The Place Kallianpur is located on the southern bank of river Suvarna and is now a small town and a suburb of Udupi. Kallianpur was a place of considerable commercial importance during medieval period.

Sunkadakatte Sri Vinayaka Temple is situated on the road leading to the river port which was an important transit point (where mode of transport was required to be changed from road transport to water transport to continue the journey towards Kundapur, Karwar and beyond – as bridge over the river Swarna was not yet built. This situation continued till early 1960s). Sunkadakatte used to be place for collection of tolls (‘Sunka’ in Kannada) for the ferry transport. Sri Vinayaka Temple on Sunkadakatte was the place where passengers and devotees used to pray and pay their obeisance for safe onward journey.

Sunkadakatte Sri Vinayaka Temple is over six hundred years old as it is being worshipped since at least 14th Century AD. The Vinayaka idol is extremely charming. The idol is about 30 cms tall and is carved out of jet-black stone. The attributes in the upper two arms Vaishnavite, namely ‘Chakra’ and ‘Shankha’. The lower two arms hold ‘Modaka’ and ‘Danta’. Lord Vinayaka, depicted seated with both the legs touching the ground, and carved with great detail is a constant reminder of the glory of Vijayanagara Empire.

While devotees from all sections of the society and from places in and around Kallianpur worship Sunkadakatte Lord Sri Vinayaka, it is one of the Saraswat temples and is managed by Chitrapur Saraswat residents since a long time.

(Sunkadakatte Sri Vinayaka Temple is a Chitrapur Saraswat Denominational Temple)