When a friend of mine asked me what can we see near Bangalore. Every time, the answer to that is Mysore. I wanted to show something different and something that takes us through a second tier city or a rural area. So I chose Kolar. While going through the route, I got curious about the villages around Kolar. I started zooming in and found some temples. I checked with this friend whether she would be interested in the temples and she was.
As the days came closer, she messaged again to say that she was looking forward to seeing the historic areas I had planned. Panic struck. Not all temples in India are historic. How do I find the historic ones?
So it was that I started googling the names of the temples I found in Kolar. Kolar is typically known for the Kolar Gold Fields – not much more. So I was skeptical when I started.
To my surprise, thanks to the gold, Kolar has a very rich heritage. This should be natural. Areas with gold would be naturally attractive for all dynasties. Hence, I found temples from the ages of Chola, Hoysala and so on. That was not all. The Rama Lingeswara temple goes even further back in ages to 399 AD. It was built by the Nolamba Dynasty as a tribute to the legends of the place Avani and the rocks there. It is said, that Lava Kusha, sons of Lord Rama, were born here. The Valmiki Ashram was here and Sita lived here taking the name of Lord Ram. The Ashwamedha horse was captured and tied here. The brother Lord Lakshmana, Bharatha and Shatrughna all came to fight the two boys and finally came Lord Rama. As a penance for fighting the two boys, the brothers all installed a Linga. In addition there are several other Lingas here as well.
What struck me was the quiet Avani village. In this typical rural setting, the temple stands at the base of the rock hill. The Ratha festival seems to have just gotten over – the newly painted Ratha stood high its shed. The place had very few tourists. We had the luck of seeing the temple without any crowds. It reminded me of the times in 80s when I visited historic temples like Belus and Halebid when the temple complex had very few people.
The priest at the Ramalingeswara did the pooja and explained to us why it is important to drink the offering Thirtha. The temple is also known for the cures people have found.
The Lingas were very interesting in the varying degrees of simplicity in them. Needless to say it was the simplest that attracted me.
The renovation of the temple also struck me. There was a mixture of the ancient and the modern with the gopuras being redone in clay or sandstone.
We did not have time to climb to the temples on top of the rock hill. Well, there has to be something left for the next time.
Life of P(ay)i 