Date with history: Someshwara Temple may be just a millennium-old

Lingeswaran or Annamalai, as he is fondly called, is a 76-year-old man who has been working at the Someshwara temple in Halasuru since he was 25. “The kings who ruled this land built it more than 1,000 years ago. The deity here is very powerful,“ he believes. He knows little else about the place he spent a lifetime serving.
Even the temple's chief priest Sunder Dixit, whose ancestors have lived around the temple, cannot put a date to it. Apparently , all knowledge he has about the shrine came to him from his great-grandfather's time orally . “There is no documentation to indicate that this is the oldest temple in the city ,“ he says. The mythology behind the temple is that sage Mandavya meditated at the spot where the temple now stands and that it was known as Mandavya Kshetra. The Shiva temple -Someshwara is another name for Shiva -is, however, one of the oldest temples in and around the city and is believed to be in existence since the Chola period.That dates it to a millennium ago.

“The original garbhagriha (sanctum sanctorum) dates back to the Chola era. The temple was expanded and other additions made during the Kempegowda period,“ says Meera Iyer, co-convenor, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). “Looking closely , you can note a difference between the size of the stones used for the garbhagriha and the surround ings.“ The Kamakshi shrine, she added, is said to have been built by the Wodeyars.

Legend has it that the temple was built by Yelahanka nada prabhu Jayappa Gowda (1420­1450 AD). The story is that after hunting in a forest, the tired chieftan fell asleep near the present Halasuru area. The Lord appeared in his dream and asked him to unearth the Shivalinga buried at the spot and build a temple.

The temple -built according to Vijayanagara architecture -exudes many exquisite sculptures, including the gopuram with carvings of gods and goddesses, the mantapa with each of its 48 pillars telling a story and sculptures that depict Lord Vishnu, Brahma, and Durga slaying Mahishasura. Girija kalyana (wedding of Lord Shiva and Parvati) on the outer wall of the garbagriha, and the sri chakra inside the Kamakshi temple are also rare sightings.

“Another unique feature is the Navanatha (nine saints) sculptures on the outer wall of the temple,“ adds Iyer. “Unlike other places where there are stray idols placed away from each other on pillars or ceilings, here they are placed consecutively .“