Thursday, March 4, 2010

Khetappayya (Ketpai) Narayan Temple

This place is 2 hours journey from my place.I reached Mood-Bhatkal around 11am, after a small walk I reached Khetappayya Narayan Temple. I get surprised when I was entering this small temple complex because of outer & inner structure was very fine. it was fully decorated with beautiful sculptures which shows with rich erotica .The temple is covered with more carving than can be examined in a single lifetime.The erotic sculptures have a lion's share in Khetappayya Narayan Temple built in 1546 A.D.The Khetappayya Narayan temple is encircled by huge corridors; inner walls are decorated with panels depicting the social life of the period. Each panel measures about 4 X 3 ' and are located in separate niches. Inter-niche spaces are decorated with floral designs. It is of importance and interest that all men and women are depicted in their contemporary dresses and ornaments.
The nobles are shown with Kulavi, an elongated cap, typical Vijayanagar period head wear. They have long sleeved shirts and fine dhotis which have a great resemblance to the saris worn by the women of the times.The common men have their turbans and a just a piece of coarse cloth around their waists. The women have very prominent hair ball tied just behind the head. A single piece of sari covers entire feminine body. The ornaments are very simple and down to the earth.
This temple is one of the most outstanding temples with its finest sculptures. The temple proper is a compact structure about 10 x 6metrs. With a gabled roof of granite slabs the whole structures is surrounded by stone lattice windows. The Garbhagriha with a Pradakshinapath has a fine sculpture of ‘Gopikavastraharana’. The main deity is Narayana. The Navaranga has four fine pillars of typical Vijayanagara style with Kumbhas at the top. The ceiling at the center has eight Dikpalas representing eight directions. In the four corners Kolata performers are carved. On the outer wall of the Adhisthana are nearly 20 scenes of Ramayana carved beautifully in high relief according to sequence.The successive panels are not inter-related. The panels on erotica are inter-mixed that depict social life. Each panel is like a framed photograph of sixteenth century "Every Day Life". Thus the sculptors have successfully recorded intimate personal lives of the people of that era for the benefit of posterity.
On the lower part of the Verandahs are found richly carved sculptures of not more than 1/3mtrs. in height depicting a number of lively secular objects like a Ratha being dragged, an elephant being tamed, two men engaged in dueling man engaged in a fight with a elephant, two elephants fighting etc., . Out side the temple is a monolithic Dwajastambha in on which are engraved on one side facing the deity a devote couple, perhaps Ketpai and his wife. Different panels could be very profitably studied in order to trace initiation to logical conclusion of erotic activities. It is generally believed in India that there is no need for teaching, coaching, or classroom for performing sexual activities. It comes naturally by observation and experimentation.This philosophy has been successfully depicted in these panels. Hinduism states that religion, earthly possessions, sex and salvation of the soul are all equally important aspects of life. Hindus believe that if sex is ignored, then human society will disappear.
This philosophy has been successfully depicted in these panels. Hinduism states that religion, earthly possessions, sex and salvation of the soul are all equally important aspects of life. Hindus believe that if sex is ignored, then human society will disappear.
After spending for while I heard some more small temples near by here. So II visit around 2temples & 3 old Basadi’s near by this. Most of the temples built are in hard granite stones and overlaid with copper plates or stone slabs. Each temple consists of "Garbha-Griha" (sanctum), and a "Sukhanasi" which is surrounded by stone blinds.Joshi Shankaranarayana Temple -
his is a plain small temple in two blocks, erected in 1554 A.D. The two blocks are joined together and each block has pyramidal form of roof. An elegant Dwajasthambha of 14 feet high stands in front of the temple. The temple on plan has a Garbhagriha, a verandah and detached Nandimandapa...
Beautiful Nandhi in one Shantappa Nayaka Tirumala Temple.
This black stone temple consisting of  a shrine and a mandapa was erected by one Santappa in 1555 A.D. The temple is having plain sloping roofs and specially arranged stone screens in the local architectural style of this area. The doors are well carved.

Lakar Kamati Narayana Temple-

It is a small temple in the fields assigned to 1550 A.D

Big Jattappanayakanna Chandranathesvara Basadi in the heart of the city...

This Jain temple is composed of two blocks of buildings, joined together by an intervening porch. Though the temple is said to be of Chalukyan period, it shows little affinity with their style of architecture. Each block has two story’s and each stores of western and eastern block contains three and two room respectively and are said to have been occupied by the images of Jines. The most notable features of this temple is its sloping roof and the special arrangement of stone screens. An elegant Dwajasthambha is situated in front of the temples.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Cave adventure


We see beautiful places everywhere we go; huge mountains, unending plains, scary jungles and nice forests are all great places to experience nature, but how often do we venture into the world beneath us? Unless you’re an avid spelunker, or a troglodyte, the answer is probably not too often, so like a cave man may be the instinct of our ancestors I get drawn towards caves and old temples and architecture so this weekend was another exploration my friend Rajesh Naik and me visited a beautiful cave he had organized the whole trip and I also joined him.
Since it was beginning of summer this time we thought instead of climbing a mountain or going to a waterfall we planned to do something new so our exploration started on our bikes after a long hard drive we reached the place parked our bikes near a house and planned to take the help of locals to reach this unknown place, one local boy was very happy and eagerly agreed to guide us and we followed him,
to reach the cave we had to follow a small stream flowing which led us to the bottom of the cave and actually it was the other way round the water source was from the cave, the next few hours walk was through the stream, this cave is some 20ft high from the stream,
after a small climb we reached the entrance here a small group of 10 can stay at a time, due to heavy tree foliage the location of the entrance of the cave was covered fully we could not get a good photos, we spent some time outside and got ready to enter the first cave we had to change our clothing get our torches and camera then start.
The entrance of the first one was very small, we like the cave man and our ancestors who were dwelling in such caves before, literally crawled inside this cave (I was wondering about civilization and evolution) well we are way ahead in times now .
When I looked inside in torch light it was Strange and wonderful at the same time, these formations and others like them that take thousands of years to grow, only take seconds to change a life forever when seen in their full splendor. Inside the cave approximately 10 feet height some places 1 feet height & varies between 20-30 feet wide. After spending some time we climbed with rock support.
Human face rock...!
It was steep but we managed to climb but we had to cross another smaller hole to reach main hall. It was very slippy and very narrows, there were hundreds of bats and was constantly hitting our torches we just couldn’t escape from its attack. After a tough attempt we reached one big natural made hall.


This place is very nice surrounded by rough rocks, inside the hall there is a platform kind of place where the locals had to say a saint would meditate there and no wonder it's so peaceful and quiet it's a best place to meditate and calm the mind.
Finally after many hours of exploration we finally emerged and started our way back but our minds were still dwelling in the prehistoric times, totally a unique experience than our regular treks.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Sri Chandramouleswaraa Temple, Arsikere


Chandramouliswara Temple-Arsikere

Grandeur Etched In stone (Part-5)
The ancient Siva Temple at Arsikere with a unique frontal polygonal Mandapa (hall) reflects the architecture and sculpture of the Hoysalas. The ancient temple dedicated to Lord Siva, known as Kattameswara and also Chandramouliswara Temple,


It reflects the grand architectural style of the Hoysalas with a specially designed polygonal ‘Mandapa’ (hall), in the front though modest in size and figure sculpture, is considered the most complex in architecture among surviving Hoysala monuments because of its ground plan: a 16-pointed star shaped Mantapa(hall), in addition to an asymmetrical star shaped shrine, whose star points are of three different types.The archives of 1220 AD refer to this temple as ‘Sri Kalameswara Temple’.

The temple, which faces east like all Hoysala constructions, uses soapstone as basic building material and is an Ekakuta shrine (single shrine) with two Mantapas one open and one closed. All three units are connected to form a unity.


The sanctum (Garbagraha) enshrines a Linga, the universal symbol of God Shiva. The Mandapa is where the devotees gather. The closed Mandapa does not have any windows. The ceiling in the closed Mantapa is divided into nine compartments or "bays" by the four lathe turned pillars that support the ceiling. The entrance is through a "bay" between the two Mandapas.


The outer wall of the vestibule shares the same decoration as the outer wall of the shrine, but is inconspicuous because it forms a short continuation between the wall of the shrine and that of closed Mantapa. Near this temple ‘Malekal Thirupathi’ where the beautiful temple on the name of lord Venkataramana is located.

Malekal Thirupati