In our recent visit to Hampi in Karnataka(India) we were quite eager to visit the Kotilinga Chakrateertha site and a Shiva
Temple on the banks of Tungabhadra.
These places get submerged when water is released from the TB dam during monsoons in Hospete, and is inaccessible during for almost 5-6 months.
After successfully hiking up to Hirebenekkal, we
were quite confident about being able to easily walk approach this place and
visit a couple of temples nearby.
This place can be approached
either by coracle or walk and with Srinivas as our guide, we decided to go
by coracle and come by walk.
70+ years Mariswamy and his wife Saroja took us across Tungabhadra
in their coracle.
After a brief coracle ride, we were dropped off at a point closest to
the the Lingas. The water was calm enough in our coracle ride, giving
us a chance to appreciate the ruins along the banks. Everywhere we turned,
there was something to catch our attention.
Low level waters exposed a carving of a goddess on a rock. Every
rock was a canvas for the artisans of the Vijayanagar Era.
The almost worn out steps leading to an unknown place of worship
or a meditation point for sages.
Another temple ruin as seen from the coracle. The stacking of cut
rocks to achieve a perfect level for the base is clearly
evident here.
Another meditation shelter with barely visible steps, again as seen
from the coracle.
The pair of Nandis nestled in the rocks keeping a watch on the
river and its travelers.
When we got off the the coracle, what we had not bargained for was
how Tungabhadra for over so many years had smoothened the rocks to such
amazing perfection. She did not make it easy for us and that made
navigating these rocks a pretty slippery ride.
Hirebenekkal
almost felt like a walk in the park after this.
A family of devotees greeted us as soon as we got off the
coracle.
Lord Vishnu in Ananthashayana looking incredible. The small
holes above indicate some kind of roof or shelter was
pegged in there. All the holes are perfectly symmetrical.
Lakshmi Narasimha, clicked while precariously balancing on a rock. The peg holes can be seen here too.
After a few minutes of climbing and clambering, with
expert support from our guide Srinivas, we finally reached
Kotilingeswara.
Kotilingeswara or Sahasralingeswara as it is sometimes called
are a set of Lingas arranged in a square. Though 'Koti' and
'Sahasra' indicate crore or a thousand, totally they are
much much lesser . Maybe just around 600 in each set.
A close up view of the large Linga in the center and the
surrounding lingas
The indication of the direction to prostrate from.
There are a couple of sets like this but there are so many more
individual Lingas all over the place. Just carved into the rocks here
and there.
Now the real reason behind carving these Lingas in this way is unknown,
but there are a lot of speculations. Some say this was a way for general
population to worship the Lingas, while others associate a numeric
significance to the number of Lingas.
Anywhere we turned, we could spot Shiva Lingas carved out,
either singly or in pairs.
Another one, but with just the outer boundary
And another. It was so fascinating.
A series of Nandis right next to the Kotilingeswara
An abandoned construction as seen from the Kotilinga Chakrateertha site
All these temples in the Kotilinga Chakrateertha site have been constructed during the reign of Vijayanagar empire and are dated between the end of 14th century and beginning of 15th century.
In the next blog, we will explore the Shiva temple that is accessible only when the water level in Tungabhadra recedes.
After a short stop near the Kotilingas, and being in awe of the entire surroundings, we
were back to climbing and clambering, at times just sitting on the rock and
sliding to reach a nearby Shiva temple.
As mentioned in the previous part this temple in the banks of Tumgabhadra, (Hampi-Karnataka-India) gets submerged when water is released from the TB dam during monsoons in Hospete, and is inaccessible during for almost 5-6 months.
This Shiva temple,
despite its utter state of ruin, still had the power to fascinate us. The
main deity is missing in the Sanctum Sanctorum, and the temple is filled
with sand. There are carvings of both Vishnu and Shiva on the outer walls of
the temple and various other deities on the inner walls.
Though
there is no clear indication of who this temple was dedicated to, it is
presumed to be Shiva temple because of the dwarapalikas (door keepers) at
the entrance to the temple.
The temple is very small and we
had to crawl under a boulder to access it, but despite being in ruins,
there were indications of rituals that were performed there by
devotees.
Unfortunately there was also plenty of litter
around. But overall, this place was still magic.
Let's move
on to the images.
Lord Vishnu stands tall in this carving.
Ma Kali sits with a demure smile, holding a sword, trishula
(trident) and a damaru (drum).
Shiva with Damaru (drum) and Trishula (trident) seen in this
carving
The presence of Nandi indicates this could be a carving of lord
Shiva, but the bow and arrow along with the sword is an
unusual weapon combination for Shiva.
Sage Vyagrapada ( who had tiger feet) an ardent devotee of Shiva and
offered only fresh flowers that were even untouched by bees to the
Lord. During his daily visit to the depths of the forest his
legs were constantly injured by the thorns and rough surfaces of the
trees. Seeing his devotion and to help his endeavour, Shiva granted
the boon of tiger legs. Hence got the Vyaghrapada (Vyaghra means
Tiger and pada means legs).
Yoga Dakshinamurthy - Lord Shiva's sculpture and in this sculpture, we can see Lord Shiva sitting under a banyan tree in a yogic posture
while putting one of his legs on a demon whom he has killed.
Mahishashura Mardini seen slaying the demon in buffalo fom
Lord Suryanarayana standing in his chariot with his charioteer Arun
who guides the seven horses led chariot.
Sri Krishna Devaraya with his wives Chinna Devi and Tirumala Devi
with their children -Timalamba, Vengalamba, TirumalaRaya.
Krishnadeva Raya's head gear indicates they are in royal attire in
this carving.
Sri Krishnadeva Raya with his family and all of them are in
simple devotional robes in this carving
The visit to this place would not have been possible without the
able assist of Srinivas, our guide. He is a naturalist and can
be contacted for any birding tour across Hampi
too.
Sarvesh, who is a very knowledgeable guide of Hampi monuments was incredibly helpful in identifying some of the carvings. Though he could not accompany us to this place, he guided us through video calls and images.
Please feel free to reach us for contact information, if anyone needs to use the services of these very enterprising young men as a birding guide or a tourist guide in Hampi and the surrounding areas.
