Bettadasanapura Thimmarayaswamy Temple

Our date with God: One of the lesser known temples and less visited by people is Thimmarayaswamy temple on a rocky hill in Bettadasanapura on the BMTC bus route no. 378.

One of the most busy routes connecting Kengeri with Electronic city is BMTC route no. 378 and its variants. I understand that there is a bus every ten minutes from both ends making it the most popular routes as well as the most frequent in all of BMTC’s routes. Sadly though, the road is treacherous specially during the monsoon. It is impossible to make out the depth of the pot holes filled to its brim with water and neither can we see the sections of road that have caved in post laying of the sewage lines. Speed breakers or humps/bumps are most common in Bangalore – it has the distinction of being the most bumped city in the world. Our ride today in the monsoon rains was literally like a roller coaster ride, bobbing up and down right through the journey of 14 KM’s. I was using Google maps navigation on my mobile held firmly on a windscreen holder – so I thought until we hit a hump and a pot hole back-to-back. The mobile flew out of the holder and disappeared, invisible to both my wife and I. We soon realised that it was lying somewhere on the floor board and close to my feet and the ABC controls. Retrieving the same was such an ordeal while driving on a heavily congested road not knowing who would come from which side…the two-wheeler riders have this uncanny ability to squeeze through any available gap and plonk themselves right in front of you. But, no one can beat the yellow board cabs – small, medium and large who tear around the city as if the world is coming to an end in the next few seconds. Amidst all the chaos on the roads, it was quite natural for us to miss out an instruction, our navigating partner was barking out on Google maps. To get our bearings reset, we stopped at a roadside shop and asked the owner to guide us back to the place we were heading. Suspecting that we were relying on Google maps, he said don’t rely on that, instead follow the bus traveling on route 378. That wasn’t an issue at all, for these buses are so frequent that one would see them chasing each other back-to-back… we followed one and did land up at the right place eventually.

The temple is perched on top of a rocky bolder. The name of this place is self-explanatory: Betta means hill, Dasa means a devotee and Pura is a village in Kannada. Lord Vishnu or Srinivasa or Venkateshwara is fondly called Thimmappa in Kannada and hence the Lord is referred to as Thimmarayaswamy here at this temple. The rocky bolder, which forms a hill is not very steep and has little or no vegetation in its immediate surroundings. But, 1,200 years back this solitary hillock was in midst of a dense forest, being an extension of Bannerghatta forest jurisdiction. While there is no historical reference as to who built the temple, the story goes that Gauthama Maharishi who meditated here was blessed with a vision of Lord Thimmarayaswamy (Vishnu) along with Goddess Sreedevi and Goddess Bhoodevi. Gauthama Maharishi was one of the seven Saptharishi’s of the Vedic times and is known to be the discoverer of Mantras. It was here at the very place of his meditation that Maharishi was blessed with a vision that he decided to place the idol of Lord Vishnu, flanked on either side by Sreedevi and Bhoodevi. At a distance of around 30 feet is the monolith pillar or Garuda dwajha with Lord Anjaneya carved at the base. Sandwiched between these two are two Arli mara or the sacred fig tree. The legend states that Gauthama Maharishi had found this ideal spot to meditate and was blessed with a vision of the Lord himself and in remembrance of this vision he decided to build a temple. The temple archaka or purohit told us that although the entire temple complex and its immediate surrounding is on a rocky bolder, this Arli Mara has stood the test of time and nobody can explain how its roots have bored through the solid rock to the soil below. It certainly is “Divine intervention” that can only explain its very existence. Another unique aspect of this temple is the presence of a Nagarakallu (idol of King Cobra). Normally, one does not see a Nagarakallu in the vicinity of Lord Vishnu’s idol. This proves that this Vishnu idol and the Nagarkallu are truly from the bygone era. There is also a rock cut Kalyani (Pushkarani) or sacred pond next to the temple.

Post Gauthama Maharishi’s period, the Cholas, who found this idol in the open took it upon themselves to build a temple enclosure/structure around the idol as well as a compound wall built like a fortress with rough cut granite stones. They also ensured that the religious rituals were carried out without a break, every single day and abhishekha once a week, every Saturday. Subsequent to the passing away of the Chola dynasty and for almost a period of 600 years this temple was left alone without the daily puja. Folklore says that the Lord himself appeared in the dream of Raja Dasappa Nayaka that here is an idol of mine that has been lying unattended and that this Raja must make efforts to revive and restart the daily rituals of purification and worship. When the Raja (King) came to this spot to inspect he was shocked to see temple surrounded by dense jungle and wild animals. It was with his effort that the surroundings were cleared and daily religious rituals recommenced. And, to this day the daily and weekly puja continues…

Surrounded by hills in the Kingdom of Raja Dasappa, this temple after its revival came to be known as Bettadasanapura Thimmarayaswamy. Later additions to this temple are idols of Anjaneya to the right of the moola vigraha and Mahalakshmi to the left. And in comparison, in the recent past, closer to 300 years or so, a temple with an idol of Shiva – Kashi Vishwanath, with Ganapathi to his right and Parvathi to his left, has been built. The difference between the old and new temples is stark; original having been built more than 1,200 years back with granite stones and the new Kashi Vishwanath temple superstructure made with brick and mortar.

This temple is now under the management of Government, but they have not really spent time and effort for its upkeep, let alone providing financial support to restore or improve the temple complex. It is in a state of neglect and urgently requires great support from all devotees to pool in their resources to bring back to its past glory. This temple Moola Vigraha is the family God for 33 villages around this area and most of the devotees come during the holy month of Shravana on Saturday (Shanivara), besides Vaikunta Ekadashi and Vijayadashmi. Even to this day as was followed during the Chola dynasty, abhishekha is done only once a week on a Saturday. It is also said that people who are willing to place their entire faith in the Supreme, the Lord grants them their wish.

In God we Trust!!

Bhoga Nandishwara Temple

Our visit to Bhoga Nandishwara temple yesterday: At the foot hills of Nandi hills near Bangalore is one of Karnataka’s oldest temples. From the inscriptions found in Chikkaballapura, it is believed that this temple was built by Queen Ratnavali in the 9th century. The Gangas, Cholas, Hoysalas, and the Vijayanagara kings who controlled this region over a period of 700 years added to the works commenced by Queen Ratnavali. One finds a mix of all the different architectural designs of the various rulers in one temple, including pillars sculpted on blackstone.

As we entered through the main entrance in this sprawling temple complex, we first had darshan of Lord Vishnu. We are used to seeing the lord in his full solitary form and glory! Here, he is flanked by Padmavathi and Lakshmi in the main sanctum sanctorum.

Next one was dedicated to Lord Veerabhadra Swamy, who is the manifestation of Lord Shiva’s wrath. He is a warrior God worshipped by rulers and soldiers during the times of war. As the legend goes, Goddess Parvathi as ‘Sati’ marry’s Lord Shiva and when her father Dhaksha performs Ashwamedha Yagna and denigrates Lord Shiva; She feels humiliated and immolates herself by jumping into the pyre. Lord Shiva takes the massive and ferrocious form of Veerabhadra to slay Daksha and quell his arrogance. It is said that Daksha is only a manifestation of the ego people have as part of themselves. This can be destroyed by Veerabhadra, the divine power which also resides in all of us. We pray to Lord Veerabhadra Swamy to rid ourselves of this ego.

We enter the main temple where Shiva and Parvathi as Uma-Maheshvara are carved on a single saligrama stone and worshipped together. Nowhere else in the country will you find them worshipped together. Shiva is in his ‘Linga’ form, but it is only out here he is worshipped as an idol. Flanked to his right is Arunachaleshwara, built by the Gangas of Talakad, in the 13th century and Bhoga Nandishwara to his left, built by the Cholas. Other than Tiruvunnamalai in Tamil Nadu, this is the only other temple where Lord Shiva is worshipped as Arunachaleshwara. It is interesting to note that the 4 stages of the Hindu way of life has been depicted in this temple complex. The first two – childhood and youth is represented as Arunachaleshwara and Bhoga Nandishwara, the third stage of wedded life is in the form of Uma-Maheshwara and the fourth and final stage is atop the Nandi Hills as Yoga Nandeeshwara, in meditation. No celebration or festivities are conducted in the hilltop temple to mark the final stage in life where one renunciates. Whereas, the temple at the foothills observes all festivals with pomp and pageantry.

The Vasanta Mantapa, sandwiched between the main deity and the Kalyani (sacred temple tank) was contributed by the Hoysala’s and is the venue for the wedding of Shiva and Parvathi performed annually on Maha Shivarathri. On the whole, it certainly is a must visit temple…for the stories that it tells us; handed from the previous generation to its next, keeping the core intact.

Midnight Walk!

When our 1981 fellow batch mate from Trichy, an NITTian (REC Trichy then with us known as RECTIANS) who now heads ITI at Bangalore offered to host a mini get-together of us 10 RECTIANS, we all jumped at it…why miss out a chance to meet, slip into the time machine and get on a memory recall mode? We were all a boisterous group way back in the late 70’s, when talking to each other was the only sane way of spending our time. Undoubtedly a good thing, as to this day, we are proficient in keeping the conversation going with whomsoever.

No TV, no cell phones, the only pastime was to either participate in some sports related activity, or get into voice-chat or ball-talk as we used to call it…just today I was shocked to see a kid maybe 2 to 3 years of age with his parents and grandparents enjoying a meal at a table adjacent to ours. The mom wanted some peaceful time talking to the family of elders and to keep the kid quiet in a corner had switched on to a cartoon in her smart phone. It was kept in a near vertical position by making the phone lean against a glass of water and the kid was happily engrossed in watching its favourite cartoon characters. The parents got their much needed private time to catch up.

Consider another scene: my wife and I go for an evening walk in a gated community zone, close to where we live. There are limited number of houses in this area and vehicle movement is scarce making it nice for us walkers to make a few circular trips on the peripheral road. Both of us have observed that quite a few young moms come for an evening stroll along with their kids. Invariably, for the entire duration of the stroll, moms are on their cell phone yakking away to glory and least concerned about their child. As youngsters, the quickest and the easiest way to learn is by imitating and I still remember my grandparents and my father in particular keeping the children forever engaged in a conversation. This they emphatically stated was the most sure shot way to teach the children just about anything and everything…engage with them and allow them to ask their endless stream of questions was what my dad would keep saying to his daughters when their kids crossed second year. Provide them with honest and truthful answers and they will grow up to be responsible and caring people with a willingness to hear and engage in the fine art of conversation. The modern gadgets may have brought the distant people seemingly close, but the ones near are getting distant! More importantly, they are not learning in an age when learning through observation, listening and imitating is at its peak! It is a sad sight to see these young kids lightly tap their mothers on their cheek to seek attention, but all that they get in return is a glare or a stare to leave their mothers alone. If only us parents wake up to the reality and give attention where it is due…the world will be so much more a friendlier place…

Thankfully, we RECTIAN’s (well, mostly!) are not addicted to our smart phones, but we have learnt to use it smartly for the purpose it is meant for and prefer to live with it, and not centre ourselves around it. Last evening when the ten of us gathered at the ITI officers club, we used our smart phones extensively to capture the moments of togetherness, wearing a huge carefree smile across our faces, not knowing when we would get another chance to meet and greet each other like this…

Incidentally, ITI established in 1948 is the first Public Sector Unit established in the post-Independence era. ITI, more recently got a new lease of life when the present Central Govt. laid emphasis on various schemes on developing telecom infrastructure under the 'Digital India' Initiative and 'Make in India' Initiative. In fact ITI has declared profits after a whopping gap of 16 years and that’s a real Turnaround. With a seasoned and an able RECTIAN now at the helm, we are sure this PSU will make giant strides in the years to come. We wish our fellow RECTIAN all the Very Best!!

With so much of catching up to do, it got a bit late and I was just in time to catch the last Metro from Baiyappanahalli station at 11 PM on the purple line. I was a bit apprehensive if I would be able to get a connecting train from Majestic cross over point on the green line to Yelachenahalli – the terminal station, 2 KM’s from my home. Metro schedules have been designed keeping in mind that people should not get stranded midway at the cross over point. Two pairs of train on each Purple and Green line give a breather at Majestic to ensure no person is left behind and that is being more than fair! Although my son had kept me informed about this arrangement, self-experience proved the point beyond doubt! I arrived at Yelachenahalli at 11:45 PM and decided to walk the two KM’s home. While there were a few autorikshaw’s at the station exit, I had made up my mind to be a bit adventurous and walk the last mile. Not that I’ve not done this before, but on hindsight, I felt that it may have been wiser to hop on to an autorikshaw.

The walk brought some nostalgic memories…soon after joining the BPO organisation located at STPI in Electronic City in the year 2000, I used to park my two wheeler at my Father-in-law’s place in 8^th block Jayanagar and take the company provided transport to Electronic city. We used to work the US day time which equated to pretty odd Indian hours…by the time the company transport dropped me back at 8^th block Jayanagar, it would be 2 AM and not a single soul anywhere. I would, as quietly as possible wheel out my scooter from my father-in-law’s compound, start and dash towards home. Those days Konankunte was lesser known and sparsely populated. The 6 KM stretch would be dark with plenty of stray dogs roaming the streets. Each of these packs have their own jurisdiction and would be careful not to cross their self-defined boundaries. In almost a relay like manner dogs would chase my scooter till I reached the end of my street. This was friendly territory as we regularly fed these dogs in our street. Hearing my scooter sound they would remain silent and act as friendly pilots till I reached the entrance to my house.

The fear of driving in the dead of night remained confined to just the dogs, since cell phone snatching, mugging, extortion, ATM etc. did not exist during those days. 

However, it wasn’t so last night. While I was trying to be brave outwardly, my heart was in my mouth for the entire distance of 2 KM’s. The first negative thought that crossed my mind was fear of being pulled up for my wallet. Not that I carry any cash, but there are plenty of ATM’s around. The next thought was plain and simple mugging – the local don having his bit of fun at my expense! The third was getting run over by a recklessly speeding vehicle. The fourth was someone snatching my cell phone at knife point. To make matters scarier, the weather was straight out of a Hollywood horror movie – windy, accompanied by a light drizzle. Sections of road’s street lights kept switching off at random making it real spooky!! Then, to top it all, the creepy feeling that someone was following me…I heard voices but wasn’t sure if they were in my head or outside. When I did gather some courage to turn back and take a look, I found that 4 people were juggling amongst themselves on a single bike trying to balance. They gave me a sheepish grin before speeding off…what a relief it was  – I let out a huge sigh and proceeded on my adventurous walk.  After safely reaching home in 20 minutes, I realised that all the fears were just a figment of my imagination – all created in my mind! Do we really live in the moment and savour it or are we living in an imaginary world and creating a mess for ourselves? That's a question each of us have to find our own answers...

Incidentally there wasn’t a single dog in the entire 2 KM’s stretch! Spotting a few may have perhaps allayed my imaginary fears…maybe…or maybe not!

Shrungagiri Shanmukha Devasthana

This week our Monday trip to a temple in and around Bangalore took us to the lesser known, Shrungagiri Shanmukha Temple (Six Faced God) in Rajarajeshwari Nagar. This temple is close to where we live in Konankunte, but we still used Google’s help to guide us correctly and without us getting lost in the many lanes and by lanes.

As the story goes, it was Lord Shanmukha's own will to choose the barren Hillock in Rajarajeshwari Nagar as His abode and manifested in His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Bharathi Theertha Mahaswamiji of Sri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri’s dream. Sringeri Swamiji entrusted Dr. R. Arunachalam with the job of building Shrungagiri Sri Shanmukha Temple on this hillock. Thus ordained and blessed, Dr. Arunachalam's extraordinary visionary capacity guided him to design the entire temple structure based on the very name of Lord Shanmukha, which means a Six Faced God.

From the temple’s website: The Crystal Dome stands at a commanding height of 42' from the top of the Temple Gopuram, embedded with 2500 Nos. of 1' diameter crystals. During day time, when direct Sun Light falls on the crystals, the same is converted into a beautiful Rainbow pattern. In the evening, the crystals are illuminated by 27 Watt LED lights, each crystal disseminating 16 colour combination lights, forming 138 patterns. The temple roof is fitted with a Sun Tracking System having 2 vertical and 2 horizontal sun light sensors, which position themselves to face the Sun from morning till evening and track maximum Sun rays at any given point of time during the day. The Sun rays thus tracked are directed on to the main deity, from any direction, enabling Surya Kirana Abhisheka to Lord Shanmukha from sunrise to sunset.

We had the good fortune of meeting Lord Shiva’s entire family, starting with Panchmukhi Ganapathi seated on a lion. This is truly a rare sculpture, because Ganesh’s vahana is his inseparable mouse. As we climbed the stairs to the Arunachaleshwara temple, we had to go past Nagarakatte and the giant sized Trishul and Damroo of Lord Shiva, painted bright yellow, visible from afar. The Shivalinga was amazing: Spatika Shivalinga carved out of crystal clear crystal. Unlike the other ancient temples in the South, This one is very spacious and can even accommodate more than 100 to 150 people on auspicious days when the footfalls are very high. As we entered through the main entrance to our left was an idol of Chandikeshwara. As told in the puranas, Chandikeshwara occupies the foremost position in the worship of Lord Shiva as we can get the blessings of the Lord only through him. He is in a constant state of deep meditation not realizing who comes to the temple. But, he is a person who keeps records of our visit to the temple and so it is customary to snap your fingers or gently clap thrice while uttering Lord Shiva’s name close to his idol, so that he realizes our presence, take his blessings and then proceed to seek the Lord’s blessings.

To his left is Goddess Parvathi – the divine mother! We seek her blessings and then climb to the main deity’s sanctum – Shrungagiri Shanmukha, second son of Lord Shiva. Referred to as God of war and protector of earth, he is also known as Karthikeya or Murugan or Subramanya. The main idol of Subramanya has six faces with three visible as we face the deity. And as we circumambulate, it is possible to see the balance three faces from a window at the back side of the sanctum. Beautifully carved and tastefully decorated with flowers we seek the blessings of Lord Subramanya and his two wives, SriValli and Devasena.

The unique thing about this temple is its giant Gopuram with six faces. The six faces represent the six rays or six attributes; Wisdom, Detachment, Strength, Fame, Wealth and Divinity.

There is a newly constructed hall close the temple, where an idol of Adi Shankaracharya has been placed for people to pay respects to the Jagat Guru. His life story in the form of paintings adorns the walls of this massive hall – certainly a place to spend some time… Just a few hundred steps from this hall is the abode of Gramadevathe: Karumariamman Temple. Visit to Shanmukha Temple is not complete without visiting this amman kovil.