BASAVANAGUDI NANDI TEMPLE
Basavangudi, Bangalore, Karnataka
Nandikeswara is Lord
Siva's carrier vehicle - vhahana & also the head of the Siva Ganas.
There is an idol of Nandi Deva in every Sivan temple just opposite the
main murti, facing the Lord. It is believed that Nandi Deva will
dutifully carry our wishes to the Lord & hence special prayers &
naivediyam is offered to him as a part of the daily rituals.
There
are huge Nandi idols in around 6 temples in India. Some
of them are
Basavanagudi
Nandi in Bangalore - Karnataka (15 ft in height & 20 feet in length)
Brahadeeswarar
koil Nandi - Thanjavur, Tamilnadu (19 1/2 feet in length; 8 1/4 feet in
breadth; 12 feet in height)
Lepakshi
koil Nandi- Andhra Pradesh
Chamundeswari
koil Nandi - Mysore, Karnataka (16 x 25 ft)
Rameswaram
koil Nandi - Rameswaram, Tamilnadu (9 ft in height & 12 ft in length)
The
Nandi in Belur, Halebid - Karnataka |
There is
a temple exclusively for Nandi Deva at Basavanagudi, Bangalore. (Basava
- Nandi in Kannadam). The Nandi idol is huge, measuring about 15ft
in height & 20 feet in length.
This temple is said to
have been constructed about 500 years ago. A bull was roaming in
this region (a few villages then) 500 years ago. The chief crop harvested
in the region was ground nuts. The villagers found that every full
moon day their crop of ground nuts vanished mysteriously. Yhey decided
to stay on watch & on a full moon day they witnessed a huge bull golden
in colour, eyes shining bright like jewels consume their crop. But
after this incident the bull no longer visited their farm. Instead,
they found a huge idol of a bull appear suddenly on the hill, which was
growing at a steady pace. They had to hit a nail in the form of a
soolam (trident) to stop its growth.
A Nandi appeared in the
dream of Kempe Gowda the ruler who laid the foundation for the bangalore
city & requested that a temple be built on the hill. The Nandi
is facing North. Accordingly a temple was built for the Nandi on
the hill. At the foot of the hill is a temple for Dodda Ganapathy
(huge Ganesha - 10ft height & 15 ft wide). There is a temple for Lord
Siva a little above the Ganesha temple.The ground nut fair (Kadalekay
Parishe) is celebrated every year on the last Monday of the Kaarthigai
month (it mostly falls in Nov). Farmers believe that they will enjoy
a good yield if they offer their prayers to the Nandi on this festival
day. Even those who cannot visit the festival, consume a few ground
nuts on that day.
Dodda Ganapathy
Sketch by Sumathi
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