page_title: Dharmasthala Temple
section_title: Pergade family
hierarchical_section_title: Dharmasthala Temple / Pergade family
caption_attribution_description: English: Gateway of Dharmasthala
context_page_description: Dharmasthala Temple is an 800-year-old religious institution in the temple town of Dharmasthala in Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka, India. The deities of the temple are Shiva, who is referred to as Mañjunatha, Ammanavaru, the Tirthankara Chandraprabha and the protective gods of Jainism, Kalarahu, Kalarkayi, Kumarasvami and Kanyakumari. The temple is considered unique since it belongs to the Shaiva sect of Hinduism. The priests are Madhwa Brahmins, who are Vaishnava, and the administration is run by a Jain Bunt family called the Pergades.
context_section_description: The Pergade family is a Jain Bunt family who descend from the creator of the temple. Birmanna Pergade and his wife Ammu Ballalthi and are the hereditary trustees of the temple. The eldest male member assumes the position of Dharma Adhikari (chief administrator) and uses the title Heggade. The Heggade was the feudal lord of the temple town and solved civil or criminal disputes. This was a judicial function and continues even to this day: The Heggade sits in judgement on hundreds of civil complaints, known as hoyulu, each day. About nearly twenty generations of the Pergade family have assumed the position of Dharma Adhikari. The present Dharma Adhikari is Veerendra Heggade. The list of previous Dharma Adhikari is as follows:
caption: Gateway of Dharmasthala
exif: {"Image Make": "Nokia", "Image Model": "5130c-2", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "V 06.93", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "160", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "464", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3704", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1200", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1600", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:06:30 10:33:03", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:06:30 10:33:03"}