Kailasanatha Devastana, Kadaba

I heard about Kadaba Kailasanatha mid of 2022 and added it to my list of places to see in Tumakuru District. This temple is said to be built by the Rashtrakuta king Krishna II, son & successor of the mighty Amoghavarsha Nrupatunga. So this temple was built late IX Century or early X Century CE. Apparently, one of the inscriptions in this temple is said to have mentioned the great Kailasanatha Mandir of Ellora. In the first week of Jan 2023 a plan to visit Bengaluru formed, I decided to drive down and hit a few historical spots enroute. I had a two sets of places, one each for onward & return journeys.

Jan 23rd to 25th. I drove down towards Bengaluru... visited our family temple, saw an ancient temple at Davangere, saw Vani Vilas Sagar, met high school friend Naaga near Tumakuru, and reached Bengaluru. At Bengaluru I stayed at mother's place, spent time with mother & niece, went to Lalbagh where I met Anil Prasad at the Baobab tree and then we saw the flower show inside the Glass House, met my paternal uncle, caught up with Satish and lazed around at home. On 25th morning a small bunch of high school friends met for breakfast at Dwarka in Basavanagudi, afternoon I said bye to mother and went to my high school friend Vijay Kumar's home at RR Nagar. That evening the breakfast gang, except two, gathered at Vijay's place, had a good time till about 11 am and wound up.

Jan 26, 2023. After breakfast Vijay and I bid bye to each other and I headed towards Tumakuru where I had to meet a friend Sri Barigidad. It was around noon when I reached Sri Barigidad's place, another round of breakfast and chatting. By 1-00 pm I was on Tumkur-Nittur road, heading towards Kadaba.

Finding the temple wasn't difficult, its one straight road from the main road to the temple. For Kadaba people, this is Ishwara Devastana.

At the first glance, it seems as though half the temple is buried below the ground. Look at the Garbhagudi walls, the miniature mantapas on the walls are touching the ground which isn't the case in other temples. The other thing is the ground level here and the floor level inside the temple are almost same. Probably the original floor level was much lower. It is possible that this temple was buried in dirt to conceal it from invading armies. Later when the overburden was removed, it was removed partially. The other possibility is that the temple was flooded by overflowing Kabadba lake. May be the temple remains buried in mud ever since. By the way, this temple is situated very close to Kadaba lake, it is on the right bank of the stream which flows over when the lake is full.

Talking about Kadaba Kere, I'm assuming in the earlier years the lake overflowed throughout the year feeding the stream flowing past the temple. A minute's walk from the temple is the stream and the stream was the temple's source of water. As such there's no well close by, lake & stream are the sources of water for the temple. Now talking about the temple itself, its a Dwikutachala meaning a temple with two sanctums. Only the main sanctum i.e. Kailasanatha has a Shikhara over it, the second sanctum is dedicated to Parvati Devi. Though the primary sanctum is east facing the temple's only door is on the southern side. This temple is said to have quite a few inscriptions in its exterior walls. However since the walls are coated in a thick layer of paint its difficult to make out the text.

Here is one such inscription on a block in the rear wall of the sanctum. The text seems to be Kannada.

This little structure of pillars, beams and a capstone might have been a smaller temple. Even these pillars seem to be buried deep inside the ground. Usually on this side of the sanctum is the drain pipe for clearing pooja water but no such arrangement here.

A relief carving on one of the walls on the northern side. Its a royal elephant with a Ankusha wielding mahout.

Opposite the temple is a fallen Garudagambha or Vijaya Stambha. Only a part of the pillar is seen here, the upper portion is missing. Apparently this ancient pillar fell over during an earthquake. Presently a steel-cement pillar has been erected here.

Nandi at the base of the pillar. Going by its looks this idol seems to be a recent creation.

Another view of the fallen pillar. On the other side of the open ground is the ruined temple chariot. The wooden chariot with beautiful carvings lies neglected in a corner. Obviously this temple lacks funds. Thanks to government policies which deny funds to thousands of ancient temples which were self sufficient once upon a time.

An lovely little idol of Daksha leans against the fallen pillar. For some reason this idol is kept in the open rather than inside the temple.

Unfortunately the temple door was closed, could not even get a peep inside the temple. One of the locals had told me the poojari's house location but I felt it may not be nice to disturb the gentleman at this hour. I decided to move to my next items- Kedareshwara Devastana & Chennakeshava Devastana at Nagalpura.

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