I didn’t want to waste the long weekend. So had decided to go out somewhere on Monday as well. Though I preferred a trip, I was fine even if it was the long-pending visit to Aakruti Book House in Bangalore.
But when my friends said they are also free, we decided to get out of town. Again, gazzete was our guide. We zeroed in on some places around Channarayapatna and Nuggehalli.
Plan
Start at 7 AM.
Visit as many places as possible from the list here:
- Halebelagola
- Jinnathapura
- Hebbalalu
- Nuggehalli
- Heragu
- Harihareshwara
- Agrahara Belaguli
- Dindagur
Back home by 4.30 PM.
And off we were…
We started at 7.15 AM. Standard delay of 15 mins.
The first three places on our list were the ones I could not cover in my previous visit.
Halebelagola
We were back to the Jain basadi. The priest had left after performing morning prayers, but caretaker was available.
According to him, Cholas built this basadi. It was later renovated by Mysore rulers.
Jinnathapura
Hard luck with the priest here again. He takes care of multiple temples and visits Jinnathapura only in the morning. So I don’t have any hopes of getting hold of him ever. One of the basadis was open anyway. So, we checked that out. Looks too modern.
Yaksha and Yakshi in the Jinnathapura basadi.
Huge inscription stone next to the basadi.
Hebbelalu
This small village has several historical temples. One of them is Singeshwara temple which is barely surviving. The temple is completely covered in bushes. But I dared my way in.
The main idol of Shivalinga is stolen. Only the platform remains now.
Wonder what is Krishna doing in an Eshwara temple? Many Hoysala era Shiva temples have Chennakeshava as well. So, I am sure this was an entrance to another sanctum sanctorum, mostly of Chennakeshava.
Missing idol. Maybe Parvathy?
Can you spot the Basvanna idol here?
Inscription of the temple
The Brahmeshwara temple is apparently submerged in the pond/ water nearby. This must be a rare one because Brahma hardly has any temples. According to a local villager, this and the one in Hampi are the only Brahma temples.
Chennakeshava temple is under renovation. So we didn’t go there.
Nuggehalli
I had been to Nuggehalli before. Our NGO, Aviratha Trust, also distributes notebooks every year to some schools here.
Some young chap came running to open doors of the temple. This was the largest temple we visited in the two back-to-back trips. There are some standard deities here. He didn’t have any information about the temple. He just unlocked the doors and closed them after we took pictures.
Saptamatrukeyaru flanked by Ganesha on on side another deity on the other. The standard feature of Hoysala temples. The deities beside the Saptamatrukeyaru varies though.
Anjaneya at the entrance.
On the sidewall
We wanted to visit the historical Lakshmi Narayana temple nearby. But there was a procession on account of Krishna Janmashtami and we didn’t want to get into any sort of crowded places during this pandemic. So we skipped it and proceeded to Heragu.
Heragu
Heragu has a nice little Keertinarayana temple. This was clearly a Hoysala architecture. This was renovated by Shri Veerendra Heggade. Again, apart from the one in Talakadu, this is only other Keertinarayana temple.
This is the only picture of that temple I have. Weird me.
This temple was also renovated by Shri Veerendra Heggade of Dharmasthala.
There is a small Kamateshwara temple nearby. But it is in ruins.
There are two Basavannas in front of the lone Shivalinga. A first for me. Got no one to tell stories.
Harihareshwara temple
I vaguely remember visiting this temple earlier.
We thought the deity will be a combo of Hari (Vishnu) and Hara (Shiva). But this is a standard Eshwara temple whose name is Harihareswara. Interestingly, the entrance has Ranganathaswamy. Some story connecting these is missing here.
Agrahara Belaguli
Skipped this in the interest of time.
Dindagur
Looked like Agrahara Belaguli deities weren’t happy that we tried to save time by not visiting them. So they made sure that we wasted our time by roaming around on some bad roads before we reached Dindagur.
I visited Dindagur in 2017. It was in a bad shape back then. But now it is renovated with a fancy porch and all. Thankfully the lake in front of the temple still looks peaceful.
Sidewing
Usually, when the temple priest is out of town, someone in the village will have the temple keys. But at Jinnathapura, that was not the case.
We got multiple recommendations for Mudugere temple. Have to visit next time.
Dindagur is hardly 10-15 minutes off NH75. I might come back here after a tiring trip some other day to just stretch my legs and relax a bit before heading back home.