After a hard day's work at BEML, Kolar Gold Fields, commonly called as KGF. Deepak, Praveen, Ajay, Kalu of Komal Process Controls and, Kamal of Epoch Instruments and I we went to Kotilingeshwara. The place is full of Shiva Lingas… as the name goes ‘Koti’ means ‘ten million’. The place is supposed to get filled with that many Linga.
There’s also a giant Basavanna or Nandi made of cement. Aesthetically it’s not pleasing… the proportions are not correct.
We spent some 30 minutes and moved on to Bethamangala, to see the water purifying system which supplies water to BEML and KGF.
This plant, next to Bethamangala lake, was supposed to have been constructed 100 years back by the British government. Even now, the plant works well.
The care-taker showed us around… the entire purification process. It’s truly an amazing place to see. It’s a monument by itself.
My last visit to Aihole and Pattadkal was in February 1996 with Gulli during our 13 day biking trip around Karnataka. Somehow memories of these two places remained sketchy. I decided to revisit. The first attempt sometime July failed, I got tied down with work. While the second plan was taking shape I met Dr.Girish Kamat. Chetan, my colleague was enthusiastic to join me. The plan was set- August 14th- we would be visiting Badami, Banashankari, Aihole and Pattadkal.
Our journey started at 6AM. Our cab driver Shrikant was familiar with roads... Hebballi, Byahatti, Hebsur, now we were cruising on SH63... Konnur, Navalgund, Nargund and Kulgeri.
Between Navalgund and Nargund a minivan loaded with plastic pots was chugging along happily. It looked very colorful, like a curly haired head from the back.
Shrikant is from a farmer's family. I enjoyed discussing about Banni tree and Shiva-Jaali trees which are pretty common here.
From Kulgeri Badami, Pattadkal and Aihole are 22km, 44km and 66km. It was around 8-30 when we reached Badami, we stopped for breakfast. Our plan was to visit Pattadkal and Aihole and then come back to Badami & Banashankari. Just outside Badami we saw a board pointing the direction to Sidlaphadi. Few months back I had read an article about Sidlaphadi in DH and ever since I wanted to see the lightning struck rock. But the dirt road was not motorable and we were not prepared for a trek in this rough terrain ...our sandals would not have lasted the 4km + 4km trek. Some other day. We decided to go to Pattadkal. Few kilometers down the road we saw the arch beckoning travelers to Mahakoota.
The moment we got out of the cab, we could feel the silence, it was so peaceful. We saw some pilgrims bathing in the fresh water stream in the front yard of the temple. The stream passed under the temple wall into a pond. We passed through the gateway past this Basavanna.
The inside is crowded with temples and varieties of sculptures scattered all over the place. Not all sculptures are ancient, I could see a few new sculptures too. For instance this mantapa below is a recent creation styled similar to the mantapa in Banavasi.
Shivalinga and Basavanna sculptures are aplenty. I guess there are about 8 to 10 temples within this complex with Basavanna facing each one of them.
Of all Basavannas, the one you see below looked most beautiful- color, shape, the decoration -it's different in every aspect. Chetan described it as a Gooli.
This temple is attention grabbing. The shikhara is captivating, makes me wonder how wonderfully talented were the people who created it. It's not just the looks but also the engineering behind it. This particular shikhara reminds me of a photo of Angkor Wat I'd seen long back.
A closer looks reveals so much details in each of the stones.
The most notable feature of this temple complex is the pond. Water is crystal clear. We climbed down the steps leading into the water, it was cool. Small black fish hovered around our feet, they were the most friendly fish I'd ever seen. Chetan noticed bubbles rising out from the pond bed. The color of the pond bed is just like Chilume Honda of Ulavi.
This is Ardhanaareswara, half man and half woman. I've seen similar sculpture in Alampur also. In fact the architectures are similar.
This is the only place I've seen temples and trees co-existing but I also feel trees are trying to grab what ever attention temples get.
We had seen most of the temple now and we had to end our stay and move on the next place ...we still had 4 more places to cover. Before turning back we thought we'll check out what was behind a gateway at the back of the temple. As we stepped out of the gateway two life size figures... Kaala and Kaali.
The couple zapped us out of our wits. So many questions arose- why were they made? are they guarding a graveyard? how would anybody feel if they saw it during a night? As you see, both seem like skeletons covered with skin. We got so engrossed studying and discussing these two characters we had to force ourselves to move on.
As we walked back to the car-park we saw a well, water was just 6 feet below ground level and we saw three turtles swimming peacefully. We bought guavas from a woman asked to stay back. It seems most people come here to stay for a day at least. We told her an outline of our plan and hoped to see her again. We moved on towards Pattadkal.
Back home I read the DH article and realized that Sidlaphadi was just one kilometer from Mahakoota. I have plans to visit again, stay overnight at Mahakoota and see Sidlaphadi.
Dadapeer was really thrilled to see this place. He went snapping up with his mobile camera. He kept pointing at several sculptures asking me to take pictures of them.
Some say that's a palette and some say it's made for having food but I just felt that it could made to keep pooja items like flowers, vibhuti, kumkuma, arishina, sandal paste, etc. in place.
This Basavanna looks like he'll get up and come charging anytime.
Elephant head, Shivalinga and a panati i.e. an oil lamp.
Bull licking it's back.
That's Lord Ganapati.
A signature- Chennabasavaraja Lingayya -that's how inscription reads.
Two spots one should visit in Goa. The best time to visit would be towards the end of rainy season.
These are the Pandava Caves and three of the five Shivalingas...
And this is Harvalem Falls deep inside a valley, as seen during the onset of summer. During rainy season the water falls with a roar and sends up a continuous spray.
'Sri' stands for spider 'Kala' for snake and 'Hasti' for elephant.
This stone sculpture is at Lepakshi Temple. Srikalahasti one of the important holy places in South India.
Praveen, Gulli and I took a night bus... I remember a suitcase falling on my head from the overhead luggage rack in the bus. Not once, two times, same suitcase. The owner finally kept it on the floor board. We reached quite early, it was still dark.
We found a low priced lodging, slept for some time and got ready early. We visited the main temple first, it's quite big and was a busy place for a temple. The guide tried to explain us the invisible force which keeps... (not getting the word, ok let me call it shaking) shaking the flame in the Deepa but could never catch his explanation. The temple is a very interesting place, we spent some time looking around. Then we had tasty idli, vada and dosas from one of the many carts.
Just behind the temple is a rocky hillock. From the top we could see part of the town. That's Gulli and me and behind us is a scene from the story of Bedara Kannappa in which Kannappa gouges out his eye for Lord Shiva.
Done with the main temple, we explore the town streets. We climbed another hill in the middle of the town, much taller than the one we had climbed earlier. From here we could see the entire town and beyond it also.
That's river Swarnamuhki. The uniqueness of this part of the river is that it flows South-North direction. This is a rare occurrence. All rivers flow in the general direction of North South... at least in India. It's a Hindu belief that this spot frees one from some kind of sin... cannot recall what was told by our guide.
The town is crowded, streets are narrow and hums with activity.
Done with seeing the place, we had lunch, slept for a while and Praveen suggested we head back home. We boarded a Bangalore bound KSRTC bus. The driver drove like a maniac, mostly one handed. He would either be smoking beedis or chewing tobacco and spitting. He honked whenever he saw something moving and would go past pedestrians real close. It was a real tense journey... sitting in the very first row with a full view of the road. We reached Bangalore by 9 30 or so, without any incident.
It was a memorable little trip for the three of us.
