Kaali-Kaala gateway at Mahakoota

Mahakoota is one of the religious centers whose history dates back to the VI Century CE, that is as per the temple structures are concerned. However, I feel its history goes back to the prehistoric times. By the way, there are two places named Mahakoota, both situated on the eastern side of Hiregudda, a couple of kilometers between them, one of them is relatively older. The older place is called Halae Mahakoota and the newer place is simply called Mahakoota. Now, we are at the latter.

At Mahakoota is a group of ancient temples, mostly dedicated to Shiva in the form of Linga. It's needless to say where Shiva is Nandi will be present. Nandi idols at Mahakoota come in different colors, shapes and forms, each different from the other. Of the many shrines here the most curious one is the underwater one. Under the wall surrounding the stepped tank fed by a natural spring. One needs to dive underwater and squeeze thro a narrow gap between stone blocks to see the Shiva Linga. Then there's another spring just outside the temple complex which people call Dakshina Kashi. All the structures, including the stepped tanks and a gateway were constructed during Badami Chalukyan reign. Today's topic is the gatekeeper couple in-charge of the gateway. When you see the couple for the first time, their emaciated, almost skeletal forms are bound to leave you flabbergasted, and probably make a lasting impression, unlikely to forget them for sometime.

Kaali  (ಕಾಲಿ) and Kaalaa (ಕಾಲಾ) are their names. Thanks to whoever made the effort of having their names painted.

Taking a closer look at Kaali. The character is so famished that it's literally skeleton covered in skin. Even the eyes have popped out and stomach is sucked in completely.

Kaalaa is equally famished and emaciated. I can't help but remember seeing an young man in this condition during my school days in Bengaluru. It was so painful to his parents or sisters holding him when he took awkward steps. Even walking a few steps was a difficult task for him. I don't know if he could speak at all. He was completely dependent on his family.. let's come back to Mahakoota. Here, Kaali and Kaala though emaciated they seem to be holding up themselves. Otherwise they wouldn't be in charge of this gateway. One other thing is the Swastika pattern mesh blocks besides Kaala and Kaali. Swastik is a symbol of good fortune.

To my knowledge, there's no other idol of Kaala and Kaali in other Chalukyan temples or complexes. Not even at Kadamba, Hoysala, Vijayanagara or other dynastic monuments. So I checked on the internet and found that Kaalaa is a form of Shiva associated to time, death and destruction of cosmos. Kaali is the female counterpart of Kaala. It also refers to them as Mahaakala and Mahakaali. In Kannada text they are ಮಹಾಕಾಲ and ಮಹಾಕಾಳಿ. However, the painted text below the idol are slightly different- ಕಾಲಾ and ಕಾಲಿ. ಲಿ and ಳಿ are pronounced differently. ಲಿ in English is 'li' but there's no English letter for ಳಿ, or it's base form ಳ. Also, if Kaala was meant to be time, Kannada text would be written as ಕಾಲ. Having said that, it's either that the painted text is wrong, or the search result from the Web is unrelated. I feel that Kaali (ಕಾಲಿ) and Kaalaa (ಕಾಲಾ) are completely different characters, enigmatic ones at that. Need to research more to demystify them.

Here's the full view of the gateway structure. Anyone walking from Badami to Mahakkota has to pass through this gateway. The ancient path, probably since the prehistoric times, connecting Badami and Mahakoota is still used.

The other side of the gateway, which looks like any other ancient gateway.

Close to this gateway, on the other side are two more ancient monuments which I learned about recently. I'm yearning for another trip to the Chalukyan realm to see those monuments and also walk the ancient path between Mahakoota and Badami.

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