Exploring the Kotilinga Chakrateertha site and its surroundings

By Tharangini

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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.

Location map: