Kamalanarayana Devastana, Devgaon

A few days earlier I heard of Kittur Utsav dates i.e. October 23rd & 24th. This is an annual event held at the fort. On 23rd evening was a musical fest which was the main item of the event. On 24th were dance programs and exhibition at the museum. Back in May 2009, I'd seen paintings of Rani Chennamma by various artists displayed at the fort a few months after the Utsav. We planned to check out the event and I was hoping to see new paintings this time. Since we were going to Kittur, I included the nearby two ancient temples at Devgaon and Degulahalli villages.

October 24, 2021

We left home by 10-30 am. By 11-05 we were on the outskirts of Kittur. We decided to see the temples first, starting with Kamalanarayana Devastana at Devgaon. I was seeing this village and the temple again after 11+ years. Not much had changed. I parked my car at the same spot as last time, not much space on the narrow lanes of Devgaon. As we approached the temple gates, the caretaker emerged from his house and unlocked the gate. The temple is situated well above the road level but the enclosing walls are too close. This is the temple's façade. Unlike most other temples, this temple's width is more than its length i.e. approximately 20m x 14m. In the façade are two entrances but entry to both are barred by horizontal cylindrical stones. One could step across but that wouldn't be polite.

One can enter the temple by the door on the northern side. As you see the temple is richly decorated with sculptures on the exterior. The temple's sloping canopy is a signature of Kadamba architecture. Such a sloping canopy is needed to drain out water during heavy downpours in monsoon months here. One can see similar sloped canopies at Naregal Sarveshwara Devastana, Banavasi Madhukeshwara Devastana, Hooli Panchalingeshwara Devastana, Kundagol Shambulingeshwara Devastana, Kamala Basadi in Belgaon fort, and few other temples in the Malnad & Karavali regions.

This is a close up view of the right side of the façade with one of the entrances seen here. This temple is a Trikutachala, meaning a temple with three sanctums. Normally in other temples, the sanctums face different directions, the principal sanctum facing east and additional sanctums facing north or/and north. Here we have three east facing sanctums, one each for Narayana, Lakshminarayana and queen Kamala Devi.

This is the northern face. As you see the side walls have been given importance. A clever mix of geometric designs and floral art decorate decorate these walls.

This is the rear wall, in fact these are the walls of the right hand side sanctum. Its customary for a sanctum to have mini shrines- consisting of pillars, canopy and Shikhara -around it on the exterior. There are three such mini-shrines around two of the sanctums. One thing we noticed here- one of the ribs has been cut to make space for the miniature Shikhara's tip -see the inset. The same is repeated in all miniature shrines. Pushpa and I were talking if this was a mistake by the builders which the caretaker overheard us and said that was the case. Ancient builders rarely make mistakes. This is probably one of the few in thousands of creations.

Zoomed out view of the sanctum projection.

The two sanctum projections seen together. Earlier I said this temple had three sanctums. So where's the projection of the middle sanctum. No, there's no such projection on the exterior. The middle shrine projects inside, into the Sabhamantapa of the temple.  The two insets here highlight two things which could be missed. One is the finish of the miniature Shikhara, the subtle finishing touches are consistent in all the Shikharas. The other sculpture is the image of Anjaneya on a stone placed on the floor. Its a beautiful little sculpture.

This is the view from the southwestern corner of the temple site. The temple looks well preserved from afar however if you check closely there's lot of damage. The female figurines have been targeted and vandalized. 

The southern face is dominated by a captivating sculpture of a pair or entwined serpents. Its a clever piece of art.

The façade as seen from the southern side. The temple has a Sukanasi, a platform to sit, along the entire width of the temple. The platform has its marks of people before it came under ASI protection. One can find pits and board game grids on the slabs. Of course now, no such thing happen.

A close look at one of the walls packed with miniature pillars and Shikharas. These are replicas of real pillars found inside.

A peek into the Sabhamantapa through the northern door. Pushpa's shooting a video of the interior. Such a handsome row of pillars. At the middle is a circular stage right opposite the sanctum. From this point on the caretaker did not let me shoot with my DSLR. The interior photos are shot with my Moto Z2. Some weird verbal rule these ASI people have formed. They allow shooting with a high res mobile phone but have issues with DSLR!

Profile of a pillar assembly. On the left is the seating platform Sukhanasi. On the right is the principal Garbhagriha dedicated to Lakshminarayana. The other two Garbhagriha are not seen in this angle.

The principal sanctum's grand doorframe. On either sides are two inscriptions which have been shielded by glass panes. I guess these inscriptions are very important, hence the protection.

Side view of the principal Garbhagudi and the northern doorway.

This Garbhagudi is dedicated to queen Kamaladevi. Sadly this sanctum has been made a store room of construction material & tools. Apart from the sanctums, there are a number of niches for deities other than the principal deities.

The more you look at the pillars, the more you want to look at them.

Wondering what kind of minds designed them and made them. It would be interesting to learn about the evolution of pillar designs. How many years did they evolve in? BTW, this temple was built in the XII Century by an architect named Tippoja under the patronage of Kadamba queen Kamaladevi. The caretaker mentioned that the temple construction went on for 4o years, it was completed around the time Basaveshwara attained Aikya i.e. left this world.

A closer look at the upper assembly of a pillar. This self aligning assembly is designed to absorb shock forces and maintain equilibrium. 

The square sectioned pillars have faces depicting elegant jewelry art.

This temple's star attractions includes very complex circular sculptures mounted into the ceiling. The sculptures complexity is mindboggling.  It looks like some kind of gear system. This wheel like artwork is supposed to depict a lotus.

This indeed is one of the most valuable temples of Belgaum district!

Next on our list was Kalgudi of Degulahalli which is approximately 5 km away, on the other side of Kittur-Bidi highway.

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