Walking tour of St. Anthony's Shrine - Dornahalli, Karnataka

Doranahalli is famous for the miracle man St. Anthony. The story of Doranahalli goes back to some 200 years. That day it is said, a peasant of Doranahalli was ploughing his fields with a pair of bullocks. To a surprise, something struck the plough and the farmer stopped his work to look at it. It was a human faced wooden doll. The farmer took it in his hands and closely examined it. To his surprise it was not eaten away by the termites being in the mud for several years. The farmer thought it a wonder. He kept it aside thinking that it could be a toy for his kids and continued his ploughing task. The doll went with him to his home in the evening and suffered torture at the hands of his innocent kids.
On that night the farmer was in his dreams and to a surprise the wooden doll appeared to him like a sage. The sage in sanyasi robes told him not to dishonour the doll and promised him all good he wished. But next morning the farmer ignored it and carried on with his normal works. Later in the due course of time he lost his oxen, his intimates died and children fell ill. He was shaken now and began to recollect the events preceding these calamities. He then thought of the dream and realised that there he erred. He repented and built a small temple in his field at the spot where he found the doll and began worshipping it. Thus all his ailments were healed and he prospered.
Several years later he met a Christian priest at Mysore who was wearing the dress resembling the doll, narrated him about the doll. The priest accompanied him to his village and closely watched the small 13 inches wooden doll, which didn’t have hands. He, at once, recognised it as the statue of St. Anthony with its revealing characteristics. He then beatified the temple, made it a church.
It is recorded in the history that the Franciscan missionarieswere on the missionary work around south India during the period of Vijayanagara Empire. But the Jesuits entered the Mysore province only after 1648 AD. These Jesuits were fond of Francis Xavier and Ignatius Loyola. Definitely they wouldn’t have planted Anthony cult. Later after the end of Tippu Sultan in 1799, somewhere around 1803 AD Abbe du Bois entered Mysore province under the banner of Paris Foreign Mission (MEP). So we can surely conclude that the statue found at Doranahalli is the one belonging to the Franciscan missionariesand its date can be pointed to 14th to 16th century AD.

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