Kalleshvara Devastana, Bagali - part 4

..continued from Kalleshvara Gudi, Bagali part-3, where we saw sensual artwork among other sculptures. We continue seeing the exterior of the main temple. This southern side of the temple, as you enter this door, the Garbhagudi is on the left hand side. The crown over this door is brick & mortar probably added during Hoysala or Vijayanagara period. The lion is a nice touch to the crown.

The seven layer door frame dominates this side. Gajalakshmi adorns the forehead of the frame. The base has Dwarapalas on both sides. The middle layer i.e. the 4th layer looks like columns. If one starts counting the number of individual characters (humans, animals, theriocephalic creatures and hybrid beasts) it would take a couple of hours.

Over the door frame is a series of five images of which four are placed in Mantapas with triangular crowns. This is the first time I'm seeing triangular crowns unless I've missed noticing in other temples. This is a beautiful design. Each crown consists three equilateral triangles, one big and two smaller. The smaller triangles' sides can't be more than 3 inches wide. The precision is amazing. Our sculptures were not some primitive people, they surely possessed vast knowledge which included mathematics, anatomy and architecture. The first idol is Lord Ganesha. The second one is a musician playing a drum and the third one is an archer.

A close look at the seven layers. The middle layer looks like bamboo shoot. The outer most later looks like bones.. that's how I see it. It could be anything else. Do share your thought.

Moving to the let of the door frame are few tiny sculptures of Shivalinga and a standing character which could be Eshwara. The Shivalinga are covered with small spheres which could be Rudrakshi.

This set consists of sitting Ganesh & Mushak, Mahishamardini and three characters which I fail to recognize. The frail looking character is quite intriguing. It looks like an old woman. Scary looking old woman it is.

Here we have Gajasurasamhara - the scene of Gajasura being slain by Shiva. The other images also seem to be of Shiva the ascetic, Shiva & Parvati and, of course Nandi has to be present where Shiva is.

Here's an example of pre-sculpting outline. The sketch shows a man apparently poking a long object into the horse's head. This was seen on the northern wall of the temple.

This temple has lot of inscriptions. This was found on the wall next to the southern entrance (near the grand door frame). The text is italicized. Our ancient writers wrote italicized text, nice isn't it? The other inscriptions are small lines of text close to the images, probably signatures of the sculptors.

Lastly, this is a north-facing temple with a sloping roof and stepped-pyramid Shikhara is dedicated to Veerabhadra Devastana. The idol of Veerbhadra (a form of Shiva) is well preserved (see inset). In the front are two slabs with inscriptions and one hero-stone.

A closer look at the hero-stone. Its dedicated to two brave men who laid down their lives to protect cattle from enemies. In those times, besides land and gold, cattle was also precious. In fact cattle was currency in ancient societies. The bottom most panel shows the men defending their cattle from a an armed group. In the middle panel, they are being carried to the upper world by fairies. In the uppermost panel shows the two being accepted and given a place. That's how society showed gratitude to service and kept memories alive.

I would've loverd to spend more time at this temple but I'd to eat lunch and then reach Hubli by 5-00 PM. I was happy to have covered all the places on my itinerary. As I drove on the embankment, temple & fields on the right and water tank on the left, a ruined stone structure caught my eyes.

It looked a temple. The ruins is a dump yard, quite filthy there. Wish ASI had taken it under their care. At least fence it and keep out vandals.

I drove back to Harpanhalli, took Guttal road, found a nice tamarind tree by the road, parked under it, ate bread-cheese-tomato-cucumber and resumed my journey. The journey between Guttal and Haveri was slow, thanks to speed bumps every few kilometers. It was 3-45 PM when I passed through Haveri. By 5-30 I was at Siddharoodha Matha (Hubli). I was glad to have kept my word to catch up with Pushpa here.
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