Suvarneshwara Devastana, Halasi

Suvarneshwara Devastana is the second largest of the four temples in & around Halasi. This village was once a minor capital of Goa Kadamba kingdom. Halasi was also known as Halasige or Palasige or Palasika as per an inscription.

December 15, 2021

This spot was the final item on my itinerary of the day. In the morning I trekked to Raamteerth which was around 8 km, both ways. A short break for breakfast. Then I headed to Machigad fort, its a 10 to 12 minute climb from the village to the hill fort. By 2 PM I was at Bhu-Varaha Devastana, spent an hour there. Next was Kalmeshwara Devastana which is 5 minute walk fron BhuVaraha temple. I arrived at Suvarneshwara Devastana famished, I wanted a break from walking.

The temple premises is well kept, clean and neat, it had a peaceful ambiance. This would be a perfect place to have lunch. So, I washed my arms and face, what a refreshing effect it had. Found a shady spot and had lunch- chapati, green-gram and cucumbers. The short break recharged my energy level.

First I went around the exterior. As you see the temple is built on a high platform. Looks like the builders had a grand plan but it remained incomplete for some reason.

The walls are built of granite blocks. The design is basic, purely functional, hardly any decorative art to be found anywhere.

The walls are almost 20' high. 

The overall length & width of this temple is approximately 70' and 37'. If the Shikhara was built, the overall height of this temple might have been 40' to 45'. Definitely whoever had this built wanted this temple to the largest at Halasi.

This is the northern entrance. BTW, this temple is east facing and has entrances on east, south and north. Let's climb the steps and check the interior. With the missing roof, it's not really interior but technically the space was meant to be enclosed.

Here I'll quote the description of Suvarveshwara Devastana from ASI Dharwad Circle website: Locally known as Suvarnesvara is built of granite stone, is an ekakuta structure and on plan has garbhagriha, ardhamandapa and four pillared open navaranga. A huge linga is placed inside the garbhagriha.

A diagonal view of the Navaranga Mantapa. This is the stage of the temple reserved for dance performance in honor of the deity.

View of the Naravranga Mantapa from the southern entrance. The temple is symmetric in plan in the east-west axis. 

Notice the two stones on the floor? They are the stepping stones for the Sukanasi. The Sukanasi is quite high from the floor. To sit on the Sukanasi, one has to climb over a stepping stone. This temple's proportions are 1.5x compared to other temples.

The Sabhamantapa as seen from a corner. There are four niches which are made to place idols of Ganesha, Nagadeva, Saptamatrika, and so on. The chief idol of this temple is a Shivalinga. As you see the temple is kept clean, daily pooje is carried out by local people.

Done with Suvarneshwara Devastana, I prepare to leave. One last look at the temple ...had it been completed, it would have been a grand edifice.

Apart from the four temples, there's one more temple which is said to be a Jain Basadi. The architecture is similar. Probably this structure was also built during the XII Century CE.

The final piece seen at Halasi was the neglected  memorial stone on the road side. This beautiful piece of art, stand fixed, probably at it's original position. Its a memorial in honor of a woman who sacrificed her life protecting people or place. 

Done with the monuments of Halasi, I head out of the village.

One other temple I had in mind was Kalmeshwara Devastana at Golihalli, I dropped the thought of going after it as I was tired, had an hour's drive ahead of me and a few chores back at home.

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Kalmeshwara Devastana, Halasi

Halasi, the minor capital of Goa Kadamba kingdom was known as Palāśikā as per inscriptions. It is also known as Palasige or Halasige but now its either called Halali or Halashi. The place after being part of Kadamba and Chaluyan kingdoms has a number of temples namely-

1. BhuVaraha Narasimha Devastana
2. Kalmeshwara Devastana
3. Jain Basadi
4. Suvarneshwara Devastana
5. Rameshwara Devastana or Raamteerth about 4 kilometers away

December 15, 2021

My morning started with a trek to Rameshwara Devastana and the trek to Machigad fort. From Machigad I came back to Halasi, spent an hour or so at BhuVaraha Narasimha temple complex and then came to Kalmeshwara Devastana which stands on a open ground which is called Kusthi Maidana, The temple seems to be incomplete since the pillared hall's roof is missing. Also, the temple's Sanctum has been restored in recent times.

Quoting the short paragraph from ASI Dharwad Circle website describing the temple: This east facing temple built in Kalyana Chalukya style has on plan garbhagriha, ardhamandapa. The garbhagriha has a linga and ardhamandapa has two niches (kosthas) and two pillars. The navaranga has four pillars with a beautiful sculpture of Nandi in the centre. Indeed the 2' tall Nandi is quite ornate with rich jewelry adorning its neck and back.

The temple is a medium sized one with three entrances one each on east, north and south. At the edge of the front yard is a damaged idol of an elephant. I found this elephant similar to the elephant at Banavasi Madhukeshwara Devastana, Probably the elephant idol is of Kadamba times.

The north and south entrances have simple but elegant balustrades with lotus motifs.

The balustraded steps of the southern entrance. The features are hidden in the dark shades of dried moss.

The diagonal view. Truly an amazing piece of sculpture. Every aspect of a building will have a function attributed to it. Apart from aesthetics, does a balustrade have any other function? May be safety... like a guide for those using the steps.

On the front are these two trapezoidal sculptures. One has the standard floral pattern which is common to Kadamba, Kalyana Chalukyas and Badami Chalukya. However this four petalled flower cannot be seen in Vijayanagara architecture. Or have I missed it?

The other trapezoid has a Keertimukha, a pattern which I've not seen earlier. If the stone is free from the dark layer, the effect would be prnounced.

The main entrance had a balustrade at some point of time but its gone missing. The passage is wide enough for one person. Of the temples I've visited, the ones with multiple entrances, the eastern entrance is usually barred so that people take the side entrances. Shifting our focus to the Antharala, notice how the middle two columns out stand out. The other two are part of the wall so they are less visible. Now this design of four pillars in the Antharala doorway is also found at Tambut Uttarakumara temple.

Between the eastern entrance and the Antharala is this beautiful Nandi or Basavanna as its called in northern Karnataka.

This is one of the two kosthas (niche) which is mentioned in ASI's description. A sculpture of Saptamatrika has been placed in the niche. The other slab is a hero-stone, rather a heroine-stone, a memorial to a warrior woman who was martyred in a battle.

The lowest panel is the the woman fighting a battle on earth, the middle panel shows fairies escorting the woman to the other world and the top panel shows her merging with the Paramatma. The Garbhagudi threshold in standard design. When one compares the workmanship of different sculptures across different temples, its quite consistent barring a few exceptions which are noticable in human features,

The Rangoli like design on the floor is another standard feature in our ancient temples. As it happens, there are two hero-stones in this temple. The idol is a Shivalinga, daily pooje happens in this temple.

The pair of pillars supporting the cross beam of the Antharala. The upper part of the columns are very catchy- one is circular and the other square but the groove design is common to both. The grooves definitely have a function - to absorb shocks during quakes without cracking up.

View of the Sabhamantapa from the Antharala. The ground ahead is said to be a venue for wrestling matches.

The Sabhamanatapa as seen from the side entrance.

Besides the two niches in the Antharala, there are two more niches in the east facing walls. A beautiful idol of Ganesha adorns one of the niches.

One last look at Rameshwara Devastana. Our ancestors creations look beautiful even in ruins unlike the modern constructions which become eyesores. Cement parts is another kind of plastic unless its ground to dust and allowed to mix with dirt.

A quick look at the plain external walls, plain except for the band of floral motif running at the middle. This feature is mostly seen in Chalukyan temples, I think.

From here I move on Suvarneshwara Devastana which is about 300 meters towards the east.

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Bhu-Varaha Devastana and other temples, Halasi

December 15, 2021

The plan for the day was to visit Raamteerth hill, Machigad fort, Kadamba temples of Halasi and one more ancient temple near Golihalli. The first two places needed both time & effort, half a day was spent there. The trips has drained me, I was on the verge of exhaustion. It was around 2 'O clock when I arrived at Bhuvaraha Devastana which is the center of Halasi village.

It was 11 years ago I saw these temples first. They have been maintained as it is. Kudos to the caretakers. This complex has eight or nine temples and one Kalyani. The chief temple is BhuVaraha Narasimha Devastana. The remaining are dedicated to Shankarnayana, Lakshinarayana, Ganesha, Shiva, Vittala, Radhakrishna, and other deities. This is a protected monument with a full time security guard and two or three caretakers.

Lets start with the main temple. I'll quote the small para from ASI Dharwad Circle on BhuVaraha Devastana: This dvikuta temple, built on a high jagati, in granite has on plan two garbhagrihas, two antaralas and a navaranga. The prakara has four doorways and within the prakara, abutting to it. Two garbhagrihas face each other and the one that faces east has an image of standing Bhuvaraha that was constructed and consecrated in 1186-87 by the Kadamba king Jayakesi III. Sivachita Permadi, the Goa Kadamba king built this temple in 1169 CE. From its build, it looks like a temple with one sanctum, but it has two sanctums. The east facing shrine has a Shikhara but the west-facing shrine is sans Shikhara. I feel originally a ekakuta temple was planned or built here. Later the second sanctum was added making it a dvikuta temple. The other unusual feature of this temple is the closed navaranga. Most of the other Kadamba temples have open navaranga. Hence this temple has no sukhanasi as other Kadamba temples like Tambdi Surla Mahadeva, Banavasi Madhukeshwara, or Suvarneshwara Devastana at Halasi.

This is the eastern end of the temple. The temple has sukanasi on the outside, one each on the northern and southern sides. The usual Kadamba design has one continuous sikanasi excluding passages at the entrances.

This is the northern side. The temple is symmetrical in plan, in the east-west axis.

The Shikhara is a stepped pyramidal structure. There are nine tiers to the Shikhara, the penultimate being a massive monolithic sculpture. I wonder what methods were employed to hoist the crown to that height... approximately 35 feet.

As seen from the north-western corner. Truly its an handsome structure. Anyone looking at this picture will feel its a ekakuta. There are two entrances, one each on the northern and southern faces.

These are the simple steps to the temple interior. On the first step is an engraving which depicts a Sashtanga Namaskara i.e. lying prostrate with arms extended and hands joined. The third step has an inscription in Devanagiri text. 

This is the navaranga. A circular stage enclosed in a mantapa. At the center of the stage is an idol of tortoise with its head towards BhuVaraha garbhagudi. An hour ago I saw a real tortoise at Machigad, only the shell since its limbs and head were withdrawn.

The garbhagudi doors were shut. I guess they are open from morning till about noon, then closed during lunch time. However, one can see the deities through the holes in the doors - made for people to see the deities. The painted wooden doors are little distracting, they seem to affect the effect of the mesh screens flanking the antharala. I took a quick look at Bhu Varaha idol... its made of black stone, worked to perfection, it's finish is mindblowing!

This is the garbhagudi of Vishnu. Also there are idols of Suryanarayana & Mahalakshmi. All idols are made in black stone and of the same quality. You can take a closer look at the mesh screen in this picture (see inset).

This little temple is called Sri Raghunathateertha Vrindavana. The idols shown in the insets are not of this temple but they are fixed in niches in the wall around the temple complex.

One of the caretakers asked me take a look at this pair- Radha Krishna. He wanted me to see the ear pendant in particular which happens to carry the royal Kadamba logo.

Here's a closer look at amazingly sculpted pendant enclosing the Kadamba lion logo. Just imagine the same in real, in the same scale, made in gold. These idols are approximately 3' tall and the pendant 3" in dia. Assuming a adult of 5' the pendant would be 5" dia. and ½" thick. A gold pendant of that size should weigh 250 grams. Wow!

This would be the third largest temple of the complex. Its is dedicated to a Shivalinga. The temple's façade has low door and two niches. The niche on the left hand side has an idol of Ganesha. The temple is simple, built like a solid box with the most basic touches of decorative art.

The Shivalinga mounted on a pedestal. Nice to see morning rituals happening on a regular basis.

The second largest structure here. This is dedicated to Lakshminarayana. It seems the temple construction was incomplete. Looks like a grand little temple was planned, for some reason work stalled forever. The rear side of the temple is just plain stone walls.

There are three other shrines, one in a simple box like structure and two other in tiled roof structures. The last item to see was the Kalyani.. on the way stood this Arlikatte. Yes, every temple complex must have one Arlikatte. In the background is the Kalyani. If you notice the walls, they are built of laterite blocks which are pretty commonly seen in Belgavi district.

The stepped well is also lined with laterite blocks. Isn't it amazing that every type of stone has its own beauty. Coming to the water, its filled with moss. I guess the cleaning will happen during dry months.

The tour of BhuVaraha temple complex comes to a close. From here I move ahead to Kalmeshwara Gudi which is a 5 minute walk or a minute drive by car.

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