reads as much Indo-Portuguese as Hindu. The freestanding deepstambha in front of the gopuram rises in seven octagonal tiers and is lit on festival evenings with rows of oil lamps. The kalyanmandap and the rectangular sacred water tank on the south side date from later renovations, the latest of which extended through the nineteenth century.
The temple is open to visitors of all faiths and stays open from roughly six in the morning until ten at night, with shorter midday closures during private rituals. Photography of the inner sanctum is not permitted. Modest dress is expected, and shorts or sleeveless tops are usually refused at the inner gates. Public buses from Panaji and Margao run to Mardol, from which it is a short walk uphill to the temple compound. The annual Jatra festival falls in late January or early February.