Saturday, February 12, 2011

Hoysala Malleshwara Temple, Machalaghatta

     "Machalaghatta" is a sleepy village of Nagamangala taluk , Mandya District. This place houses a lesser known Malleshwara temple belonging to the 13th century probably built during the reign of Hoysala king Someshwara.
         With this little information, our search began for this place. After a lot of inquiries of the route to this place, we drove towards  to Cheenya (located on the Nagamangala -Pandavapura road). After making it to Cheenya , an elderly person rightly directed us to the Machalaghatta village. Finally, after a few inquiries we reached the temple which was situated outside the village. At the first look, we knew the temple had under gone renovations.
Malleshwara Temple
   This soap stone temple doesn't  have an appearance like the other famous Hoysala temples from outside. Though it felt simple compared to the Hoysala standards, it looked wonderful. The temple was locked and without a single soul around, we had to head back to the village to find out the priest's whereabouts. We found out that the priest lived in the neighboring village(Raghuramapura). We reached  the neighboring village only to find the priest pretty busy with his agricultural work. On approaching him, he was kind enough to make an alternate arrangement for us to see the temple. Thanks to him since we were able to see the temple interiors which turned out to be a Hoysala master piece. The pillars, ceilings, door frames, lintels and sculptures were all intricately carved .
Outer Ceiling
Central Ceiling
Central Ceiling - Full View
   The central ceiling is an 8 angled star shaped lotus with 3 blocks of carvings in each angle, the center one depicting the Ashtadikpalas while the others contained  mango leaves, toranas and orchestra.
Pillar
Nandi
Door Frame
Lintel
Lord Malleshwara
Lord Ganapathi
Sapthamathrikas
   There are some Kannada  inscriptions on the outer wall of the temple. There is also a beautiful sculpture of Lord Bhairava, just opposite to the entrance of the temple. There is a hero stone by the side of the temple . and a little farther away from the temple.  
Inscriptions
Pillar
Lord Bhairava

Hero Stone
Parvathi Parameshawara
        This is a  wonderful place to visit and  is very close to the famous Melukote temple. The temple was renovated with the help of Mr Hedge (Dharmadhikari of Dharmastala ). The temple priest's contact numbers are as follows: 9845781822 (Kumar) and 8861962968 (Raju) - Both residents of Raghuramapura

     Directions from Bangalore : Bangalore - SH17- Mandya - Right turn (towards Melukote) - Jakkanahalli - Right turn (towards Nagamangala)- Travel about 6 kms - Right turn (there is a small board in Kannada) - Travel about 2 kms to reach Machalaghatta

Distance from Bangalore : 135 kms

Places to visit around : Melukote , Nagamangala, Hosaholalu, Kikkeri, Govindanahalli, Ranganathittu bird sanctuary and many more .

Trip Date: 26 Jan 2011

Related posts:
1. Sri Kalleshwara Temple, Anguru  
2. Temples of Aralaguppe
3. 100 lesser known temples of Karnataka

12 comments:

  1. What a breathtaking, beautiful place! And your photos are superb as always! You do take us on such wonderful tours! I love them! Hope you have a great weekend. Thank you, as always for your visits and kind comments, they are much appreciated!

    Sylvia

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  2. The ceilings look great as does the whole place...
    Wonderful pics..

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  3. Your effort to locate the place looks to have been worth the while. The ceiling is reminiscent of Hoysala architecture. I saw such an architecture at Somnathpur temple as well, yesterday.(Yes.. I am at Mysore on a week end tour..!).
    Thanks for sharing these wonderful pictures.

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  4. Simple yet beautiful temple. The interiors are beautiful. All the effort taken is worth.

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  5. You give enough details in pics that make the info and post interesting.

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  6. The fact that the place is so concealed and difficult to locate makes it so much more special :)

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  7. You have a lovely blog...Keep traveling.

    www.rajniranjandas.blogspot.com

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  8. I'm amazed, as usual , how and from where you unearth such fantastic treasures ! Your blog is an invaluable guide .

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