The Grand Durga Temple of Aihole

   "Aihole" is one among those places in India where the temples outnumber the houses. Aihole is considered as the "Cradle of Hindu Temple Architecture" or "Primary school for South Indian Temple Architecture". This place served as a capital to the Western Chalukyan rulers. It can be also linked to pre historic age, Buddhist and Jainism. There are around 140 temples in this region and the sad part is that almost all are ruined. There is a continuous effort on the part of the ASI to improve and restore the place. Aihole can also be considered a Laboratory, since there was experimentation with various architectural styles in which the temples were constructed .

Aihole

      'Durga temple' is one among the most prominent temple here. This temple has a straight front and a rounded apse, resembling the Buddhist temples. This temple belongs to the 7th century AD. A unique element of this temple is the circumambulatory provision inside the temple (corridor around the shrine that continues to the Mandapa). The outer walls of the temple have intricately carved figures of Narasimha, Mahishasuramardini, Varaha, Vishnu, etc . Pierced windows are provided with pleasing patterns to allow light into the hall. The shikara seems to be influenced from the North Indian style of architecture.              

The First Look

Durga Temple

Dwarfs in different postures

The Grand Entrance

Ceiling Carvings

Ceiling  Carvings

 Intricately Carved Walls

Majestic Door Frame

Drunken Couple

Note the Colors of the Parrots

Pattern 1

Pattern 2

Pattern 3

Pattern 4

Pattern 5

The Corridor

Mahishasuramardini

Varaha

Narasimha

Surya Deva with His Consorts

Final Look

To Be continued ...............

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

Critters of Thodikana

         The trek to Devaragundi waterfalls gave us a wonderful opportunity to sight various magnificent life forms. Most of these are endemic to this region (western ghats) .

        Butterflies are always the most interesting and colorful creatures to spot. Though we have spotted Malabar Banded Peacock  many times , this was the first time it posed for us, though for a few seconds. Usually its a very busy butterfly giving us less opportunity to capture it .

Malabar Banded Peacock

Malabar Banded Peacock (Swallow Tailed)

Common Fourring

Malabar Raven

          Scientific Names of the Butterflies in the above photos :

1 Malabar Banded Peacock : Papilio buddha (Belongs to family :Papilionidae) Endemic

2 Common Fourring :Ypthima huebneri (Belongs to family :Nymphalids)

3 Malabar Raven : Papilio dravidarum (Belongs to family :Papilionidae) Endemic

   The various life forms spotted by us :

Spirostrepid Millipede

Pill Millipede (Endemic)

Damsel Fly

 Green Damsel

Beetle

Moth

Long Legged Flies

Hoppers at Work

Snail

    Lovely place to trek and wonderful waterfalls, looks magical especially during monsoons and post monsoon.

Related Posts:
1. Critters of T G Halli
2. Lizards
3. Winged Jewel

Devaragundi Waterfalls, Thodikana, Sullia

   "Thodikana" is a small village of Sullia Taluk, Dakshina Kannada District. This place is famous for its Mallikarjuna Swamy Temple. The name Thodikana comes from two words,  'thodu' meaning stream and 'kana' meaning forest. The Stream flowing here is Matsyathirtha (a tributary of river Payaswini ). There are two interesting spots near this temple namely, 'Meenagundi' (Pond of fishes) and 'Devaragundi' (God's pond) .

    Meenagundi has a shoal of fishes at a particular point. These fish are considered to be sacred and never killed, but fed by the temple authorities and locals who visit this temple. The temple is just like any other temple of the region. On the outer wall of temple are paintings depicting the story related to the temple. There is Yajna Khund (a pit where fire is lit and offerings made for the gods ) believed to be used by Sage Kanva. Even today, one can see the smoke coming out of it. Even we were shocked to see this.

Meenagundi

Shoal of Fishes

The Temple

      Though we had visited this place several times, we had only heard about Devaragundi but never been to this place, which is about 2.3 kms from the temple ( there is a small board directing towards the same). We came to know  about Devaragundi water falls from the BBMP wall paintings. This time, we were sure to visit this place during the monsoons and so it happened.

      Due to the heavy rains, the approach road to the falls was not motorable except for 4 wheel drives. Hence, we decided to trek the distance. There is a forest check post on the way. The final part of trek took us in to a private arecanut farm. This is the place where the Shiva linga was found and is currently worshiped inside the temple. The water from here is used for special abhishekas  in the temple. The waterfalls was ferocious, due to heavy rains. What a sight it was!

Amazing View

Monsoon Magic

Road to the Temple

Kids playing near the stream

Stream

Devaragundi Falls

A Closer Look

Ferocious Falls

       The Anna prasadam (meals) are served at the temple after the noon puja. This place is located off the Madkeri -Sullia state highway (about 8 kms from the highway).

To be continued .......... 

Related Posts:

1. Waterfalls of Agumbe 

2. Waterfalls of Sirsi

3. Waterfalls of Kollimalai