Cairns and dolmen of Guledgudda

Guledgudda is one of the prehistoric sites of northern Karnataka. It is situated within the area known as Malaprabha Basin. The name Guledgudda can be split into Guled and Gudda. The latter means hill, and the former means gypsies or nomads. Together it could mean the hill where nomads camped. This is my understanding, it could have an entirely different meaning.

To the south of Guledgudda are other prehistoric sites namely Aihole, Pattadakal, Bachangudda, Kutkankeri, Hiregudda of Badami to name a few. In fact the entire area between Badami and Guledgudda is full of sandstone hillocks which were well suited for human habitation. These hills had natural shelters, abundant sources of water and wildlife. This place took care of the necessities of prehistoric times- food, water and shelter. Naturally, these hills were homes to ancient people.

I had visited Guledgudda on 23rd Feb 2013 and these photographs were shot during that visit. The purpose of my visit was to see the ruins of the fort on the hill top. On the flat topped hillock were a few shrines, ruins of walls & bastions, natural rock shelters, heaps of stones which were once stacked neatly as walls, and lastly there were stone arrangements on the north western side. Here are a few pictures of the stone arrangements seen at Guledguddda. These slabs are partially buried to keep them erect. They seem to be a part of the circle of stones forming a cairn.

Here we have two long lines of stones intersecting in the background. This seems like a boundary marker of a graveyard.

This place has a number of sandstone outcrops, a few of which are natural shelters. From my experience, almost all prehistoric sites have had one or more rock shelters which could be completely natural or a combination of natural and manmade. BTW, the person seen in these pictures is Malatesh, he had accompanied me on many excursions like this.

This is another view of the intersecting stone lines. 

There are hundreds of such boulders arranged in lines, arcs or circles.

Of all the artifacts seen here, this one seems like a damaged dolmen.

Next is a well preserved stone circle, a cairn. Looks like this was somehow not touched by vandals. In the background, there's a stone arc, probably a disturbed cairn burial tomb.

On another side of the stone circle is a badly disturbed burial site. I think this could be a cist burial.

After having restudied the decade old photos, I have thoughts of visiting Guldegudda again.

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Dolmen on Vakkandurga hill

In the beginning of 2010s I started exploring the remotely situated historical sites in the northeastern districts. I frequented Bagalkot and Koppal since they were close to Dharwad and then went further towards Raichur, Kalburgi and Yadgir. All these being the so called 'backward' districts have sites which were kind of untouched. The places felt as thought time had frozen, that feeling was stronger in unrecognized or unprotected prehistoric sites. It was a kind of time travel experience. On Nov 6, 2011 I happened to visit five small forts namely Belur, Vakkandurga, Chikanal, Gudur, and Kelur. All these places are situated in barren hills, even the surrounding plains were barren, probably they were uncultivable. However, these hills had their own beauty, there was peace, serenity.

More than a decade later, while researching dolmen sites, I happened to remember seeing a dolmen like stone arrangement on Vakkandurga hillock. The hillock is mix of sandstone formation and loose dirt. The hill top is a collection of several flat patches & slopes upon which rampart walls have been raised to make a small fort.  Most hill fort sites were naturally secure places and inhabited in the prehistoric times.

Vakkandurga too has those characteristics like its elevation and close proximity to a natural source of water. So I'm assuming this hill was inhabited for a long time and during that period they constructed this stone shelter also called a dolmen. The inside of the shelter is large enough to hold five or six adults with a fireplace in the center or a side. So this structure could've been a prehistoric house, or it could be a place to bury the dead. It would be interesting to know what an archaeologist thinks about this structure.

On the northern edge is this rock shelter with an unhindered view of the valley and the neighboring hill. Further to the right in the valley is a relatively recently made waterbody. Rainwater flowing down the slopes, flows into the pond via this valley. If we go back a few millennium, I can imagine a stream flowing through this valley round the year. The scene of two guys sitting in the shelter is something which might have happened a million times in the past.

Seeing the photos and reading the blog post published in Feb 2012 on Vakkandurga has evoked thoughts of revisiting the place and explore the surrounding hills.

A heads-up: an article on the dolmen sites in Karnataka visited/seen by me will be published shortly.

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relief sculptures at Ravalaphadi

Ravalaphadi the rock-cut temple is one of the monolithic three monolithic temples at Aihole. While Ravalaphadi is dedicated to Shiva, the shrine situated on the southern tip of Aihole hill is a Jaina Basadi and, the details of last one situated on the northern end is unknown. Ravalaphadi is situated on more or less plain land. The temple builders of V or VI Century with the support of Chalukyan kings have cleverly used the sandstone outcrop to create a monument which doesn't require a foundation. One care they had to take was to carve out stone in such a way that the monolith doesn't develop cracks, especially the pillars & arches.

The temple entrance is trisected by the two columns. This seems to be an ancient architectural rule of having odd number of sections i.e. 1, 3, 5, etc. The Jaina Basadi entrance has one section. The cave shrines at Badami have 5 sections except one cave has 7 sections which creates a symmetry. There could be other reasons behind this design.

The entrance, oriented towards south-west. has a Nidhi and sitting guard on either side. One has to take the balustraded staircase to climb into the temple. Once you crossover the threshold, you step into the central hall which is a square in plan. In the center is a lotus motif projects from the floor which is aligned to the lotus in the ceiling. The ceiling lotus is enclosed in a three concentric squares. The spaces between the squares are filled with Jaina motifs. On the walls adjoining the entrance are relief sculptures of Ardhanarishwara on the left; on the right side are Bringi, Shiva, Parvati and Nadi Devata.

The three sides of this hall further open into three chambers. The chamber straight ahead is the sanctum. Inside the Garbhagudi is a Shivalinga on a cuboid pedestal which are part of the monolith. The Garbhagudi too has two pillars trisecting the rectangular opening and a balustraded staircase just like the temple entrance. On the left hand side is a standing Shiva and on the right is Harihara. Inside the Garbhagudi i.e. on the side walls are relief sculptures of Boovaraha and Mahishamardhini on the left & right sides respectively.

Panning to the right; the chamber is blank, no idol or sculptures inside it. This space is called as the kitchen in one of the online articles. This opening too is similar to the Garbhagudi i.e. two pillars and staircase. However, the pillar design is different. Here we have a fluted section between two square sections. Whereas the entrance and Garbhagudi pillars are slimmer and plain.

Panning to the left; we see the same design i.e. two fluted pillars & balustraded staircase. Inside the left chamber is a relief sculpture of a ten armed dancing Shiva i.e. Nataraja. Nataraja is accompanied by Parvati, Ganesha, Kartik and Saptamatrike.

Here's a floor plan of the shrine showing the positions of the deity and wall sculptures.

Below are the life size sculptures which are all part of the monolith. The detailing we see in the sculptures is what makes Ravalaphadi a great monument.

Ardhanarishwara

Nataraja, Parvati, Ganesha, Kartik & Saptamatrike

Standing Shiva with a Trisula

Boovaraha

Shiva Linga

Mahishamarshini

Harihara

Bringi, Shiva, Parvati & Nadi Devatha

Lotus on the floor

While we are on the topic of rock-cut shrines, please do take a glimpse at the monolithic shrines of Aihole.

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Ganesha at Someshwara Gudi, Dharwad

This picture was shot on 26th July 2021 morning. I was at Someshwara Gudi along with my high school friends from Bengaluru, and Pushpa. While rummaging through my photo archives, I happened to stumble upon this photo and captivated by its beauty. I'm not sure how old the idol is so not sure if this idol was created during the Chalukyan times. This idol is situated on the left hand side of the main door of Someshwara Gudi. The four-armed pot-bellied Ganesha wearing a simple Kirita is accompanied by Mushaka. Ganesh is seen wearing a mala which seems like a RudrakshaMala.

Someshwara Gudi is a XII century east-facing shrine dedicated to Shiva. Just outside the Garbhagudi is a 2½' tall idol of Nandi adorned in jewelry. About half a kilometer from Someswara Gudi is the birth place of Shalmala Nadi. The stream of water goes underground less than a hundred meters away and surfaces somewhere in the western ghats.

Another ancient temple we happened to visit the same morning was Banashankari Gudi at Amargol.

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remnants of prehistoric graves at Kutakanakeri

Kutakanakeri is a village 8 km north of Badami town. It is situated at the base of a large sandstone formation, rather a sandstone hillock which happens to be a prehistoric site. In the sprawling sandstone formation are several natural shelters which had been inhabited thousands of years ago. The evidence for human inhabitance are paintings on rocks depicting humans, animals and fur patterns. Also among the paintings are an outline of a hand, and a creature like a human but having different features. Then there are megalithic graves, all of which have been disturbed by humans. During our short tour of Kutkankeri hillock guided by a local person we saw about 10 to 15 graves, not a single one of them were close to the original condition like the megalithic graves on Aihole hillock. Below are a few pictures of the remnants, at least some evidence had survived. Now i.e. 11 years after my visit. I hope they haven't been disturbed any more. 

These sandstone slabs are rough rectangles measuring 5' x 5' approximately. The slabs are much longer considering the portion below ground level. These slabs are about 4" thick however thickness varies from grave to grave, there were slabs more than 6" thick like the one seen below. Our guide Fakirappa on the right and on the left is late Malatesh, a colleague then. There's a 4' x 4' slab flat on the ground in front of my friends and two partially buried slabs at an angle. As I remember, Fakirappa mentioned that they believe these to be graves of muslim people. Probably someone tried to dissuade vandals from disturbing the graves further.

The reason for disturbing the graves could be buried treasure. Ignorant people don't realize the historical value of these monuments. The damage is irreparable, archaeological evidence is lost forever.

A freshly dug put close to one of the graves, the slabs are strewn around. The vandals have dug a neat pit, almost a perfect square. It looks like the stone slabs had been much before the pit was dug. Treasure hunters try again and again hoping to find something valuable.

One more grave site. One might wonder how bodies were buried in these graves. Here's how: four slabs would be erected in a quadrilateral formation creating an open chamber. The corpse or corpses would be placed in the chamber and dirt would be poured to fill the empty space. Once the chamber is filled to the brim, a capstone would be placed over the vertical slabs sealing the tomb. This is a possible method, the burial process could be much more complex.

Three more large slabs. I'm assuming that these had never been fixed into the ground earlier. May be these slabs had been brought here to make a burial chamber and they weren't used at all.

One might also wonder about the source of these slabs. I'm certain that these slabs were obtained from this hill itself.

In some parts of the hill, there are layers which have almost separated from the hillock. This is one such example of bits which have been broken away.

This is another example with a number of bits which could be used to build smaller graves. Going by that assumption this spot could be a prehistoric quarry site. Certain stones form rifts naturally and separate over time due to temperature cycles. Sandstone is prone to such behavior making it easy to break away pieces. Also, sandstone being relatively softer, it can be shaped easily.

Another megalithic burial site close to Badami is Guledgudda.

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Stone step-ladders in Chalukyan temples

Ancient Indian temples have dazzled us with their qualities such as being realistic, creative, beautiful, delicate, complex, precise, accurate, megalithic, or monolithic. The stone sculptures, be it fused or separate or an assembly, are thought provoking and awe-inspiring. They've made us wonder what kind of intellect, talent & effort were behind those creations. At times we might've wondered what was the need to put n so much effort to produce such complex designs. Wouldn't a simpler sculpture done? Do the complex forms have a function or is it just aesthetics? I think, the complex sculptures and precise assemblies definitely had a purpose which we humans are yet to realize. Somehow most of us are incapable of going beyond what meets our eyes.

Besides temples & religious idols, ancient people used stones to build structures like watch towers, light towers, shelters (Mantapa), arches (Torana), gateways, seats, stages and stepped wells. The purposes of which are obvious. They also made utility items like inscription slabs, water troughs, water ducts, and grinding wheels, oil mills and even step-ladders which were used for  day-to-day chores. One more thing I have to mention here is stone balls made for gymnasiums (Garadi Mane). So many things from stones and we haven't gone farther into history when people used stone spears & axes.

Present day people might've seen most of the things mentioned earlier but in those people many might not have seen stone ladders because they are out of the common. I've seen four of them till now, all of them at Chalukyan temples at Pattadakal and Aihole.

Here are the four stone step-ladders, the first one at Kunti Gudi, Aihole. This monolithic ladder made of sandstone is approximately 13' tall, 1.25' wide, has 8 steps and weighs about a ton.

 

The ladder leans on the main temple of this 4-temple complex. This ladder, and columns in these temples are free standing, all are engineered for stability. When I try to nudge it, it doesn't budge a micron. Anyone climbing it can do so confidently, without a worry. Before we move on to the next one, I would like to mention that all these ladders are made of monolithic sandstone blocks.

The second one is at Chalukya Shiva Gudi (formerly Lad Khan Gudi) inside Durga Gudi complex, Aihole. This ladder is approx 10' tall, 1' wide and weighs 500 kg. Of the four ladders, this is the rough looking one. This ladder is kept in the right hand side of the temple's verandah. It leans on a beam and its top is aligned to a manhole in the roof.  

This Shivalaya design is unusual since a small chamber is present instead of a solid Shikhara over the Garbhagudi. To reach the chamber above, one has to take the ladder and go to the roof.

The next one is from Charanti Mata. This picture was taken way back in April 2011. I'm sure if this ladder still remains here or if it has been moved to a museum. This ladder is somewhat of the same size as the previous one, but finish is better.

Charanti Mata is a group of six temples, three of which are connected together with Mantapas. The largest structure here is a Jain Basadi with twin Garbhagudi. The layout of this complex seems disorganized however some of the sculptures here are marvelous pieces of art. Also within the complex is a Thoranagallu.

The last one is at Jaina Narayana Gudi at Pattadakal. Its physical attributes are close to the ladder of Kunti Gudi complex. This ladder finish is better and seems like the design has been optimized. To my knowledge this ladder is placed in the front right corner of the Sabha Mantapa.

This is a completely restored structure situated outside Pattadakal temple complex. These two pictures were shot in 2010. I haven't been to this Basadi again.

With every visit to Badami-Pattadakal-Mahakoota-Siddanakolla-Aihole realm, there has always been a surprise of some new discovery. Hoping there are more stone ladders unknown to me and it would be nice to discover them.

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