Natya-Shiva of Jambulinga Devastana

When you enter Pattadakal temple complex the first temple one gets to see is KaadaSiddeshwara Devastana, and the second is Jambulingeshwara Devastana. The most noticeable feature of  Jambulingeshwara is the idol of Nataraja on its Nagara style Shikhara. Imagine the Shikhara without Nataraja's piece; it would look a lady without a bindi.

Taking a closer look at the sculpture which is an assembly of two pieces. I guess the assembly is approximately 7 to 8 feet high. Shiva is in company of Nandi and Parvati i.e. within the circle. Just outside the circle are two inflight characters, could be Gandharvas or Kinnaras.  At the base of the sculpture are two Naga creatures. If you take a even closer look at the Shikhara tiers, there are miniature images of the assembly. However the characters in the miniatures can't be recognized since layers of those sandstone sculptures have been eroded over time. Remember, temples of this complex were built in the IX Century CE by the Chalukyan kings.

These two pictures were shot on Aug 29th 2023 during my trip with my friend Srinu from Hyderabad. We were on a two-day trip of the Chalukyan realm Badami-Pattadakal-Aihole. During this trip, I was hoping for detailed photography of interior sculptures of Mallikarjuna and Virupaksha temples but my camera battery gave up after shooting two pictures of Jambulingeshwara. That assignment is still pending.

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Malaprabha at Pattadakal

During the last week of September 2023, Sridhar mentioned his plan of visiting Dharwad, a two-day visit. Over a couple of more phone calls, it became a 5-day visit with a tour of Chalukyan realm in between. I was glad that Sridhar extended his trip, he had not seen any of the Chalukyan monuments and I was happy that he would be seeing them with me.

Oct 5, 2023. We left Dharwad early morning morning, reached Badami by 8-30, had breakfast at a Udupi restaurant and we started the tour of rock-cut caves around 9 AM. After the caves, we headed to the north hill and visited all the monuments- lower Shivalaya, kings' meeting place, Upper Shivalaya, the granaries and a massive turret & fortifications. Then back at the base of the rock formation, we saw the artifacts collection in the museum. Having done with Badami, we headed towards Shivayogi Mandira where we had lunch- Anna Prasada. It was a satisfying meal of uppit and anna-saru. We got a chance to see the Vibhuti making unit within the campus. Then we rested for a while and headed towards Mahakoota. We parked and cooled off with a refreshing nimbu-soda. As we entered the temple complex, I was shocked to see the metal grills around the pond, it was eyesore but it was needed to keep out unruly crowds. Sridhar was very happy here since he could touch many of the Shivalinga idols. We spent almost an hour seeing the temples in detail. We left Mahakoota around 3-30 pm, headed towards Pattadakal which would be the last place for the day.

As we entered Pattadakal temple complex, we covered the first half, and as we came to the middle of the complex, I got an idea- take a break from the temples and see Malaprabha. Pattadakal is situated on the left bank of river Malaprabha. The river flows in the general direction of west but here it takes a ninety degree turn, flows northward for a short distance and then turns west again. In Hindu traditions, the place where a river flows northwards is considered holy. Based on this belief, such places usually have temples and remains a place of significance. It is said that Chalukyan princes' Patthabhishekha (coronation ceremony) took place at this place hence the name Pattadakal.

During one of the earlier visits here, I had come to see the river however I can't recall much. On the eastern side of the temple complex is a gateway which leads to the river, barely a hundred meters away. Treading on wet cool sand on a warm day is so relaxing! Then stepping into the gracefully flowing clear water took me to another level.. felt rejuvenating. We waded across ankle deep water, crossed the stream and stepped on to a tiny island. That's Sridhar with his Nikon. A group of kids were within talking distance and a group of ladies were washing upstream.

Waters flowing into the northerly direction. That's the bridge across Malaprabha connecting Pattadakal and Aihole. Water was shallow where I stood. However, beyond the rocks, most of the water flowed on the left side of the bed, water was deep there. After a less than normal rainfall, Malaprabha's water level is low. In the past I've seen this stream flowing bank to bank. In fact, in 2010 a heavy rainfall caused to heavy flooding. Pattadakal village and temple complex were in 8 to 9 feet water. Most places on Malaprabha banks were flooded including Shivayogi Mandir and a few temple complexes at Aihole.

Looking in the southerly direction. If we go along the river we'll pass by Bachingudda, one of the historical places and then reach Shivayogi Mandira.

Insect tracks in the riverbed. I have no clue as to what insect created it beautiful maze. Possibly it could be more than two of the same type of insect.

While we moved around in the water and chatted with the kids, a group of boys had crossed over from the opposite bank. One of the boys approached me with this sword asking for a picture.

That encouraged the other boys to join that boy for a group shot. After taking a few shots, I asked the eldest of them to take the sword and middle position. This bodybuilder may not be the sword owner but he seems to be the group leader. The guy with saffron stole must be his righthand man. The group left after exchanging mobile numbers with me to share the pictures.

Meanwhile the kids kept away from the gang. Looks like the kids were scared of the boys. Local politics in play. The eldest of the kids was trying to make something out of sand, or was he trying to catch fish. I'm not sure.

These three must be really thick friends. One of them had left his slippers on the island and playing a distance away. One of the other kids smiled at each other, unspoken mischief in play. The kid gave a light push and one of the slippers started floating away. The slipper owner had to chase his slipper to retrieve it. We had a good laugh as the slipper owner hurled abuses.

This is the gateway which connects the temple group and Malaprabha. To my knowledge, this is probably the largest gateway in Chalukyan monuments. There's an inscription on one of the blocks in one of the pillars. This gateway is proportional to the temples of this complex.

Right next to the gateway is this badly eroded idol of Nandi and the Ficus with long curvy arms.

View of the gateway from inside the complex. It was meant to be a grand structure, a befitting accompaniment to the grand temples here.

We spent another hour seeing the temples, marvelous sculptures on their exteriors and interiors as well. For some reason I've never been able to photograph these temples satisfactorily. During my previous visits, I faced one or the other issue.. once my camera battery ran out, on another occasion dark clouds formed and it rained. I have to plan another visit and make sure to be present here early morning, would like to shoot these temples in morning light since all these temples are east-facing.

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Jaina Narayana Gudi, Pattadakal

This monument is is seldom visited by tourists because of its location. Though it is just a few meters away from the main road, it is situated on a narrow road, parking a large MPV or a bus is not really convenient. Hence a few tourists traveling by car may stop to see this monument restored between 2002 and 2004. My previous visit here was Aug 2010, that's 13 years ago. In those thirteen years I'd passed by this place half a dozen times, somehow I didn't bother giving it another visit.

Aug 29, 2023. This visit was mainly to show the Chalukyan realm to Srinu, my friend from Hyderabad. We had left Dharwad early morning, reached Badami around 9 am. First we saw the rock-cut temples on the southern side and then went to the northern side where we saw Bhootnath group and then climbed the hill from the path used mostly by cattle-herds and local people. We spent about hour on the hill, saw the Shivalayas, the royal Mantapas and descended the hill. From Badami we drove to Shivayogi mandir where we took a break. We had homemade jolada rotti & sprouts for lunch followed by a short nap. As we approached Pattadakal, I thought we must see the Jaina Narayana Gudi before going to the main complex. Here we are looking at recently restored monument.

A information board planted close to the temple reads as below:
Jaina temple
This east-facing Jaina temple built in Dravida style is assigned to the Rashtrakuta period, and probably dates from 9th century. It was raised beside an earlier brick temple of Jina. The temple comprises of a large porch, a hall and a sanctuary with an ambulatory around. Its basement mouldings, wall pilasters and columns, the hara parapet, etc., conform to Dravida tradition. An additional sanctuary over the ground storey is a feature noticed in some Jaina temples, such as those found in Hallur, Lakkundi and Shravanabelagola. Tirthankara images from both the sanctuaries are missing. Noteworthy in the temple are the sculptures of two large elephants with riders in the porch that flank the doorway of the hall. A small figure of Jaina Tirthankara on the northern side confirms the temple's Jaina association.

The temple's side walls are almost plain except for a couple of windows, one each for Sabhamantapa and circumambulatory around the Garbhagudi.

This temple actually has two Garbhagudi positioned one above the other. The upper Gabhagudi is not visible from the ground level. This type of construction is called Dvi-tala Vimana.

The structure looks small and simple in this view. The Shikhara is completely out of view. A balustraded staircase leads up to the portico (Mukhamantapa). There are twelve turned pillars supporting this space's roof.

The Sabhamanatapa door is flanked by life-size elephants with mahouts. This is the only temple in the Badami Chalukyan realm having such a sculpture which is typically Rashtrakutan.

The doorframe is quite simple. There's no lalatha-bindhu (central block) in the lintel. Usually doorframes have a central block showing Gajalakshmi in Shiva or Vishnu temples. In case of Jain Basadi, the central block would have an icon of seated Mahaveera.

This is the Sabha Mantapa. The stout pillars indicate this is an early design. Similar type of pillars can be seen at Sangamaeshwar Gudi, Mallikarjuna Gudi and Kasi Visveswara Gudi in the main complex. The interior of this temple had a strong odor of bat droppings, in fact the Sabhamantapa floor was littered with droppings. The smell was overpowering, discouraged me from venturing deeper into the temple.

As we step across the door into the Sabhamantapa, on the right hand side is this leaning stone block. This is an ancient stone ladder which was used to climb upto the upper sanctum. I asked the guard if tourists were allowed to climb up. No. I was really curious to see how the roof was. Unfortunately ASI has its rules.

A diagonal view of the ladder. The ladder has 8 or 9 steps, each step at least a foot high. The ladder is placed in a stone block approximately one and half feet high. Adding up the inches, floor to ceiling height is about 12 feet. This ladder looks simple but making it involves a lot of geometrical calculations. There are three more ladders I've seen, they are at three different temples in Aihole. One could check out the four ladders under one article- stone step-ladders in Chalukyan temples.

The stone ladder and the temple door. Light and shadow create interesting views in here.

Here's a view of the sanctum with a Shivalinga. I have to say that this is an inactive temple, this Shivalinga made its way into this temple at some point of time when Shivaivites were dominating the social structure.

As per the booklet on Pattadakal by Archaeological Survey of India, this temple was built  during the Rashtrakuta Krishna II (878 to 914 CE).

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