Someshwara temple, Bangalore

Mandapa in front of the temple. Photo from Wikipedia

Its not everyday that one discover an old famous temple (yet unknown to me) in Bangalore city. This is what happened on that weekend. As my mother was in Bangalore at that time, I was looking for a temple to visit during weekend. Then suddenly Someshwara temple came the in search results.

 

Located close to Halasuru metro station in Old Madras Road (OMR), this temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and one of the oldest temple in the city. It is believed that, this temple dates back to Chola period. Significant additions were later made during the Vijayanagara period; when Kampagowda was the ruler of then Bangalore.

 

Halasuru (better known as Ulsoor) is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Bangalore. It is believed that, there was an early settlement around Someshwara temple. In mid 16th century, Halasuru was one of the 12 hoblis (group of villages) granted by Achutaraya (then ruler of Vijayanagar empire) to the local ruler Kempagowda. Water for for farming and sustaining a community was available from Ulsoor lake (attributed to Kempagowda). Later in 1807, Company established a cantonment in Ulsoor.

 

We went there on a Saturday morning. After parking the bike in the front; we walked towards the temple. First structure we encounter was a majestic pillar in front of gopuram. After looking at the pillar for sometime we walked towards the gopuram. It’s an imposing structure. Lower half of the gopuram was constructed using stone and the multi- storied upper half was constructed using brick and mortar. Crossing the gopuram took us to a large ground, were small shrines are present on both sides. After visiting these shrines we walked towards the mahamandapa.

 

Mahamandatpa is located in front of main shrine and have 48 decorated pillars. These pillars have more than five hundred relief sculptures carved into it. Most pillars have seated lions at its base; however, the carvings in the middle and top differs. Frequently used relief sculptures are that of Shiva (in the forms of Nataraja, Virabhadra, Mrityunjaya, Umasahita etc), Parvati, Vishnu, Lakshmi, Ganesha etc. There were also carvings of animals, ascetic, gods, goddesses, hybrid animals etc.

 

On the door way, there is an illustration of King Ravana shaking Mt. Kailasha; goddess Mahishasuramardini; dwarapalakas etc. In one pillar, symbol of Vijayanagar kings - double headed eagle - is depicted. This image later became the symbol of Wodeyar kings of Mysore and eventually become part of Karnataka State emblem.

 

Closed circular pathway comes after open mandapa; here we saw the idols of a lot of deities. We took a left turn to the path way; after walking the entire circumference reached the front again. This time we went inside and saw sanctum (rectangular/square in shape) and the idol of Shiva inside. There were hardly 10-15 people inside. After spending some time there we came outside.

 

On the right side of main temple, there is a separate shrine for Kamakshi Devi (a form of goddess Parvati).

 

Outer walls of main temple on the right side depict wedding ceremony of Parvati and Shiva (Girija kalyana story). Brahma officiating the marriage as priest; father of the bride (also king of mountains Himavan) pour sacred water to the arm of Shiva; which then falls in to the joint hands of the couple and then flows down to the mouth of Nandi.

 

A Navagraha (nine planets) temple is located on the north side. There are 12 pillars to this temple and each pillar depict a saint (rishi).

Row of sculptures on the southern wall shows nava nathas (nine saints) on various animals. Its not that, only gods and rishis are depicted here. We also have dancer's gestures, porters, wrestlers, snake charmers, huntsman etc.

 

The story of the temple may not be complete without telling the story of Venkata Sundara Sani. She was a devadasi attached to Someshawara Temple. She wrote the book on dance titled, 'Rasikajana Manollasini Sarasangraha Bharata' in Sanskrit written using Kannada script in 1908. This temple was also a meltipng pot of various cultures, traditions and various regions of south India. Performers here used the works from Telugu composers Tyagaraja, Shyama Shastry etc; also from Kannada composers Purandaradasa, Vyasatirtha etc. In Sani's book there are references to Bharatanatya which means the rich tradition of Tamil culture as well.

 

Recent excavations showed the presence of a Kalyani (temple pond) associated with the temple. It is estimated that Kalyani may be more than 1200 years old.

 

We went through the shirnes one by one and finally reached the room where some yajna was going on. After watching the ritual for some time, we came out and crossed the gopuram once again.

 

Sajeev

 

References

1. Someshwara Temple - Ulsoor - INTACH

2. A temple and its dancer who published a book

Gavi Gangadhareshwara Temple, Bangalore

Trident - Gavi Gangadhareshwara Temple

Located close to Bull temple (near Kempegowda circle) in Bangalore, this temple is an example of India's rock cut temple architecture model. This was probably an existing temple, and/or renovated/built by Kempegowda in 16th century. It is believed that, both sage Gautama and Baradwaja performed penance here. Idols of both sages are currently present in the cave path surrounding the shrine. 

Probably because it’s a cave temple, entrace is not facing any cardinal directions like east, west, north or south but south-west.

In front of the temple, there are two structures known as Suryapana and Chandrapana. These looks like a disc placed on top of a stone pillar. Flagstaff and Nandi's statue are located in between these two. Two more stone pillars - one a trident and another a damaru (two headed drum) are located in the compound. 

Outer mandapa has pillars in Vijayanagar style. It is believed that, a steady stream of water always flows through the cave. Gavi means cave, water represents Ganga, hence the name Gavi Gangadhareshwara.

In addition to the main shrine of Shivam, there are smaller shines for Parvati and Durga. In the long path surrounding all these shrines, there are idols of Saptamatrikas, Sridevi, Boodevi etc. An idol of Agni (god of fire) is also present. 

The temple is designed in a such a way that, on makarashankranti day of every year beam of sun rays pass through the windows, Nandi's horns and touch shiva linga. On this day every year, thousands come to view this spectacle. 

There is a wonderful article here which explains a lot more about this phenomenon -> The mysteries of Bangalore's famous 'Gavi Gangadhareshwara Temple' - Live Mint

Suryapana and Chandrapana

We reached the temple just after nine in the morning on a weekend. Since there was hardly much people at that time; parking was easy and we walked rest of the way. The place looked quite like a village; it didn't give any indication that such an old temple is located there. 

Ignoring the light rains, we went inside. The experience was a bit different as it was a cave temple and there was only was to go out and come in. After a while, more people came inside and priest closed the sanctum for poojas. We waited till the opening of sanctum, as one is not supposed to leave any temple while sanctum's door is closed for pooja. During this time, people started chanting mantras loud and in sync which gave special experience to all those inside.

Sajeev

Tunchan parambu (Tirur)

Entry

Thunchan Parambu (aka Thunchan Memorial Trust& Research Centre) is located in Tirur town (in Malappuram district of Kerala). This place is just 2km away from Tirur railway station. Tunchan  Parambu is believed to be the birthplace of Thunchath Ezhuthachan; who is a member of pracheena kavitrayam (ancient triumvirate) and father of modern Malayalam language. He had a very distinctive poetic style, which later became famous as kilippattu (parrot song) style. 

Adhyatma Ramayanam (written in parrot song style) is his principle work. This work is a translation of the Adhyatma Ramayana; a text attributed to Ramananda, who was a leading fugure in Bhakti movement. While writing this book Ezhuthachan used Grantha based Malayalam script instead of then dominant Vatteluttu writing. Recitation of 'Adhyathmaramayanam Kilippattu' is very important across Hindu families in Kerala. Month of Karkitakam (Malayalam calendar) is celebrated as the Ramayana month and the book is recited at least once from beginning to end across Hindu houses and temples in Kerala.

On the holy day of Vijayadasami, children were brought here to write their first ever letters. This place is believed to a holy place to start writing. Annually a week long literary festival is also organized here. 

Very less parking space is available at the location. Entry is free; however one need to pay for taking photos (even using mobile). Once we enter the area; on the right there is a mandapam. Further down, you can see another mandapam housing a huge parrot, stylus and a replica of palm-leaves in metal. Behind that, there is one more mandapam. If you walk to the right, you may see a small pond; followed by a compound where a Kanjira (Strychnine) tree and temple is located. 

Sajeev

Note:

1, Other members of old triumvirate are - Kunchan Nambiar and Cherusseri Namboothiri

2. Members of Ādhunika kavitrayam (modern triumvirate) are N.Kumaran Asan, Vallathol Narayana Menon and Ulloor S.Parameswara Iyer.

Pond

Parrot and Stylus

Museum

Kanjira (Strychnine) tree

Temple

Padinjarekkara Beach (Tirur)

Located at the western side (Arabian Sea) of Malappuram District of Kerala, this beach is a nice place to spend a wonderful evening. Beach sits just north of, confluence of Bharathapuzha (the longest river in the state of Kerala), Tirur River and Arabian Sea. One can reach here by taking the beautiful Karma road from Chamravattam Bridge (Chammaravattam Ayyappa Temple is located at the other end of the bridge) and then crossing the estury by boat from Ponnani Harbour. However, the way we always take is Tirur- Alathiyoor- Kuttayi- Padinjarekkara road. In Alathiyoor-Kuttayi stretch road is a little narrow; but good. One kilometer after crossing the Kuttayi bridge, the road became straight and wide till the end. From Tirur it will take around 18km to reach the beach. 

Padinjarekkara beach - way of water

Padinjarekkara beach - near by cafe

Way of water

People enjoying the sunset

There is enough parking (paid) space at the beach. Some entertainment options are available for kids as well. One side of the beach is dotted with Casuarina trees from here you can enjoy a distant view or walk to the waters to enjoy the waves for hours!!!

Sajeev 

Mysore Chronicle: Rail Museum

After the inauguration of new Bangalore -Mysore express way, this was our first journey to Mysore. As usual a good plan was in place - with just one exception. We didn’t plan when to start from Bangalore. I usually want to start as early as possible, but one or other task will cost us some delay here and there. Eventually, we will end up being late. So this time, no plans to start early. We just decided to start in the morning!!!

After filling the back of the car to brim with all essential items for journey and a fortnight stay in Kerala, we started. One thing I noticed is, I packed quite less items when I travelled in bike in the past for same duration. Two saddle bags and a main bag was more than enough. When moved to more spacious car, someway luggage also increased!!!

Dedicated one for erstwhile Mysore queen

Traffic was normal and after spending time in some signals we left NICE road and entered Mysore express way. Its very wide; hardly much crowd. Long stretch of empty black top with a lot white straight lines stared at me under burning sun. In between those straight lines there where a lot of fast moving bulls and elephants (cars and lorries). After some ten - fifteen kilometers, driving was mostly monotonous. There was nothing to with steering or clutch; just accelerator was enough. 

Summer sun is not at all friendly, temperature was slowly but steadily rising outside. We reached Mysore couple of hours before lunch time. After having various dosas from A2B (near railway station), we drove towards rail museum. Its very close to the station. Entire area was very neat and clean. After buying tickets we three - me, divya and mother went inside.

First one the left was an area which show cases various gauges used by Indian Railways (IR) in the past. From narrow gauge to meter gauge to broad gauge. Now IR predominantly uses broad gauge. However narrow gauge is still used in some mountain lines like - Nilgiris, Kalka–Shimla etc. Lines inside Gir forest still use meter gauge and most metro networks are on standard gauge. 

Looking at various items used by IR in the past we moved forward and made our next stop at an old coal powered, heavy weight! engine. It was painted very neatly. I didn’t expect mom to climb up; but she enthusiastically did. We look at the area where workers moved coal from its storage to locomotive. It looked nostalgic, not that I travelled a lot through coal powered locomotives but due to old movies which showed the same thing. In that little space there was one more family where one guy was explaining how it works to his wife and trying to figure out how it looked like in the past. 

Moving further there were rail cranes which still proudly carry the engravings of British era. After moving around a bit we walked towards toy train's station. 

Entry ticket also includes a ride in toy train. It starts from a station(named Central Park) there in every 30 mins and run two rounds around the open area in the museum. We sat in a row somewhere in the back and waited for the train to start. After a while TTR! Came; checked our tickets. After waiting for some more time, loco came to life. After completing two circles, we got down and walked towards the exhibits in the middle. There was nice place to sit and look at the trees which are fully covered in violet flowers. Divya took her own stroll across the loan and looked at trees and metal heavy weight champions with great curiosity. 

Toy train coming out of tunnel

Well, it was time to go. We moved towards the exit. At one side, Maharani's couch was on display. We went there walked towards the other end reading different plaques which explains which areas inside that couch were used by maharani of erstwhile Mysore kingdom and for which purpose. The couch can't claim much aesthetic beauty; may be time took its toll. We slowly walked towards the exit.

If you already visited Mysore a couple of times and wanted to see something different, then Rail museum is a good place to go. Mysore railway junction is next door. As a standalone destination museum doesn't offer much, but kids might like it. 

Sajeev