Hosaholalu and Kikkeri Bramheswara

Hosaholalu has an ancient Venkteshwara temple.Dissapointment once again for me since the priest had gone to Tirupati to invite them.Spending a few moments in the garden which is quite well maintained since it is under the ASI.


I decided to head towards Kikkeri.When i reached the place,the place was locked.A person there suggested that i go and request the priest who stays in the next lane.I walked down through the village to find the priest.When i knocked on his door ,he was having his lunch ,i patiently waited for him to complete.

He came along in his cycle about 15 minutes.During our interaction i came to know that he was from Shringeri and we both were pretty much from the same place.He showed me around the place.This has to be one of the best temples i have visited till date.The carvings are pretty much intact right through the temple ,it was a delight to the eyes.




Godess Chamundeshwari



Intricately carved pillars






Lord Channakeshava

Some parts of the temple are still incomplete indicating a war or some other kind of instablity leading to the incomplete sculptures.After a brief prayer he showed me around the temple.The huge nandi is simply amazing.Besides Nandi it also houses some very intricately carved sculptures of Lord Ganesha,Godess Chamundeshwari,Lord Channakeshava besides the main idol of Shiva linga.

The dateline dates back to ,when apparently the queen wanted to build a temple for lord Brahma,apparently was later advised by the courtiers not to do so.The queen then had a dream where Lord Shiva appeared and asked her to build a temple for him.Hence the name Brameshwara.

There is also a temple of Godess Parvathy which is set to have been built about 500 years later.The location of this temple is behind a huge lake .I can only wonder the granduer of this peaceful ,amazing temple in its hay days .

Today it is just a mute witness to the past.The temple has gone through some tumultous times with it being closed for almost 2 years inbetween for want of priests.The local MLA has spent about 2 lakhs to get some repairs done.I do hope the temple is preserved for the days to come

Varahanatha Kalahalli

One has to travel from Pandavapura-Bookanekere-Varahanatha Kalahalli
to reach this place.I was impressed by this place after seeing a fellow blogger Aravind who has a knack to exploring ancient temples.



It was quite a dissapointment for me since the temple was being broken into
pieces to build a new structure.I am certainly not sure what was the need for it.Generally as a matter of rule ,one is not supposed to see the vigraha when it is under renovation.It is as a rule that they move it to a neigbouring area and offer pooja when the renovation work is being done.

But i am glad that this was not done since that would mean taking a chance with the 18 feet idol of Lord Varahanatha.I am pretty sure they would have screwed the idol for sure.The renovation work is going to take another year i was told my the priest.The vigraha is packed with sand bags and now lays among the ruins of the structure being dismantled

After paying respect at the makeshift temple which has a quite a decent picture of the main idol,i decided to have some lunch on the banks of the kabini backwaters.It was heartening to see some lovely birds on which i spent some time clicking away their pictures.I then decided that it was time to head for Hosaholalu from here.









I was in for more surprises.I also found some lovely flamingoes in one of
the small lake a little ahead.It was certainly a treat for the eyes.I would certainly love to come back to this place once again to see the vigraha of Lord Varahanatha in full splendour