Less than six weeks after the tour of the Chalukyan realm with Srinu, I redid the tour with Sridhar on October 5th & 6th. The tour was almost identical to the previous two, except that I made a few changes in the itinerary which was an attempt to optimize our foot movements. On the first day i.e. Oct 5th, we spent about 3 hours at Badami covering the caves temples and, structural temples & fort ramparts on the northern hill. Then we had Anna Prasada at Shivayogi Mandir and saw the Vibhuti manufacturing unit. After the short break, we moved on to Mahakoota, unlike last year this time it was almost peaceful. We had a good Darshan of Mahakooteshwara and other deities. Then on the way to Pattadakal we stopped at the twin-chamber dolmen near Pattadakal. Now I feel this dolmen is an ancient temple and not a grave as I believed earlier. We reached Pattadakal by 3-00 PM. First we saw the Brahma Jinalaya and then came to the main temple complex. This was probably my 5th visit yet I'd never made an attempt to touch the waters of Malaprabha. We spent about 30 minutes on the sandy riverbed, water flowed in narrow strips, we entered only the shallow parts. The day was warm & humid, the time spent in the river was truly relaxing. Back at the temple complex, we saw the temples at a slow pace. Around 5-30 pm we called it a tour, had hot tea and resumed our journey towards Aihole. We went straight to Aihole KSTDC lodge, checked in, bathed & changed into fresh clothes, had dinner and hit the bed. The following morning our tour of Aihole started with Ramlingeshwar complex followed by Galaganatha complex. Then we saw the rock-cut Jain Basadi, Huchimalli temple, Ravalaphadi, Buddha Chaitya, Meguti Gudi, Gowri Gudi and Jain shrines. Lastly we came to Durga temple complex. It was around 11 when we completed seeing Durga complex. The warm weather had sapped our energy and in no mood to walk around. However since it was too early to wind up, I suggested we see one ancient stepped well situated about 8 km away. It's a straight road to Shulebhavi village. The road to Shuleshwara Bhavi went around the village and with the help of people we reached our destination. That's Sridhar walking towards the stepped well & shrine.
As you see the structure is made of sandstone. By the looks of the stone and building design it is a Chalukyan creation. The sandstone structure and the well are adjacent to each other, the structure houses a temple. This is the formal entrance to the temple is south-facing but the deity is west-facing.
This is the Mukhamantapa, the portico. Unfortunately we couldn't enter the shrine since the gates were locked. probably the Pujari has completed morning rituals for the day and left. The structure looks original, I couldn't see any signs of repair except for the flooring slabs.
We walked around the temple to the open well. The steps starting at the temple door descended straight into the well. This well is on the similar lines as other stepped wells which facilitates one to bathe and enter the shrine quickly without any kind of distractions or disturbances. As examples I would like to quote a few examples- Japada Baavi at Dambal, Musukina Baavi at Lakkundi, the row of shrines at the southwest corner of Agastya Tirta at Badami, to name a few.
View of the well and temple. The structure is symmetric in elevation. The roof has sloping sides and a flat center. This design is close to Chalukya Shivalaya (formerly Lad Khan temple). I think this temple was designed sans Shikhara.
The deep green colored water is an indication of deep water. This well is situated in the middle of an agricultural plot and very convenient for the farmer. A pipe has been lowered into the water which in turn is connected to a pump. It's good that water is put to use. Probably that's one reason, the water is clean, no odor as such. I must mention about the ramp on the northwest corner of the well facilitated drawing water. The ramp was covered in vegetation and out of bounds.
There was no one in sight here, so no hope of getting historical information of this well. I feel this well might've been made at the behest of a rich land owner or an officer in Chalukyan kingdom. It was common that powerful people had temples built as a contribution to the society.
A thorny tree next to the drawing ramp was a weaver birds' colony. Most of the nests look completed, the extreme left nest is half done. And the one next to it was in the finishing stages.
The little bird, a Baya Weaver, is proudly perched on its home. If you look carefully at the nests above, the extreme right one has two bulges while the other have one bulge each. It could be like a single bedroom home and two bedroom home.
Hope to get some information about Shuleshwara Baavi in the near future. Before I close this post I would like to add that we saw a stone wall about 300 meters from here. The wall looked ancient, possible there was a fort here or may be a Desai Vada. We were too tired to go exploring. May be I'll check on that during another visit.
No comments:
Post a Comment