Ramlingeshwara Devastana, Navaluru

The name  Navalur is derived from Naviluru which literally means a place of peacocks. Navalur is situated on the border of Malnad and Bayaluseeme (hilly region and plains) besides a small hill range 6 km southeast of Dharwad. Back then Dharwad and Navalur were two distinct settlements but now the village is on the verge of being urbanized. Yet, the village retains the original feel. Memories of Navalur village go back to my childhood years.. railway crossing, mango & guava plantations, even grape orchards. With times the number of gardens has diminished. The railway gate made way for a flyover in the 80s. Changes are inevitable, yet Navalur retains a strong rural ambiance which is why I started frequenting the village for early morning bicycle rides which led to exploring the surrounding areas too.

At Navalur's northeastern corner is a temple dedicated to Hanuman. In the beginning I would just pause the ride for to take a look at the deity, a almost 6 feet tall stone idol. Once I happened to notice the deity sans flower decoration. The stone idol of Hanuman was so much like the ancient idols associated with the XV Century philosopher Vyasatirtha. That means, we have an ancient temple. Also in the temple gate is an ancient memorial stone (hero-stone).

Besides the Hanuman Gudi, there are a few more temples in the older parts of Navalur. The temples are Mallikarjuna Gudi, Banashankari Gudi, Dhyamavva Gudi, Basavanna Gudi, and a Jaina Basadi too. Then there's one Garadi Manae as well. Garadi Manae is a gym where wresters trained with the blessings of Hanuman. The more I learn, the more interesting Navalur gets.

June 16th morning I reach to Navalur Hanuman Gudi and start taking pictures of the structure. The stone walls, stone Shikhara and sculptures on the structure seem like XV or XVI Century CE. One of the temple visitors was curious about my shooting. I told him about my interest in ancient monuments which led to the person sharing a lot of historical information. According to him, Navalur was a fortified village, a moat ran around the perimeter as well. I had no clue a fort existed here!

The person, Shri Bhyrappanavar, asked me to go along with him to another ancient shrine dedicated to Shiva Linga. I guessed its location but I was surprised to know it was ancient. Well, here we are at the Ramlingeshwar Devastana.

A lovely idol of Parvati & Shiva.

It's an ancient belief that we must see Shiva Linga between Nandi's horns.

While Nandi & Shiva Linga idols are ancient, the older temple structure has been replaced with a recently constructed building.

Shivaaya Namah Aum. Did you notice that the Jaladhari is towards the east-facing Garbhagudi door. Normally, you see it on the left or right but here it's in the front. I don't know why its positioned this way. The size of the idol is impressive, its about 4.5 feet high. To my knowledge there's no other Shivalinga as big as this one.

Going by the stone, the sculpture and the workmanship, this idol seems ancient. It could be 500 to 600 years old, maybe even older.

This is the best shot I could manage in the small space between the Shivalinga and Garbhagudi wall. The pedestal detailing is amazing. Don't know how many ancient people had dedicated their lives protecting and preserving this beautiful idol.

Also thanks to the person who financed this temple's renovation and maintenance.

Adjoining Ramlingeshwar Gudi is Durgadevi Gudi.

A lovely painting of Durgadevi adorns the Garbhagudi wall. One must appreciate the efforts of the artist who painted it. A lady was in charge of this shrine. She has just completed morning rituals.

Like Ramlingeshwar, the deities here are south-facing. This is a rather curious feature of these two temples.

My heartfelt thanks to Shri Bhyrappanavar for urging me to visit this place. We exchanged mobile numbers before parting. I promised to call him to learn more about Navalur history. I head back to Hanuman Gudi for more pictures and then headed home.

Before ending this post I would like to mention my visit to Navalur Gudda in 2009 to see the ancient Basavanna Gudi. Back then the hill was barren. That shrine was ancient but the older structure had been demolished and a new building was being constructed. Unfortunately I didn't pictures of the deity. Presently, the hill has been taken over by Karnataka Forest Department, the entire hill is wooded and out of bounds. The jungle is home to peacocks and other wildlife now. Somehow, I was fortunate to have experienced a bicycle ride on Navalur Gudda, in Aug 2023 with Pushpa and my friend Srinu.

.........

Kaali-Kaala gateway at Mahakoota

Mahakoota is one of the religious centers whose history dates back to the VI Century CE, that is as per the temple structures are concerned. However, I feel its history goes back to the prehistoric times. By the way, there are two places named Mahakoota, both situated on the eastern side of Hiregudda, a couple of kilometers between them, one of them is relatively older. The older place is called Halae Mahakoota and the newer place is simply called Mahakoota. Now, we are at the latter.

At Mahakoota is a group of ancient temples, mostly dedicated to Shiva in the form of Linga. It's needless to say where Shiva is Nandi will be present. Nandi idols at Mahakoota come in different colors, shapes and forms, each different from the other. Of the many shrines here the most curious one is the underwater one. Under the wall surrounding the stepped tank fed by a natural spring. One needs to dive underwater and squeeze thro a narrow gap between stone blocks to see the Shiva Linga. Then there's another spring just outside the temple complex which people call Dakshina Kashi. All the structures, including the stepped tanks and a gateway were constructed during Badami Chalukyan reign. Today's topic is the gatekeeper couple in-charge of the gateway. When you see the couple for the first time, their emaciated, almost skeletal forms are bound to leave you flabbergasted, and probably make a lasting impression, unlikely to forget them for sometime.

Kaali  (ಕಾಲಿ) and Kaalaa (ಕಾಲಾ) are their names. Thanks to whoever made the effort of having their names painted.

Taking a closer look at Kaali. The character is so famished that it's literally skeleton covered in skin. Even the eyes have popped out and stomach is sucked in completely.

Kaalaa is equally famished and emaciated. I can't help but remember seeing an young man in this condition during my school days in Bengaluru. It was so painful to his parents or sisters holding him when he took awkward steps. Even walking a few steps was a difficult task for him. I don't know if he could speak at all. He was completely dependent on his family.. let's come back to Mahakoota. Here, Kaali and Kaala though emaciated they seem to be holding up themselves. Otherwise they wouldn't be in charge of this gateway. One other thing is the Swastika pattern mesh blocks besides Kaala and Kaali. Swastik is a symbol of good fortune.

To my knowledge, there's no other idol of Kaala and Kaali in other Chalukyan temples or complexes. Not even at Kadamba, Hoysala, Vijayanagara or other dynastic monuments. So I checked on the internet and found that Kaalaa is a form of Shiva associated to time, death and destruction of cosmos. Kaali is the female counterpart of Kaala. It also refers to them as Mahaakala and Mahakaali. In Kannada text they are ಮಹಾಕಾಲ and ಮಹಾಕಾಳಿ. However, the painted text below the idol are slightly different- ಕಾಲಾ and ಕಾಲಿ. ಲಿ and ಳಿ are pronounced differently. ಲಿ in English is 'li' but there's no English letter for ಳಿ, or it's base form ಳ. Also, if Kaala was meant to be time, Kannada text would be written as ಕಾಲ. Having said that, it's either that the painted text is wrong, or the search result from the Web is unrelated. I feel that Kaali (ಕಾಲಿ) and Kaalaa (ಕಾಲಾ) are completely different characters, enigmatic ones at that. Need to research more to demystify them.

Here's the full view of the gateway structure. Anyone walking from Badami to Mahakkota has to pass through this gateway. The ancient path, probably since the prehistoric times, connecting Badami and Mahakoota is still used.

The other side of the gateway, which looks like any other ancient gateway.

Close to this gateway, on the other side are two more ancient monuments which I learned about recently. I'm yearning for another trip to the Chalukyan realm to see those monuments and also walk the ancient path between Mahakoota and Badami.

.........