Continued from Exploring the Kotilinga Chakratheertha and its surroundings.
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.
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| Lord Vishnu stands tall in this carving. |
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| Ma Kali sits with a demure smile, holding a sword, trishula (trident) and a damaru (drum). |
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| Shiva with Damaru (drum) and Trishula (trident) seen in this carving |
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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. |
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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). |
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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. |
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| Mahishashura Mardini seen slaying the demon in buffalo fom |
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Lord Suryanarayana standing in his chariot with his charioteer Arun
who guides the seven horses led chariot. |
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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. |
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Sri Krishnadeva Raya with his family and all of them are in
simple devotional robes in this carving |
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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. |
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.
Location map:
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