Banashankari Temple is located at Cholachagudd which is around 5 km from Badami in Bagalkot District in Karnataka. This famous pilgrim center in North Karnataka is located on the banks of Malaprabha River. Mother Goddess Shakti worshipped here is known as Vanashankari, Shakambari, Vanadevi, Saraswati, Mahakali and Mahalakshmi. She is worshipped as forest goddess and is also family deity or kuldevata of many families in Karnataka, Telangana and Maharashtra. The murti of Mother Goddess worshipped in the temple is that of her riding a lion. goddess has eight arms and holds a trident, hourglass drum, skull cup, bell, Scriptures sword and shield. Two hands are in blessing giving posture. The shrine is located inside Tilakaaranya forest. There are total five ponds around the shrine. Legend has it that Sage Agastya performed penance at the spot where the current temple is located. The temple was built by early Chalukyas around 681 AD. Additions to the temple were made by late

Becoming keenly aware that worldly life is full of misery, because it is infested with desire and fear, one should approach a Guru, a sage who is free from those bad forces, and after doing reverence to his holy feet should question him about how to become free. The sage will give out in reply the supreme secret, confirmed by the [uniform] experience of all sages: ‘If you know yourself, there is no suffering for you. If you suffer [it only means that] you do not know yourself.’ Since you have no suffering in deep sleep, this suffering is only falsely ascribed to your Self. Realize the truth of yourself by the resolve to know it, and thereafter remain in your own true nature, which is bliss. In the Heart there dwells the reality that is pure consciousness, the real Self. To be in the Heart, with the mind quiescent, is knowledge [awareness] of it, and also the state of deliverance. Sri Ramana Paravidyopanishad