Down to earth Dwarapalaka at Mahakoota

Usually in temples the gatekeepers (Dwarapala) are warrior-like characters wielding spears or clubs, some are fierce looking too. However, there's one temple which has a simple looking gateway. This temple is at Mahakoota temple complex, a group of ancient shrines whose history goes back to the early Chalukyan times. The stone structures at Mahakoota date were built by Chalukyan builders but the shrines themselves are much older. Coming back to the topic of this post. here's that temple which I assume is Sangameshwara Devastana.

Let's take a closer look at the gatekeeper, a bald man sporting a long mustache. Posing with him is Sridhar with a similar mustache. When I shot these photos I hadn't paid much attention to the sculptures. Thanks to the similarity of the sculpture's and Sridhar's mustaches! Two down-to-earth characters here.

Now, I'm not sure if this sculpture is original or a cleverly camouflaged recent creation. If you go back to the first photo, the Dwarapala on the left hand side has been vandalized but it looks like a standard type of Dwarapala. What do you think.

Here's the deity, a big Shivalinga which I assume is ancient, meaning it was installed during the Chalukyan times. Shivaya Namah Aum.

Opposite the Shivalingu shrine is a honey colored Nandi idol matching in size. As I know there are two Nandi idols made of honey colored stone.

This is one of the most beautiful idols of Nandi in my opinion.

The unique Nandi is housed in a befitting Mantapa.

This temple and mantapa are situated in the southern most part of the complex. In the background, across the wall is a small structure which happens to be the gateway of Mahakoota. People coming from Badami enter Mahakoota through that gateway. Since that gateway is guarded by the emaciated pair Kaali and Kaala, I call it Kaali-Kaala gateway.

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peacocks near Aihole

It was around 5-45 pm on 5th October 2023 while driving from Pattadakal to Aihole, I spotted these beauties browsing in an open field right next to the highway. Luckily it was still light and the young peacocks, probably siblings, were in the open, not even a twig in the line of sight. I pulled out my Nikon P900 swiftly and took half a dozen shots before they vanished into the neighboring field of grownup  sugarcane.

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Nara Bali sculpture at Aihole

A couple of months ago I was browsing through photos of Aihole trip with Srinu in Aug 2023. One of the photos of a sandstone sculpture at Aihole museum caught my attention. It's a rare type of sculpture to my knowledge, don't remember seeing it elsewhere. As you see here, the sculpture shows a Shiva Linga on a pedestal with a standing human figure next to it. Then there's another human figure featuring matted hair, skeletal body & limbs, sitting on the floor, some kind of weapon in right-hand and left-hand holding an infant by its leg. Surely this guy is not showing affection to the baby. So what's he up to is the question.

Google photo search gave me the answer. Apparently, this sculpture depicts Nara Bali (human sacrifice). Here, a devotee of Mahakali named Veerabhadra is sacrificing his son. The search result also mentions that it's a preta (hungry ghost) holding a baby. A preta is usually depicted in a skeletal form. So, is this preta sacrificing a baby despite its hunger?

While the picture above is the original, the next picture is digitally edited. The background has been removed using a mobile phone app. The wonders of digital technology!

Going back to the image, the human sacrifice part seems right but the details are yet to be discovered. Do share your thoughts and knowledge in the comments section.

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