Overview: In 1915 Somanna Shetty, a Goddess Banashankari devotee, brought a deity of the Goddess from Badami’s Banashankari Amma Temple and established here. The interesting fact about the temple is, devotees offer prayers to the Goddess during Rahukala, which is considered as inauspicious time for performing prayers.
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| Banashankari Temple |
The temple was established on Kanakapura Road and slowly layouts started coming up around this. The layouts within Banashankari grew rapidly and is still expanding. Prehistoric evidences suggest that the region was occupied during Megalithic and Neolithic age, reference from an article from Indian Anthropoligical Institute. It documents the image of stylised human figure on a rock at Gotgiri Betta (Now Gattigere) near Hosakerehalli, which changes colour depending on the weather. However, this image has disappeared over the years of development. A detailed discussion on this topic can be read in the following link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/inscriptionstones/permalink/2390426284531926/
Some of the popular areas coming under BSK are Hanumanthanagar, Srinagar, Girinagar, Hosakerehalli and BSK 2nd stage area. Most of the areas within BSK stages are traditional. Mount Joy at Hanumanthanagar has Kumaraswamy temple at its peak and on clear days a panoramic skyline of the city can be seen. Along with the temple, Mount Joy, or Naraharigudda, houses a tank which used to pump water from Tataguni. Another popular temple in the area is the Dattatreya temple built in the early 1900s at Hosakerehalli. The BDA Complex in BSK 2nd stage is one of Bangalore’s well maintained shopping complexes.
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| Hero Stone at BSK 2nd stage |
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| Kempegowda era mantapa at Hosakerehalli Lake bed |
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| Mount Joy (Naraharigudda) |
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| Ramanjaneya Gudda |
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| BSK 2nd stage shopping complex |
Banashankari is a cluster of hillocks, prominent ones are Hanumagiri, Banagiri and Devagiri. Hanumagiri hill has a small church and a Hanuman temple. Legend says that there was a lady called Annamma who was targeted by Tipu Sultan’s soldiers with ill intensions, resulting in her committing suicide. The hill has hence been known as Annamma Hill and now popular as Hanumagiri. Devagiri hill is close to BSK 2nd Stage BDA Complex and a beautiful temple dedicated to Lord Venkateshwara is built on the top.
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| Devagiri (Left), Banagiri (Right) |
Vasantapura: Around 5kms from Banashankari temple is the ancient village of Vasantapura. The village derives its name from the old temple of Vasantha Vallabharaya swamy. Its home to 2 temples, the Vallabharaya temple which was built by the Cholas. Also climbing down below a few steps, one can see a small pond, the only kalyani which is surviving out of 5 kalyanis developed around 500 years ago. It is also believed that Sage Mandavya once meditated here when the whole region was surrounded by dense forests. The Vallabharaya temple at Vasanthapura has an interesting history. The entire area was covered with woods and the temple was the site where sages meditated. A couple of ponds still remain around the temple which act as a symbol of past.
Next to Vasanta Vallabharaya temple, lies a quaint 17th century Maratha era temple of Bhavani Shankar, built by Guru Samarth Ramdas, who was the teacher of Chatrapati Shivaji.
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| Maratha era Bhavani Shankar temple, Vasantapura |
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| Vasantha Vallabharayaswamy temple |
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| Vasantapura Kalyani |
Kumaraswamy Layout: The current Dayanandsagar college at Kumaraswamy layout is built on the Shavige Malleshwara Hills, on top of which is the ancient Shavige Malleshwara temple, with Vijayanagara features.
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| Shavige Malleshwara temple |
Other Posts in this series:
Is the one at badami the original deity temple ?
ReplyDeleteThe Vallabharaya Temple:
ReplyDeleteOnce, the sage Mandavya, who was in Badarikashrama in the Himalayas, decided to visit the holy places in South India, and set off toward Melkote. After a darshan of Cheluvanarayana, on his return journey, while meditating, Vallabharayaswami appeared to him in a dream, and told him that he was residing in Kalyanapuri (now Vasantapura) in Bangalore. Mandavya accordingly went to Kalyanapura, and found an enchanting murti (statue/idol) of Vallabha. Having established it according to rites (pratishtha), he began to worship it everyday, living and performing tapas in a cave in Guptagiri nearby.