Around Bangalore- Bhoga Nandeeshwara temple in Nandi

Well, Nandi Hills is a very popular day-long excursion from Bangalore. But, have you heard of a village Nandi at the foothills of Nandi Hills, home for a 9th century Bhoga Nandeeshwara Temple? I hadn't until I joined Bangalore Ascenders (BASC) for a day-long photography tour. BASC is a non-profit organization interested in outdoor activities and adventures organized by its-own volunteering members. If you are in Bangalore, want to get out but, don't know where? then just go ahead- read their website! You will definitely meet enthusiastic and friendly people of all ages :)

We, fourteen participants, took Bangalore-Cikkaballapur Passenger train which starts at 8:45am from Bangalore City station, ticket price Rs.11 oneway. Train takes about 2 hours to reach Nandi. With a brief introduction session by our event-organizer we started to Bhoga Nandeeshwara temple in two autorikshaws. The photoshoot went for around 2 hours in and around the temple complex. 

Okay, about the temple ... well, every temple in India is associated with an interesting legend from Hindu mythology, a long history from medieval time. Info I collected before I visited this place ... Bhoga Nandeeshwara temple was originally built by a Bana Queen Ratnavali. The temple was dedicated to Lord Shiva and his consort Parvati.  Then the temple was extended by Chola ruler Rajendra by building the walls and the roof. King's statue is present here in the temple. It was then extended by Ganga rulers by building Arunachaleshwara temple to worship Lord Shiva as child. There is one Ganesha idol- Simha Ganapati which is very unique. Hoysala rulers constructed Uma-Maheshwara Temple with a magnificent marriage hall. The massive pillars of the hall have intricate and extensive carvings which are the trademarks of Hoysalas. 

Shringi Teertha is a temple pond which is believed to be dug by the divine Nandi using his horns. It is the source of South Pinakini river. The rest of the outer structures and mantapas were built by Vijayanagara Rulers in 13th century where you can see the yali (hippogryphs or charging horses) pillars and the withering superstructures which are built of bricks and lime mortar. 

Nearby village is Muddenahalli and we went there in a canter- standing! Muddenahalli is the place where Bharata Ratna Sir M Vishveshwarayya lived. He was an Indian engineer held in highest regard, who designed flood protection system for the city of Hyderabad those days and also responsible for the mesmerizing beauty- Krishnaraja Sagar Dam and Gardens in Mysore. September 15th is celebrated as Engineers Day in his honor. It was a great opportunity to see the artifacts belonged to him especially, the Bharat Ratna medal. Nearby is his cenotaph with a small garden. We left the place with a feeling of pride for having visited such a great and sincere engineer's house and cenotaph.

It was a great outing- photography, architecture and history and new faces!

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This post is linked to Our World Tuesday.

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Scrapbook- A Travel Blog by Kusum Sanu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.