Decided to visit Hoysala temples one (or two) taluk at a time. So checked the gazette and made a plan.
Plan
K.R. Nagar Taluk
Hampapura
Saligrama
Mirle
Chunchanakatte
Chikkahanasoge
Bherya
Channapatna Taluk
Abburu
Bevooru
Honganur
Iggalur
But then, my plans are like marriage muhurtas – Carefully chosen, lost in chaos.
And we started at 8 AM… instead of the “planned” 6.30 AM. (See, I told ya!)
Hampapura
Our first stop was Hampapura. The Durgaparameshwari and Lakshmi Narayana temples are supposed to be of the Hoysala era.
The Durgaparameshwari temple was closed early as the priest was participating in a chariot procession (ತೇರು) at the Lakshmi Narayana temple. Asked for info at Lakshmi Narayana temple, but people were busy. One person by the name Ramu asked me to come back an hour later. I could not. In fact, I decided not to. They were still preparing for the procession. There was no way they were going to be done in an hour.
Mirle
The three temples I wanted to visit open only on Saturdays.
Called the priest’s number on the temple wall. He said he will be there by 2PM. We came back for this.
Saligrama
Temple was closed when we reached around 12.30 PM. But it looked quite huge from the outside. Even the place where Ramanuja’s feet are kept, which was supposed to be open till 1 PM, closed early for whatever reasons. The temple is 4500 years old it seems.
Chikkahanasoge
The Channekeshava temple here is supposed to be founded by Ramanuja himself. The priest of the trikootachala basadis next to it said it is not.
Wonder if it is a case of “Tu hain, tereko pata nahi hai, lekin tu hai”!
Saw Tamil-like inscription in the Basadi. This was a first for me.
I have usually come across Kannada or some unrecognizable scripts in Hoysala (or even Chola/Ganga temples which later passed on to Hoysalas), but Tamil? How? Why?
Many other scripts in the Basadi are in Kannada though. One such inscription says Dasharatha and family visited this place.
The basadi has Neminatha, Adinatha and Shantinatha teerthankaras idols.
Carvings inside basadi is as good as one would expect in a Hoysala architecture.
Couldn’t spend much time here as someone was waiting for the priest and he had to leave.
Chunchanakatte
Went around the Chunchanakatte temple on our way back and took a pic of Seetha’s bathing place. There are two small waterfall-like spots here because Seetha apparently took bath in both these places. She moved a bit when she felt someone was lurking nearby.
Mirle (2nd round)
Met the priest. Three temples of Mirle are managed by same family of priests.
Saw the magnificent Yoga Narasimha deity in the temple.
Very well-maintained premises.
The only interesting aspect of the walls around the temple. Don’t know why it is the way it is.
The gopura is renovated. Walls are plain, without any major carvings.
Few idols are lying around in the temple. Some in ruins.
A hero stone outside the temple.
The priest took us to another person who gave some info about the temples and the place in general.
- The old idol in the Kodandarama temple is only Rama, Seetha, and Lakshmana. Anjaneya is missing because Rama had not met him yet when he visited Mirle.
- Many inscriptions in the fields of Kuppebare village nearby.
- Specialty — South-facing Anjaneya and North-facing Vishnu
Wanted to visit Kuppebare, but headed to Ankegowda’s house as I had to be there by 4.30 PM.
Bherya
Had a brief stopover at Bherya on the way.
Temple isn’t renovated (thankfully?). Priest was off to some function, so couldn’t get in. Looks fab from the outside though.
Ankegowda Book House
Got late there as Ankegowda was busy with some visitor. Wait was worth though. Got a book about TP Kailasam I was searching for quite some time.
Had to cancel my Channapatna temple run as I had to be back at Deepa Academy for a student’s farewell.
All these places are too good to be missed. Will definitely come back before the storytellers fade away.
Side Wing
Tips to myself: Plan well. Be optimistic. Even ambitious. Not greedy. Definitely not foolish. Channapatna temples can be covered in half a day. Plan accordingly.
Mistook a ಬಲಿ (a ritual done to ward off evils) for some kind of evil spell (ಮಾಟ ಮಂತ್ರ) at Mirle.
At least one person dies every year in a whirlpool near Chunchanakatte temple. Seems like a curse.
Animal sacrifice is banned in the Durga Parameshwari temple. Wonder how can anyone ban this in an ಅಮ್ಮನವರ temple? Hope it is not true. In fact, the gazette says in the olden days there was a practice of human sacrifice here. Now not even a chicken? Come on!
Every temple has a gate now. (Even Ankegowda’s house, which is like a temple for many of us). This is good in a way because it protects the temples from vandalism and thefts. But it is not something I have seen often. Earlier, I could just walk into many such temple premises and take pics of outer walls even if the main temple was locked.
While planning, I thought some of these would be nondescript quiet villages. But none of these were so. Or have the villages evolved? They were quiet though; people were chilling inside to escape the blazing sun outside.
Forgot to eat lunch. Wish my school teachers were around to read this.