Kalya

THE FORGOTTEN JERUSALEM OF KARNATAKA

Jerusalem-The city which nurtured the three most popular religions of the world is a place fervently revered by the Christians,Muslims and Jews equally and is a melting syncretic pot of cultures of the east and the west.

Jeruslalem with all it's charm and glory is not forgotten and people with their eyes forged in blind faith are still fighting for the land of none.

Everyone knows about this though,but did you know there was a place in our state of Karnataka which nourished all religions as the holy land did but now covered with rocky outcrops and dust but has stood the wrath of time.

Let me introduce to you,

Kalya,a small rustic village in Magadi in the Ramanagara District of Karnataka has had such amazing forgotten history laid buried in it's soil.

Kallinatha temple 

In it's soil is burried the stories of tolerance and resistance alike,Kalya in ancient times(8^th CE) was known as Kalavathi Pattana,in a 16^th Century inscription describes it as “Bauddha Vasa Mahapuri Kalavati”.It is said that in it's heyday this was one of the most flourishing medieval Buddhist centre.

One unknown head sculpture in Kalleshwara temple is supposedly identified as a Buddhist antiquary¹.

After the decline of Buddhism,Jainsim took its place,in it's day,this gloomy town is said to have housed 64 basadis and a Jain University,but today a 5m tall Manasthambha is all that remains and a nishidhi stone and a sculpture of Parshvanatha tirthankara is supposedly housed in the Janapada Loka musuem.

Kalleshwara Linga

Palkurike Somanatha's Gaddige

After this came the Veerashaiva,Srivaishnava and Madhwa religions.

This place has had a great extent of influence by the veerashaiva religion and this is one of the surviving religions in the village,the other being the Madhwa religion.

There is a Veerashaiva mutt established by Sarvashile Channamma,a sharane of the Lingayat sect.The mutt is rather beautiful in it's plainness,It is located on a small hillock and the gadduges or tombs of Channamma and other saints belonging the same sect.The celebrated Telugu poet Palkurike Somanatha is said to have visited this place to have darsana of the tomb shrine of channamma and even one small shrine is said to be the tomb of the great poet himself.

Jangama mutt

Kalavati pattana which was also called Kalleha or Kalya is also famed for it's Kalleshwara shiva temple which is in a natural cave.This temple had become prominent since the 16th century,to reach this temple one has to ascend some steps and this hillock also gives an amazing view of the village and is also very picturesque.

But of all this glorious past,there is one interesting fact about this village which makes it very interesting in the history of Karnataka.

That is one inscription of the 15th Century.

This inscription is a dispute resolution judgment between Jainas & Vaishnavas. There are reportedly at least two copies of this inscription - Shravanabelagola & Kalya. Copies of this sasana were supposed to be installed in all the basadis in the kingdom.

This inscription at Kalya is written a few days after the one at Sharavanbelagola and interestingly the word "killing" of Jainas by the Vaishnavas (bhaktas) is used in this one at Kalya whereas the word is not used in the one at Shravanabelagola.
The Jains of the kingdom complain to Bukkaraya about killings, destruction of basadis and other indignities caused by Vaishnavas.
In summary, in the inscription, King Bukkaraya places the hands of the Jainas in the hands of Vaishnavas and decrees that Jaina & Vaishnava are both equally valid religions and instructs Jainas to pay money (one hana per family per year) to the Vaishnavas who he appoints caretakers to the Jainas and entrusts the task of protecting basadis and the Jainas.

Bukkaraya's Inscription.

Today's India's Politics has used religion effectively to segregate and divide people for their cheap gains.This lesson of history is also a lesson that has to be learnt by today's Sangh parivar who has utilised the shallowness of religion to spread hate.

And it's history of acceptance should be learnt by us.

We might be thiests or athiests,belonging to different sects and religions but ultimately we all are humans and humanity is built on caring for each other inspite of our differences.

The soul of India lies only in its syncretic culture and Inclusiveness.

References:
1 Identification of Kalavati

Aivarakhandapura

 My grandmother  Ammaji always used to tell legends and myths about her native which always surprised me how myths induce a human feeling of anger,lust,ego,attachment to the gods and it deeply explains how no one is indifferent to suffering after one takes up the human form and in this subcontinent there are many such places which have a significance in legends and myths of the land.
Aivarakhandapura also called Aigondapura located in the Bangalore rural district is also one such place which is lesser known for it being associated with the great epic Mahabharata.The name of the village itself gives us a clear picture as it can be literally translated to 'city which saw five men' which means the place which had sheltered the great Pandavas and according to the local folklore the elders of the village say that the village housed seven temples out of which only two remain with time.
In the center of the village is the temple of Dharmesvara,the legend goes that Pandavas in their twelve years of exile had consecrated shiva lingas in this very same place and also is said that in the cremation ground just opposite to the temple were the hundred kaurava brothers buried after the war in kurukshetra.

The Panchalinga shrine

Sri dharmeshvara linga 

 Yudhiṣṭhira linga 

Arjuna linga

 Bhima linga

Nakula linga 

 Sahadeva linga 

Bhairava-The Kshetrapala

Inscription stone installed during the chola regime.

 Ganga styled pillar 

Besides the fiva shiva lingas,there is also a sixth linga which was consecrated by draupadi who was the wife of the five pandavas but apparently the temple was closed and was in a very bad condition and in spite of the temple being rich with folktales and legend it remains neglected.

Hosaholalu

Lakshminarayana Temple,Hosaholalu

The Lakshminarayana temple located in the  small hamlet of Hosaholalu in the Krishnarajpete taluq of temple of Hoysala architecture.The star shaped foundation is the speciality of Hoysala architecture and the temple is maintained by ASI.

The temple is of trikutachala style and the Navaranga has lathe-turned and well polished pillars which have the sculptures of madanikas suppoting the ceiling and when one stands on the navaranga all the three deities can be viewed 

The soap stone pillars of the navaranga

Hebberalina anjaneya which in kannada translates to thumb anjaneya and it is just the size of the thumb

The Dwarapalaka

Narasimha in the sanctum

Mahishasura mardhini

The idol is most ornate I have ever seen,The fierce aspect of Shakti is shown slaying the demon Mahishasura.

The baeutiful ceilings 

The main deity-Lakshmi Narayana 

The beatiful door frame

Ganesha

The beautiful ceilings

Sri Venugopala

The outer door

The outer carved walls of the temple

The Dashavataras

Matsya

Kurma

Narasimha

Vamana

Parashurama

Rama

Krishna

Buddha

Among the Dashavataras two avataras are not in the above pictures because it was completely destroyed the avatars are Varaha and Kalki.

The outer walls also have scultures depicting scenes from the two famous epics Mahabharata and Ramayana an also has stories from Bhagavata.

The ornate panels 

The view of the temple from the backward entrance

Narasimha carved on outer wall

Kalinga maradhana of Krishna

Vishnu

Narayana and lakshmi seated on Garuda

Indra seated on his mount Airavata

Gopura

Brahma 

The front entrance

 A board depicting the history

These temples which has a high potential to be devoloped as a tourist destination often goes unnoticed and erodes away with time.