February 16, 2020
The day started early with a visit to Bathi Revana Siddeshwara Devastana followed by Neelagunda Bheemeshwara Devasthana. There's a direct road from Neelagunda to Halavugalu. Being harvesting season farmers were using the road as 'Kana' for dehusking Thogari and other grains. Thogari plants are tall and hard, at times it was inconvenient to drive on them. Anyway, one must bear little inconvenience for the sake of farmers. At times I had to stop to confirm the route, people would not understand when I said Halavagalu i.e. as written in maps and boards. People here pronounced it Halvaglu. Its a large village-small town type of place. The temple is in a small lane close to the town square. Houses are so closely built there's hardly any open space between this ancient temple and village houses. This is the temple's only door which is south-facing. The upper half of the front walls have been rebuilt with new material, the lower half is original.
ASI has planted a board describing the temple as follows:
Kallesvara Temple, Halavagalu
Known as Kalinatha in an inscription dated AD 1282 of the reign of the Yadva king Ramachandra.
Halavagalu was one of the villages of importance during the period of Chalukyas of Kalyana. The place was also ruled successively by the Yadavas and Hoysalas.
The temple in east-west orientation in plan, the temple has a Garbhagriha with an open Antharala on the west and the shrines to the south and north opening into the four pillared Sabhamandapam with the Mukhamandapam in the east. The Sabhamandapam is provided with a square podium with four pillars supporting the central ceiling. Inside the Garbhagriha is a small Linga over a circular Pitha.
I'm standing right in front of the door, at the edge of the Sabhamandapam. These are the pillars which form the Mantapa.
At some point of time, the temple had been painted with Sunna ~ lime which corrodes and weakens stone. Looks like ASI team tried to remove the lime coating and did an incomplete job. Hope the villagers take some action for the well being of this monument. The pillar on the left has an inscription in Kannada on its upper face.
This is the east-facing Garbhagudi. The deity is Shivalinga. Nice to see those red Hibiscus on the black stone. Looks like morning ritual is a daily practice in this temple.
Full view of the Sabhamantapa from the Garbhagudi. Its a simple well built temple. The pillars are standard three-piece self aligning assembly designed to absorb earthquakes.
A 16-petal lotus in full bloom covering the central ceiling. This is a lovely creation.
A small collection of artifacts arranged neatly. The collection includes one inscription slab and two idols of Nandi. The little window is a necessity to let in morning light.. probably morning rays go straight into the Garbhagudi.
A faded/worn out memorial stone.
On the left hand side, are two five-feet tall hero-stones. Also one Naga stone has been planted close to the gate.
These memorial stones are dedicated to warriors who fought enemies and died. Such a respectful way to honor the martyrs. With those pictures, every generation would pass on the stories to the younger generation. That's their way of preserving history.
Having done with Halavagalu Kalleshwara, i headed back towards Neelagunda. Then to Bagali via Harpanahalli. Half way between Halavagalu and Neelgunda, in the narrow interior roads, a huge herd of buffaloes were heading in the same direction as I. The herd occupied the full width of the road and it was some 100 feet long. I managed to go in half way and remained there almost five minutes. Luckily the buffalo turned off the road into a pond. Sad the pond had a small patch of water, not even a calf could immerse itself fully. These dark skinned animals absorb lot of heat, they need lot of water to cool off. With the ever decreasing rainfall, the voiceless creatures suffer. Hoping this year rain brings in good rains.
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The day started early with a visit to Bathi Revana Siddeshwara Devastana followed by Neelagunda Bheemeshwara Devasthana. There's a direct road from Neelagunda to Halavugalu. Being harvesting season farmers were using the road as 'Kana' for dehusking Thogari and other grains. Thogari plants are tall and hard, at times it was inconvenient to drive on them. Anyway, one must bear little inconvenience for the sake of farmers. At times I had to stop to confirm the route, people would not understand when I said Halavagalu i.e. as written in maps and boards. People here pronounced it Halvaglu. Its a large village-small town type of place. The temple is in a small lane close to the town square. Houses are so closely built there's hardly any open space between this ancient temple and village houses. This is the temple's only door which is south-facing. The upper half of the front walls have been rebuilt with new material, the lower half is original.
Kallesvara Temple, Halavagalu
Known as Kalinatha in an inscription dated AD 1282 of the reign of the Yadva king Ramachandra.
Halavagalu was one of the villages of importance during the period of Chalukyas of Kalyana. The place was also ruled successively by the Yadavas and Hoysalas.
The temple in east-west orientation in plan, the temple has a Garbhagriha with an open Antharala on the west and the shrines to the south and north opening into the four pillared Sabhamandapam with the Mukhamandapam in the east. The Sabhamandapam is provided with a square podium with four pillars supporting the central ceiling. Inside the Garbhagriha is a small Linga over a circular Pitha.
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