Jan 25, 2026
The day started with a stopover at Bokyapur Kere near Garag to see the ancient Veerabhadreshwara Gudi. Bokyapur is a ghost village. Local people say that the settlement ceased to exist after a plague epidemic. The only remanent of the settlement is Hanuman shrine. Then we proceeded to Belavadi to see the ancient shrine of Veerabhadreshwara, and also to see the memorial of the warrior queen Malamma. Rani Malamma, widow of Belavadi king Isha Prabhu, had faced the Maratha army in a battle field, and lost. However, Malamma was reinstated by the Maratha chief Chatrapati Shivaji - this has been recorded in the form of a sculpture which is presently at Yadwad Hanuman Mandir. We drove further northward, passed through Bailahongal and reached another historical place- Veerashaiva Madiwala Machayya Aikyasthala -the tomb over mortal remains of the XII Century social activist Machayya. It was almost noon when we headed to the last item on our list - Chachadi fort.
The fort is better known as Chachadi Desai Waade. Waade means a fortified mansion. Unlike other Desai-Waades, Chachadi Waade is a proper fort with stone walls, bastions and a massive doorway for the entrance. The entrance is on the northern wall and this cylindrical structure is the northeastern bastion. In Vaastu Sastra, north-east is considered as the most ideal hence entrances are placed there.
Usually bastions have solid walls but this one has a passage. A village person asked us to go in to see the temple. I was surprised to know about the temple, never had I seen a shrine inside a bastion.
One view of the interior I was left astounded. It's an ancient temple with a Ranga Mantapa as well. And, it was unbelievable to see there were three sanctums. So this is an east-facing Trikutachala, that too inside a bastion. Amazing. The deity of the east-facing sanctum is Shiva Linga, cannot remember the deities of the other two sanctums.
How did the builders even design this. It's my thought that the temple existed here before the fort. Then for some reason when this fort was built, the builder raised a fortified wall around the temple to conceal it. Maybe the temple needed to be kept hidden and protected. Coming to the temple elements here, it seems like a Chalukyan, may be a IX or X Century creation. The fort walls are relatively ancient too, maybe XII or XIII century creation.
This is a view of the fort entrance. We got introduced to the person seated on the scooter who happens to be Sri Nagaraj Nayak Bhadhur Desai, the present owner of this Waade. We chatted for a minute or two and then asked if we could see the inside. Yes, the Waade is open to visitors except the inner part where family members reside.
Mr Desai accompanies us for a tour of the Waade. As soon as we passed through the north-facing passage we come to an enclosure with another passage to the right. The second entrance is east-facing. By the looks of the construction, it seems like the east-facing door is the original entrance of the fort. Then a few walls and the north-facing entrance were added. The idea of this small space between two entrances is to trap anyone attempting to breach the fort.
Another view of the enclosure. Behind Pushpa is the north-facing entrance. Next to the entrance in the corner are a few pieces of ancient sculptures. In the diagonally opposite corner i.e. behind me is a small door which opens up to the cattle shed.
Another surprise- there were about 20+ cows, buffaloes & calves, all of them tethered to hooks on the walls. Every animal had a name, that shows how close Desai family was to these animals. This little calf was the newest member of the family, it was just a day old.
In through the second gateway we come to this enclosure. A good amount of space is taken up by life size statues of Sangolli Rayanna, Raja Veerappa Nayaka and other warriors of our land. To my right is a shed which houses a museum. The museum too open for visitors. Beyond the small gate at the end of this enclosure which goes to another enclosure.
This open hall is the star attraction of this Waade. For that matter almost every Waade will have such a hall, it's called Chowdi. This is akin to a Darbar hall of a palace. Pushpa was in awe at the sight of the massive pillars, the intricate sculptures, the balconies and paint work. She confessed that she had never seen a Waade before, particularly a Chowdi.
The other gentleman standing with Mr Desai is a long time acquaintance. He's associated with Chachadi family for several decades and has a plenty of stories to share. Mr Desai was kind enough to let us see the inner hall which is reserved for family. Also we were introduced to Mrs Desai.
At the museum. I wasn't really expecting to see this huge a collection. Mr Desai spent time describing the artifacts and stories behind them. It was an humbling experience for us. Here are photographs of ancestors, group photos and Desai family members with political leaders. Accompanying the photos was a very detailed family tree starting with year 1126 CE. The tree has several layers, hundreds of names and at the bottom is Sri Nagaraj Nayak Bhadhur Desai, his brother, cousins and their children. After the family trees at Hampi and Kittur museums, this is the next big family tree I've come across. Truly impressive work of preserving historical info. Besides family records itself, the other source for genealogical information would be Helavaru.
A part of the museum is occupied by kitchenware like earthen pots & vessels, stone wheels for making flour, brassware, wooden trays for preparing dough, measuring cups, cane baskets and many more. Many of the items were labeled for viewers' benefit.
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| Mr Desai sharing his memories with us |
One shelf was filled with modern gadgets like radios, cassette players, cameras, etc. Then we had musical instruments of every kind.. percussion, stringed and woodwind. Many of these have been passed down for generations and preserved to this day. So much of work taking care of these artifacts!
This was an unexpected experience. Truly memorable.
It was time to leave, we bid bye to Mr Desai and headed back towards Bailahongal. We were hoping to find a nice little spot for lunch break... we found one near Vakkunda, a village on the left bank of river Malaprabha. We stopped in a barren field, ate our home-packed lunch and then rested for a while. While Pushpa napped, I launched my DJI Mini 2 and took a few shots of island of Vakkund. We reached home by 5-30 pm, well before sunset..........
