For online darshan check out this video by Youth of GSB and documentary by Spandana channel
History and Background:
Kapu (also called Kaup or Rakshanapur) is a coastal town that has several points of historical significance. The GSBs in this region flourished under the reign of the Keladi Nayakas who ruled over parts of Tulunadu after the fall of Vijayanagar Empire. Ikkeri Nayakas were Lingayaths in faith. The Konkani merchants maintained flourishing trade relations with the Portuguese.
There are two GSB temples popular in the area - the Venkataramana Temple and the Hale Mariamma Temple both of which are associated with each other.
The Venkataramana temple in Kapu has three key deities - Hayagreeva as Mool Deva, Lakshmi Venkataramana as Patt Deva and Mukhyaprana (Lord Hanuman). The Utsava Murthy is Varadaraja Venkataramana. Here is a brief history of how these deities came together to a single place of worship.
According to available records, the Hayagreeva idol dated to around the 15th century was with the family of Shri Panduranga Bhat. As he was childless and over years found conducting the daily rituals difficult, he gave charge of worshipping to a priest, Appanna Bhat. Appana Bhat's family had been worshipping their family deity Lord Venkataramana. This idol was consecrated in 1790. They now worshipped Lord Hayagreeva too.
In 1876, three brothers from the priest family, Ramana Bhat, Ramchandra Bhat, and Lakshmana Bhat created a gift deed of all the temple items. Around that time, Shri Venkatesha Bhat and his family from the local Majooru province were having paranormal experiences. When they enquired with an oracle, they were informed that in their vicinity was an idol of Mukhyaprana (Hanuman) left behind possibly by a Yakshagana troupe that needs to be worshipped properly. Thereafter in 1879, the family gave the idol to the temple along with some generous donations. Hanuman here is said to be karnik means he fulfills the wishes of all the devotees.
The Venkataramana idol was reconsecrated (punah prathisthapana) here in 1936 by Shri Sukrateendra Teertha Swamiji of Kashi Math. In April 1994, Sahastra Kumbhabhishekha was moderated by Shri Sudheendra Teertha Swami of Kashi Math. In 2017, the temple underwent renovation again.
The temple has a beautiful pond next to it - a feature on a land donated early on by one of the local royals.