More Hoysala temples in Hassan

My ventures with Hoysala temples continued after a self-imposed break. This time, a friend joined me.

Plan

Halebelagola
Hebbelalu
Mudigere
Halebelur
Basavapatna
Aane Kannambadi

Halebelagola

Halebelagola is on the way to Shravanabelagola. I had been here earlier. But I forgot and added it to my itinerary.

The priest must come from “Betta”, which probably means Shravanabelagola. We waited a few minutes and left as we had many places to cover.

Hebbelalu

I was here some time ago, though it was not a planned Hoysala temple visit.

This village has three temples, one each for Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheshwara. Only Eshwara, known as Singeshwara, temple is of the Hoysala era. It is on the edge of a pond and gets submerged in water during a good rainy season, which is rare.

I could get inside through all the mess in and around the temple during my last visit. But it is entirely covered by shrubs and mud now. Villagers expect outsiders to come and clean it up.

Mudigere

There are supposed to be two Hoysala temples in Mudigere – Eshwara and Yoga Narasimha.

Villagers have renovated the Eshwara temple to a modern structure.

Villagers have no clue about the Yoga Narasimha temple. One of them pointed to me a structure that might be the only remnants of this temple.

Probably the remnants of Yoganarasimha temple at Mudigere

Haalebelur

Haalebelur has a Chennakeshava temple. Someone brought the main deity’s idol from “Mangalore sea” several hundred years ago. The idol is about 6ft, including the platform. Anjaneya is carved on the platform.

As per the inscription, food must be cooked in the eight stoves for this deity. The priest spoke about some bali (sacrifices) offered in nearby villages. But I can’t recollect the exact details now.

A new, bigger temple is being constructed for this deity.

Another Chennakeshava idol discovered recently is kept next to the old one. This one is about 5ft high and does not have any platform. This idol was hidden in Hemavathi to save it from attackers who came from the Manjarabad fort area and was forgotten.

Basavapatna

Basavapatna has three temples of the Hoysala era – Lakshmikanteshwara, Pranataarthiswara, and Shanteshwara.

Pranataarthishwara

Pranataarthishwara is a swayambhu, meaning it formed on its own. Nobody installed it. One day, a saint visited Basavapatna and wished to stay here. However, villagers told him they don’t have an Eshwara temple (I wonder why an Eshwara temple is a pre-requisite for the saint to stay in any village.). The saint pointed to a place in the village and asked them to dig. By the time villagers hit a stone that turned out to be the Lord Shiva idol, the saint had disappeared. So, villagers believe that the saint was just a messenger sent by God himself to help them find this. The saint did his assigned job and left.

The deity is so powerful that if the priest is not disciplined enough, a snake will appear on the idol, not allowing him to do the pooja activities. One such priest succumbed to the insect bite all over the body (insect locally known as emme hEnu).

Kola Shanteshwara

Kola Shanteshwara, also known as Shantishwara or Shanteshwara, is an important temple for the Lingayat community.

More information about it is available in the Sharana Charite video. The reference to Kola Shanteshwara starts from the 30th minute.

Shanteshwara temple from outside, along with the inscription at the entrance and hero stone on the side

Shanteshwara with Basavanna on the right.

Lakshmikanteshwara

Lakshmikanteshwara is a Vishnu temple and not an Eshwara temple, as I thought.

The idol has dashavatara around it in the prabhavali (aureole). It was established after Ramanujacharya arrived. It has Shanku (Conch) on the right and Chakra (Wheel). The idol itself was won in the war. The deity was not worshipped for some time. One day, God asked some people from Sanketi community to install him.

Aane Kannambadi

The final destination on our list was Aane Kannambadi. The priest had just returned from Mysore and was about to open the temple when we arrived.

Many stones in the temple were left uncarved as the war broke out and the sculptors got busy with war-related activities.

Narayana temple at Aane Kannambadi. On the top and right are uncarved stones.

The temple has Venugopala idol, similar to Belavadi, near Chikkamagalur. Other deities in this temple include Lakshmi Narasimha, Durge, and a form of Eshwara (I forgot the name). The temple was constructed during Hoysala’s Vishnuvardhana era.

The Venugopala temple has carvings of a monkey, a peacock, and a cow giving milk to a tiger on the side. The idol is in tribhangi shape, with the toe of a foot touching the ground. The flute of Venugopala has a hole in it.

Durge

The aureole of Durge idol has mahisha mardana on the side. This idol is Doddagaddavali’s main idol (I think this was done as a prototype version of the main idol.). That temple has a bigger idol of the same deity.

More photos of the temple…

Carvings on the roof of Narayana temple at Aane Kannambadi

Another carving on the roof of Narayana temple at Aane Kannambadi

Carvings at the entrance of Narayana temple at Aane Kannambadi temple

This temple was also renovated by Dharmasthala temple authorities.

Plaque mentioning the contribution of Dharmasthala temple authorities towards renovation of Narayana temple at Aane Kannambadi

With this, we concluded our trip. We headed back home via Mysore Road.

Sidewing

The trip was planned for Saturday, on the day of Vaikunta Ekadashi, and had to be postponed to Sunday due to the non-availability of our driver. I am glad it did because Lakshmikanteshwara temple had a massive celebration on Saturday, and we could not have got any time from the villagers.

The temple and inscription at Halebelagola look good. I should probably make an exclusive visit to this temple some morning to meet the priest.

The Brahma temple in Hebbelalu is also of ancient times, but not even a stone is visible now. All we see is the some shrub covering what villagers claim to be the temple roof.

Google Maps took us to a lake near Mudigere when we searched for Yoga Narasimha Temple, Mudigere. What if Google knows more than villagers, and someday, the temple is discovered inside the lake?

Dogs in front of and inside the gate stopped me from entering the Eshwara temple priest’s home at Mudigere.

Pranataarthishwara is locally known as Eshwara. It took me time to convince villagers there is a Pranataarthishwara temple in the village. My mispronunciation as Praanataarthishwara instead of Pranataarthishwara caused all the confusion among villagers.

We could not meet the main priest of Lakshmikanteshwara temple. He knows a lot more details about this.

Missed taking photos at Basavapatna. Have to visit again. Totally worth it.

The young priest of Aane Kannambadi is a well-connected person. His relatives are priests in many historical temples of the Mandya and Hassan districts.

Back to Hassan

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.

Inscription stone next to Jinnathapura 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.

Entrance of a missing sanctum sanctorum.

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.

Hoysala Temples in Mandya and Tumkur districts

There is always a Hoysala temple I can visit.

Start

Having booked the driver, I was still choosing between visiting my native place, Hoysala temples, and Channapatna, when the Bandameedathanda (BMT) Government Lower Primary School teacher shared pictures of clearing school ground. (More on that in the Volunteering section.) After evaluating the native place-BMT combo and Hoysala temples-Channapatna combo, I decided to stick to Hoysala temples only.

Factors that worked in its favor:

Achieve a milestone
Come back by 6pm or so and meet a friend at Orion mall discuss some activities for Deepa Academy for Differently Abled.

Route plan: Bangalore – Bogadi – Aghalaya – Kikkeri – Tenginaghatta – Tholasi (Tonachi) – Bellur – Bangalore

We started at 6.45AM.

Bogadi

Remnants of Jain basadi. 🙁

Disappointed with the start, we left to Aghalaya. On the way, I called the priest about our visit.

Aghalaya

Aghalaya was earlier known as Hagalaya. Haga apparently means sin. Laya means destruction. This temple was constructed to wash off sins of a Hoysala chieftain.

Aghalaya is a trikuta linga temple – Someshwara, Malleshwara, and Gangadhareshwara.

By now, I could identify a pattern in Shiva temples built by Hoysalas. All these temples have idols of Saptamatrukeyaru (see my earlier post for the list of 7 Goddesses), Ganesha, Subramanya, Suryanarayana and one form of Vishnu. This temple was no different. In addition to these, there is an idol of Mahishasuramardini for every Shiva outside the sanctum sanctorum (garbhagudi).

The temple was renovated by Shri Veerendra Heggade of Dharmasthala Manjunatha temples in 2005. The area outside the temple complex is not maintained well.

Kikkeri

Kikkeri is the hometown of famous Kannada poet, K.S.Narasimhaswamy. The Brahmeshwara temple here is very popular.

The temple is managed by the father-son duo, with father as a full-time priest and son taking care of other activities along with his day job elsewhere. Both are very friendly and knowledgeable about the temple history. Here is the summary of what I gathered from them.

The temple was constructed in 1171 A.D., by a team led by the Hoysala chieftess, Bommayya Nayaki. The story is depicted on the herostone.

Herostone with Cheiftess, Bommayya Nayaki

The main deity, Brahmeshwara derives his name from the Brahma at the entrance of sanctum sanctorum and Eshwara idol inside. Eshwara is guarded by Shrungi and Bhrungi at the entrance. Since Brahma is not worshipped directly, the dhoopa (smoke from incense sticks) reaches him through Eshwara.

The Suryanarayana idol is flanked by Vishnu on the right and Shiva on the left. The usual deities Saptamatrukeyaru, Ganapathi, and Skanda exists here as well. The female deity is represented by Chamundeshwari killing three demons.

Unique factors:

Rati-Manmatha story at the entrance of Sanctum Sanctorum.
Kaalabhairava with a demon’s head in one hand, a butcher’s knife on the other hand and a dog licking the blood dripping from the severed head. Interestingly, the expression on deity’s face is very gentle.
Ganeshani, the female form of Ganesha, on the pillar.

We were running way behind our schedule. So we promised that we will visit again and spend at least 1.5-2 hours with them to get a more detailed walkthrough of the temple. If you think it is an exaggeration, well, let me tell you that the herostone in front of the temple itself needs about 15-20 minutes of our attention.

From there, we headed to Tenginaghatta.

Tenginaghatta

Till about 5-6 years back, the Tenginaghatta temple was in a relatively better shape. But now, it is in ruins. I struck a conversation with brothers working in the farm nearby and they gave me the history of this.

This temple (well, just like many other temples) was constructed in a day. As an evidence, we can still see some unfinished idols around the temple.

The grinding stone used by construction workers back then is still here.

The herostone is dumped in a field behind the temple.

Our next stop was Tholasi.

Tholasi

Villagers were wondering why we even came looking for the temple there. They were totally clueless about the “historical temple” in their own village and guided us to some random places.

The only common statement among all those who guided me was “some old temple was there, now it is rebuilt.” But everyone, including a priest, showed a different “rebuilt” temple, one of which was in another village altogether.

We started back to Bangalore from here. Stomach permitting, we thought of covering the Madhavaraya temple in Bellur since we had to pass through Bellur Cross anyway.

Bellur

Bellur is a relatively bigger town.

My first thoughts on entering the temple was “Damn, look at those brand new pillars. Even this temple is spoilt under the guise of “renovation” or I am at the wrong place”. But the temple priest told me all these are good old pillars which they got cleaned using some unique method. Might impressed.

The temple was constructed by Perumal Dandayanayaka and main deity here is Adi Madhavaraya, a form of Vishnu.

Though the priest was a nice person, somehow I felt he was not too keen on talking much. After missing lunch, even I was not in a mood to grill him much. So I just left appreciating him for maintaining the temple so well.

On the way back, we had some snacks at Hotel Mayura and reached Bangalore late evening.

Sidewing

Finally made it to the Dhaba-kind of place next to Shark Food Court on Hassan highway for breakfast. Food was worth another visit.

In Tenginaghatta, Karthiks maasa (usually end-October to end-November) festivities are performed by farmers. Rest of the year, it is done by the priest.

Tholasi is also known as Tonachi and Tulasi.

With this, I have visited all temples mentioned in the book, Hoysala Temples of Mandya and Tumkur Districts by N.S.Rangaraju, published by Prasaranga, Mysore University.

Decided to take a break from Hoysala temples for now. It is getting monotonous and I am losing interest.

Budanuru, Basaralu and more

This was the 2nd one in the three back-to-back trip series.

The start

Had a couple of hours work in my friend’s toy shop at Channapatna. So looked up for some Hoysala temples between Channapatna and Hassan highway and found Budanur, Basaralu and Santhebachalli.

Started from home at 7.30AM as the shop opened at 9.30AM. Wrapped up the work at shop by 10AM and headed to our first stop, Budanuru.

Budanuru

Budanuru has two Hoysala temples, Ananthapadmanabha Temple and Vishweshwara temple. Google Map will take you to the entrance of Ananthapadmanabha temple.

The temple premises is quite big and well-maintained. But I can’t say the same about its surroundings.

Front view of the Anantapadmanabha Swamy temple

Side view of the Ananthapadmanabhaswamy temple

Priest did not turn up at the temple as there was a death in his family. But a villager guided us to a nearby house where temple keys were kept. Someone from the family came and opened temple for us. The only interesting info we got from him (apart from the usual so many year old, deity, etc.) is that there was a tunnel from this temple to Visweshwara temple earlier. I was like, “what is the big deal? The temple is few metres away anyway.” Perhaps he meant (or even said and I misheard?) the tunnel from this temple to Basaralu or some other far off temple.

Some photos from the temple.

Ananta Padmanabhaswamy — The main deity, Anantha Padmanabhaswamy

Had to zoom-in in my mobile camera to take pictures. So don’t blame just my camera skills for the bad pics this time. 😛

Inscription stone inside the Anantha Padmanabhaswamy Temple — Inscription stone inside the temple

Kasi Vishweshwara temple was also closed when we went. But here, villagers said they won’t open the temple as there has been a death. Just took pictures from outside.

Our next stop was Basaralu.

Basaralu

Let me say this straightaway. Basaralu temple is magnificent. It is not about beauty, like say Belavadi temple. But I loved every bit of it.

The temple has beautiful idols of Sapta Matrukeyaru, Saraswati, Linga, Naga Nagini carved out of a single stone, Suryanarayana, Mahishasura Mardini, and Gayathri inside. We were not allowed to take photos of these deities though.

A guide is available to walk you through the temple and tell (rather obvious) stories about it.

Some sculptures on the walls.

Hoysala killing the lion probably — Hoysala killing the lion (probably)

Rama's arrow cutting through 7 trees — Rama’s arrow cutting through 7 trees

If you are interested in sculptures and the stories they say, you will easily need an hour to go around the temple.

The huge dhwajastambha in front of the temple. Wonder where he is looking at and why.

Dhwajastambha in front of the Basaralu temple

Somewhat unsatisfied, we left to Santhebachahalli. I will read about this temple and come back.

Santhebachalli

Santhebachalli has two Hoyssala era temples – Mahalingeshwara and Parvati. A road divides the lake and the temple below.

Goddess Parvati
Goddess Parvati with Basavanna
Front view of the Parvati temple

As usual, when we scouted for someone who will give more details about the temple, we were guided to Patel Sampattu, a village veteran and an authority on these temples. He gave a good insight of the temple history and its surroundings. Here is the summary.

Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana and his chieftain were on a visit to Melkote. On their way back to Belur, the king fell in love with a girl bathing in the lake near Malagur. In her remembrance he constructed the Mahalingeshwara temple here. Inside the Mahalingeshwara temple, there was an idol of Lord Brahma and Lord Narayana. Now only Brahma idol exists.
Patel Sampattu

Veerendra Heggade has renovated this temple as well.

He spoke about a lot of other temples. Among those, we learnt that Kambadahalli was on the way to Bangalore and added to our itinerary.

Kambadahalli

Kambadahalli is another beautiful place with lack of information. Though Hoysalas have constructed Jain temples, I don’t think this is one of them.

The highlight of this place is the huge pillar erected overnight on a platform of about 15 feet. Apparently, the name of the place is derived from this pillar (Pillar means “kamba” in Kannada).

Sidewing:

A compound wall separates the main temple and the dhwajastambha in Basaralu. Again, no one knows why.

The entrance of the Basaralu temple slightly towards the right of the main entrance. And, after we enter the temple, we have to turn left to see the main deity. This is very unusual and I am sure there is some reason behind this kind of construction. We checked with the guide, but he didn’t have any answer.

Parvati temple in Santhebachalli is not locked.

A student by Nanjegowda, from Doddakyatanahalli near Santhebachalli, who failed in 10th standard exams broke the Brahma idol in frustration. As luck would have it, he passed the exam in the next attempt, but lost his hearing and memory later.

The trend of calling Hoysala temples as Chola temples continued in all these three places.

Information about Hoysala temples from locals seems to be drying up. I am not too keen on what is written in books or internet.

Hoysala temples towards Hassan

It had been a really long time since I went on an I, me, myself trip. Perhaps, longer than the time I updated this blog. This trip one came up on the pretext of taking my car out for drive as it was lying idle for over a month.

Planning

Got the driver. Fixed the date and time of departure. But where to go? Conversations with myself.
Q: A hill? Some of my friends have been going to nearby hills for treks and they looked damn good.
A: Really? You are getting old and weaker. Chuck it!
Q: Some riverside?
A: No way! With the kind of water problems we are having, I will definitely not like looking at sorry state of any river.
Q: How about some fort?
A: Well, I probably have seen every fort nearby. The ones I haven’t, I can’t.
Q: Seaside?
A: None I can cover in a day.
Q: So, what else?
A: Well, good old Hoysala temples.
Q: Ok, Which ones? Which area? Nagamangala?
A: Na. Not the dreaded Mysore Road.
Q: Tumkur?
A: Too less for a day long visit. I should cover that on my bike.
Q: Hassan again?
A: Oh yeah! Many pending that side.

So, I checked out the hoysala temple blog and the book, and came up with a route map for 10 places:

Dindagoor
Agrahara Belguli
Hullekere
Haranahalli
Arsikere
Devanur
Hulikere
Marle
Undiganalu
Adagooru

The start

We started at 6.15 A.M. Slight delay of 15 minutes thanks to my memory card that went kaput at the last minute.

Quite surprisingly, things started moving smoothly. We were out of the city in no time. Had our breakfast at Mayura Veg and finally arrived at our first stop, Dindagoor at around 8.30 AM.

Dindagoor

There are way too many temples in this small town. And, a priest of one God does not conduct the pooja of another God.

After roaming around, we finally found the right priest. He gave the keys to some kid and sent her with us to open the temple doors. The first temple was this.

Though it is maintained by Muzrai Department (the government body that is responsible for the maintenance and development of temples), as you can see, it is in deplorable state.

The inscription is written at the back of the temple. A first for me. So far, I have seen inscriptions outside the temples only.

The Shivalinga in this temple is very small.

With nothing much to see here, we went to the other temple in the village. The priest joined us here. This one is in a much better shape.

The main deity, Keshava.

The inscription on the wall in the temple. Again, another first.

Both these temples were constructed by Dandinatha, a minister of Immadi Veeraballala, in 1201 A.D.

The priest seemed to be in a hurry. He suggested we go to Belguli which is more beautiful than this and literally chased us out.

Belguli

The first thing that surprised me about this temple is that it is so close to Nuggehalli where we come to distribute notebooks every year and I had never heard of it till now.

Keshiraja constructed this temple in 1210 AD.

The temple looks good. Though it does not come under the Muzrai department, it is maintained well by the enthusiastic villagers. Apparently, some idols were stolen from this temple. This incident and constant trouble caused by cows that used the temple premises as resting place prompted them to construct multiple gates and a zigzag entrance to the temple.

The Shivalinga inside the temple.

Basava, facing the Shivalinga

Keshava

The banni tree in front of the temple.

The Kalyani

The Kalyani is actually dry. Villagers pumped water here for the benefit of Ayyappa devotees who used the temple premises till last month.

Shivaratri is a major festival here.

After a very satisfying visit, we left for Hullekere. As we drove ahead, the sceptic in me was working overtime. How can everything go well? Something must be wrong somewhere and I am not noticing it. Or, something will go wrong soon. No closed temples, no near-misses, no bad roads, no reroutes, no disappointments… Not my type, definitely.

Hullekere

We were really lucky here. The temple priest was about to leave when we reached the temple. He gave us the keys.

This was constructed by Boochiraja in 1163 A.D. This temple showed some real good examples of Hoysala architecture. It had the standard idols of Krishna, Ugra narasimha, etc., on the outer walls, pillars around the main temple, and most importantly the Hoysala emblem of Hoysala killing the lion.

Some pictures.

Our next stop was supposed to be Haranahalli. But while checking out info about the temple there on Google, I realised that the Haranahalli we were going to and the Haranahalli we were supposed to go were not the same. The latter was way too far from here.

Haranahalli

We skipped that and went to Arsikere.

Arsikere

Things started falling into place here. I was glad that things are normal.

The Arsikere Shivalaya temple was the one I had already visited. We didn’t bother to enter the temple and moved to Devanur.

Devanur

Devanur is the birthplace of famous Kannada poet, Lakshmeesha.

As per my reference book, this place has Rameshwara and Siddeshwara temples built in Hoysala style. But villagers knew nothing about it. They pointed me to a Siddeshwara temple which didn’t even look like a temple.

The visit was fruitful though. Local villagers suggested another Hoysala temple at Kabbali. This was on my way to Hulikere.

Kabbali

This temple reminded me of bride profiles on matrimony sites — Traditional, with modern outlook. See the pictures to know why.

We headed towards Hulikere next.

Hulikere

Hoysala’s Hulikere was near Halebeedu. We were not.

At this point, I decided to skip Marle next and go to Mosale which was only a slight detour to Undiganalu.

Mosale

I had underestimated my foolishness.

The Mosale we went to after driving through a horrible patch of road was a small village without any historical significance. The actual Mosale was 10 Kms from Hassan. We kept it for our next visit.

Undiganalu

After a brief stopover at Javagal for lunch, we went to Undiganalu. This was a repeat of Arsikere. I had been to this place and the temple priest was a big bore. We didn’t bother looking for him.

Adagoor

By this time, I had way too many misfires. We decided to skip Adagoor and head back home.

The end

The journey back was uneventful just like the start. After a brief stopover for tea, we were back home by 8.45 PM.

Sidewing:

At least two temples were believed to be of Cholas by the local villagers. Whenever we asked for directions for the old, Hoysala temples, they referred to them as Chola temples and guided us.

Belguli’s actual name is Agrahaara Belguli. Agrahara is generally a self-contained area given to Brahmins by kings. It has everything they need, from a river to burial ground. Now, all Brahmins have fled for greener pastures. The temple priest comes from a nearby place called Jamboor.

Dharmasthala temple authorities offered to develop Belguli temple at an estimated cost of 1.2 Crores and asked villagers to contribute 20 lakhs towards that. These poor villagers could not afford it.

There is an underground tunnel from Belguli temple entrance to the Someshwara temple nearby. This temple was constructed by Somarasi in 1154 A.D.

Belguli villagers are aware of Trump and his policies. There were curious to know the impact of 8 Lakh Kannadigas (the number they mentioned) coming back home if Trump has his way. What will they do? How will they survive? Where will they find jobs? What will happen to the current lot when they get jobs?

The Kabbali temple is built in such a way that the sun’s first rays fall on the God directly every morning.

Kabbali temple is never locked.

We were not the only ones who visited wrong Mosale. A day before our visit, at around the same time another team had come looking for the temple and the guy who told us about right one guided them as well. Too many coincidences?

Shettikere Yoga Madhava temple

This was one of those unplanned trips. Since we three cousins had time after dropping my aunt and uncle at Yeshwantpur Railway Station at 1.45 p.m, we decided to visit Hoysala temples at Vigna Sante and Shettikere in Tumkur district.

Half way through, considering the road condition, distance, traffic, etc., we realized that we can cover only Shettikere.

Shettikere

We reached Shettikere at about 5 p.m. Though the temple was closed, a kid in front of the temple led us to the priest’s house and got us temple keys.

We took some snaps in and around the temple. But we still did not know anything about it (info available on the internet not included).

Earlier, the current village of Shettikere was divided into two parts, Bharatapuri and Shettikere. As per that, the temple is actually in Bharatapuri. We thought of asking the priest and came out of the temple. Just outside the temple, we stopped a localite to ask for an alternative route back home as the road we took to reach here was pretty bad. But as soon as we told him that we came from Bangalore, this guy volunteered to give us all the information he had about the temple. Here is what he told:

The temple was constructed in one day and one night.
The huge dhwajasthambha (flagstaff, the single stone pillar in front of the temple) was carried by one person. The boulders used in the temple wall were also carried by human beings.

Two chariots, made of silver and bronze, are believed to be buried deep inside the ground on either side of the main temple complex.

Place where one of the two chariots are buried

The inscription inside the temple gives all the details about the temple. One can read by holding a mirror to it.

The main deity is facing east.
The area around the temple encroached by villages.

After getting all the details, we visited the priest’s house, thanked him, and started our journey back home.

Route:

Onward: Bangalore > Gubbi > Kibbanahalli Cross > Chikkanayakanahalli > Shettikere
Return: Shettikere > Saasalu > Kibbanahalli cross > Gubbi > Bangalore

Sidewing:

The father of the kid who got us keys and the current priest were classmates.
The priest told us that Bhyrappa, the only person who knew the complete history of the temple, passed away.
The temple looks magnificent when it is lit in the evenings. The main deity can then be seen from a distance of 300 meters outside the temple complex. We did not wait till then though.
The guy who gave us all the details was drunk. No, not the priest. I am referring to the other guy.

Shravanabelagola, Govindanahalli, and Hosaholalu trip

It had been six months since I went out on a trip. Work, Note Book Drive visits with our NGO, and sometimes sheer laziness kept me busy. The last one was my 2nd visit to Belum Caves and Gandikota in November.

Last weekend I had decided to go. Go somewhere, just anywhere, even if it is just to the Vishwa Shanti Ashram at Nelamangala.

Initially, it was supposed to be an I, Me, Myself trip on my Harley Davidson (that looks like a Honda Dio). However, on Friday, a colleague said he would join me. Since rains had just started in our region, we agreed that it is better to visit some historical places. I checked out the Hoysala Temples blog and decided to visit temples in Govindanahalli, Hosaholalu, and Varahanatha Kallahalli, in that order.<

Shravanabelagola

We decided to visit the Bahubali temple at Sharavanabelagola since we were anyway passing by that route.

A steep climb of 800 uneven steps led us to the main temple. The 57-feet tall statue of Bahubali is believed to the world’s largest monolithic stone statue.

Govindanahalli

Our next stop was Panchalingeshwara temple in Govindanahalli. Locally, Govindanahalli is known as Gaayanalli (if I heard word right). When we enquired for the route to Govindanahalli in Shravanabelagola, nobody knew about it. Finally, we found a person who guessed the place based on other inputs such as the Hoysala temple and KR Pet taluk and gave the right directions.

From Shravanabelagola, one has to reach Kikkeri, take a left after the Kikkeri police station, and then take another left after a government school to reach the temple. Watch out for small rectangular boards after the police station and after the school to ensure that you are on the right path.

This temple was constructed in 1238 AD by the Hoysala king Vir Someshwara. Originally, the king constructed only four temples. Later some unknown person added the 5th one maintaining the same style and using the same material. Three Nandi statues are inside the temple and two are outside. Hoysala temples are generally known for their exquisite work that displays the skill of sculptor. However, in this temple, I hardly saw any of it.

Central government has taken down two out of five sanctum sanctorums for renovation. There are plans to renovate other three as well.

Hosaholalu

Hosaholalu has been on my radar for more than a year now. Even though it is close to Bangalore, somehow I never got a chance. In fact, being so close itself was one of the reasons.

Hosaholalu is near KR Pet. One has to reach KR Pet from Kikkeri and in a major circle, take a left towards Hosaholalu. Watch out for the small rectangular board on the right of the road that leads to the temple.

Hosaholalu temple has Venugopala, Lakshmi Narasimha, and Ganesha in it. The interiors of the temple are magnificent. Photography is not allowed inside the temple. Apparently, there is a tunnel from Hosaholalu temple to Srirangapatna.

Coming out, I was delighted to see the fine workmanship of Hoysala era sculptors on the exterior walls of the temple. The guide, who came down when we were about to leave, told me that we can see entire Mahabharata, Ramayana, and Shree Krishna Charitre on the fourth layer. He was ready to explain, but we left, as we were damn hungry and had other places to cover.

Varahanatha Kallahalli/ Srirangapatna

I have been to Varahananatha Kallahalli several times. As far as I knew, the temple would be open until 5 in the evening. But the Hosaholalu guide told me that that has changed, and now they close around 1 p.m and open again at 4 p.m. When we finished our lunch at KR Pet, it was 1.45 p.m. So, we decided to skip Kallahalli and visit Srirangapatna instead.

After a visit to Sangama, Gumbaz, and Dariya Daulat, we headed back to Bangalore.

Hosaholalu

My camera battery that I had not used since I fully charged it some time back was dead when I checked it at Shravanabelagola. Lesson learnt. Recharge it every single time.

Sidewing

We missed a deviation on the road leading to Bahubali temple in Shravanabelagola. The moment I opened my mouth to ask a kid on that road, he told me to keep going straight. Well, I am not the only one who gets that doubt!

The security guard of Govindanahalli temple doubles up as a guide. When we went, he was busy supervising the renovation activities of the temple. The priest had zero knowledge about the importance or history of the temple.

Food gods were not merciful on me during this trip. Some restaurant near Solur managed to mess up the simple idli-vada leaving me hungry until lunch. The idli and masala vada at Hotel Circle (which was recommended by a localite) in KR Pet circle was so hard that I could hit a nail on the cook’s head with it. I got something palatable only at Kamat Upachar on our way back to Bangalore.

I usually talk to localites and gather as much information as possible about a place. While writing this blog, I realized that I did not do much of it this time. Some key elements I missed include food, more info on the history, etc. I also missed taking some key pictures. Guess I just lost the touch.

Araluguppe and Turuvekere Trip

After a lot of yes, no, and can’t, I finally decided to visit Araluguppe and Turuvekere in Tumkur district on last Saturday.

The weather was just perfect for a long drive. Light to moderate drizzle and cool breeze. The not-so-NICE road and really nice NH4 made the journey till Tumkur untiring and uneventful. The fun began once I hit NH208. My first destination was Araluguppe and my only landmark for that was the KB Cross (short for Kibbanahalli Cross). When I asked locals for the route and distance from NH208, I got various replies ranging from 10-15 kms to 50 kms. It was like, I travel 10-15 kms, ask someone and he says “another 20 kms” or a shocker like “oh, it is far. It is another 50 kms…”. Somehow I managed to go all the way and reached a huge circle, just about 20 kms before Tiptur. I remembered reading somewhere that I have to take left just about 20 kms before Tiptur. The signpost near that circle said it is the Turuvekere road. Since I had also read that Turuvekere is about 20 kms from Araluguppe, I confidently took a left there. Fortunately, it was time for my bike to take break and I stopped over at a shop. On enquiring, the shopkeeper told I took the wrong left turn! I thought, “oh, great!”. I had to drive another 5-6 kms and then take a diagonal road next to some temple. He highlighted that I can take the “wrong” road and still manage to reach my destination, but the other road is good. There I go, so-near-yet-so-far.

I finally reached the temple and took the diagonal road. But what started as a good road, turned nightmarish after some time. I was wondering if that this is his definition of a “good road”, what is bad road! Trust me, whoever said “Enjoy the journey, not the destination” didn’t even know about this road. On the same road, I saw four youngsters on cycles blocking my way. My mind again started working… what if they attack me, how many cards do I have, how much cash do I have, being an isolated place is there an escape route atleast, and even if I try to escape how fast can I go on this road. Well, by the time I reached them, they gave way and let me go. After further enquiries, I finally reached my destination Araluguppe at about 3.00. Thanks to the roads (and my usual breaks), the 150 kms journey took 4 hours.

Araluguppe

At the entrance of Araluguppe is a railway overbridge. I wonder how these villagers sleep with trains running at their doorstep. Anyway, this place is known for its 700 years old Channakeshava Temple built by Hoysalas and 1008 years old Kalleshwara temple built by Cholas. However, this place is not found on the Karnataka Tourism signposts and website. Only way you can find this is blogs.

Here are the pics:

The only indicator to the Channakeshava temple. Look right and you see the temple.

Entrance of the temple

Temple story both in Kannada and English

Around the temple

Some sculptures on the wall. Read more about them in the story above.

Ugra Narasimhaswamy Temple attached to the Channakeshava Temple — I was quite surprised to see this. Hoysala temples are always complete star-shaped temples. This is perhaps the only place which has another temple attached to the main temple. Curious to know the story behind this change.

The ladies adda

The Kalleshwara Temple has Goddess Parvati seated on the lap of Lord Parameshwara. This supposedly is the only such statue in the world. Another speciality of this temple are navagrahas on the ceiling. The temple was being cleaned and decked up for a fest to celebrate 1008^th year anniversary.

Kalleshwara Temple

The temple is not so good, but the lake is very peaceful.

My next destination was Turuvekere. Not willing to take a ride back on that “good” road, I enquired for an alternative route. They said I can directly go to Turuvekere from there on a “good” road. As I found out later the road is really good except for a couple of kilometers. (Those couple of kilometers are pathetic.)

Turuvekere is about 17 kms from Araluguppe. On the way is this scenic Mallaghatta lake.

Turuvekere

I reached Turuvekere by 5 pm. This town has several ancient temples. The ones I visited were closed by the time I reached.

Gangadhareshwara Temple

Highlights are the giant Nandi statue and a 2ft stone bell. I managed to take a couple of pics from outside the compound.

Moole Sankareshwara Temple

This 15^th century temple was built by Hoysalas. Though there is hardly any architectural detailing, it is definitely worth a dekko.

Side view of the Moole Sankareshwara temple

Finally, the Channakeshava Temple. The smallest Hoysala temple I have seen.

From here, I headed back to Bangalore and reached home by 9.30.

Sidewing

A tip to those who prefer Kamat Upachar: After Nelamangala, you get one Kamat Upachar. Don’t eat there. The taste is below average. Go further up, about 10 kms or so (watch out for huge Café Coffee Day hoardings to know the exact distance) till you find another Kamat which has petrol bunk and CCD in the same premises. Eat here. This is a typical Kamat taste. I actually drank the sambar here.

The Araluguppe Channakeshava temple gate was locked when I reached. With my mind busy with thoughts ranging from cursing the government to not reading hints (yeah, I read Alchemist recently), I checked with some villagers who pointed me to the temple watchman’s house. The lady there gave me the keys of the gate and the temple, asked me to spend as much time as I want and get the keys back. Wow!

Locals encouraged me to jump over the compound wall of Moole Shankreshwara temple and take the pics. The lady in the house facing the temple was more than happy to take care of my bag till I came back.