Once upon a time Bangalore was known as “Pensioner’s Paradise”. Later it is was known as “Garden City”. Now, the Paradise is gone, the Garden is going and is getting replaced as “Silicon City”!
Strengthening Bangalore’s reputation of Pensioners
paradise, there is a mention of a
pensioner in a stone inscription in the
year 1799 itself. And this stone
inscription is documented in the
Epigraphia carnatica Vol 9, compiled by Benjamin Lewis Rice, the
Director of the Mysore Archaeological Department and released between 1894 and 1905.
In this inscription referenced as “Bn – 15”, Sarangu Sadupperi Sabhapati mudaliyar who identifies himself as a pensioner has donated his house to Ulsoor Sri Someshwara Temple. Probably he was a government employee under British India and got retired from the services.
What made him
to donate his house to the temple? Anyhow temples are built by Kings or by people close to him or
by wealthy individuals; Why can’t the king directly take care of the
maintenance of the temple?
After all,
maintenance of a temple is like that of maintaining a
house. The only difference is in its
size. Most of the
temples are huge. Also, many of
the temples comes with their own gardens, wells and ponds too.
And there are festivals to be
taken care. Most importantly, it is a public place open on all 365 days for
worship. So, the cleanliness and safety of the property is of utmost
importance.
Here is where
our kings have excelled in their governance.
They have donated huge cultivatable lands, cattle and many other
properties to temples and the earnings from them are to be used to take care of
temples. This is a form of delegation of
duties to others and at the same time empowering them with resources! They have
also encouraged people from his ministry and other individuals to make
donations as well take part in renovation works. This is a form of community involvement
! This is how lots of dancers,
musicians and scholars were associated
with the temple activities and in turn got nurtured by others.
It feels good
to learn that even under British
rule, individuals continued the noble practice of taking care of the
temples. This is understood by this
pensioner’s donation to Ulsoor Someshwara temple.
Yet, various famines, continued tax burdens on people
by British and a lack of priority for the British Govt to safeguard the
cultural heritage of India had resulted many temples in sad states.
Recently I came
across a British era photograph of Ulsoor Sri Someshwara temple. The temple was in a bad state. I felt the
sad realisation of how the local governance schemes set by our
kings have collapsed after their fall.
Various wars, invasions of
Mughals, British rule and the famines have led to the neglect of the temples.
This photograph is a classic example of how cultural
significance of India suffered.
This temple has a long history too. As per
historians, the garbhagriha
(sanctum sanctorum) and the worship hall
next to it were built during the Chola dynasty and the bigger hall and other
structures are built during Kempe Gowda dynasty. The Kamakshi temple was built during Mysore
Wodeyar dynasty. The small shrines
around the complex are recent additions.
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| Ulsoor Sri Someshwara Temple, Year 1890, Photograph credit: wikipedia |
This is the photograph of Bangalore Ulsoor Someshwara temple taken around 1890. It shows the top portion of the temple tower is bare and the bottom portion with some faded white wash.
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| Damages to the structures |
In this photo, we can observe on either side of the tower that the top portions of the compound wall are broken. There is a pile of stones in front of it. On the left side grasses are seen on what looks like a temple cart.
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| The "Pothigai" is lying on the pedestal |
The pedestal of the “Deepasthambam” (a free-standing
column for lighting oil lamp) seems to be in ruins.
This Deepasthambam is probably 40 feet high. (I just calculated based on
where the 5-6 feet men are standing in the previous photo). Normally every Deepasthambam has a decorative
element at the top called, “Pothigai”
Unfortunately,
what is supposed to be on top of this column, this “Pothigai” is lying down on the pedestal. It is a wonder how it happened or who made it happen!
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| Deepasthambam in Sep 2023 |
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| The "Pothigai" is back at the top |
When I went to
this temple for the very first time in
Sep 2023, I was
very eager to see if the Deepasthambam still exists.
I was very joyous
to see this tall magnificent Deepasthambam standing
majestically. Most importantly the “Pothigai”
is back at the top where it really
belongs. Somehow, some one or rather many people may have come
together to renovate the Deepasthambam to its original glory!
Apart from artistic beauty, pillars have an additional
function of bearing the weight of the roof over it. Deepasthambams does not have any such
functionality. Yet, those days these
were used illuminate the surrounding area and beautiful minds of the
people. I remember the practice of
lighthing huge oils lamps on these Deepasthambams on the darkest “No moon” days
(Ammavasya), and during festivals in our
village temple. This event had a physical as well as cultural significance. I am grateful for this renovation here.
Temple construction itself is a challenging task and needs experts from different fields involved in it. Making of the Deepasthambams pose different sets of challenges too. “Stapathi” (the artist/Architect who works with the stones), selects a long continuous rock of more than 40 feet, gets it cut to the size, shapes it and decorates it. Then this column is brought to the temple site. Suitable foundation is prepared and this free-standing column(Deepasthambam) is placed vertically. How smart and knowledgeable our ancestors should have been who had executed this sophisticated task!
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| Year 2010, Photograph credit: gettyimages |
This photograph
taken in 2010 shows that the top portions of the compound wall
has been repaired on either side of the tower. The
right-side wall has been painted as
white and saffron stripes. There is a
shop in front of the left side compound wall.
The original structure on the top
portions of the right side compound wall is gone(the sloping shape is missing), a new
plain vertical construction has replaced it.
The colour painting on the tower is faded. All these changes would have happened long
back. I could not come across any photos
of the previous years. This is the oldest I found on the internet.
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| Year 2010 or 2011 Phtograph credit: kskrishnan.blogspot.com |
This photograph taken around 2011 shows the shop on the left side is removed; The top portion of the left compound wall is damaged.
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| Year 2010 or 2011 Phtograph credit: kskrishnan.blogspot.com |
This photograph shows heaps of cut stones in front of the tower. Probably it is for the renovation of the compound walls
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| Year 2017, damage to the compound wall reported Photograph credit: Bangalore Mirror |
In 2017,
“Bangalore Mirror” has reported
that a portion of the compound wall on
the rear side of the temple on Sundara Mudaliar Street has been damaged.
It also states that authorities
have renovated only other parts of the compound wall in the past
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| Photograph credit: Bangalore Mirror |
In 2019,
“Bangalore Mirror” provides an update that the original compound wall is
removed and a new one is being constructed on Sundara Mudaliar Street.
The new compound wall being constructed seems to be of
two vertical layer construction.
In general, the temple compound walls will be of
two vertical layer construction with the centre space filled with mud
and loose stones or simply left
empty. The top portion will be covered
with horizontal stone slabs joining the
two vertical walls. These stone slabs will be slightly bigger than the total width
of the walls below. It
will be protruding slightly outside on either sides so that that joint
is not directly exposed to rain. To prevent seepage of rainwater into the
centre of the compound walls, a sloping
structure in the form of a cross section of a diamond will be constructed on the horizontal stone slabs with
bricks. Finally, this brick structure
will be plastered. This top sloping
structure will divert the rain waters away from the top of compound walls. The
twin vertical wall construction provides bulk, strength and protection to the
temple. Such is the ingenuity of our ancestral Engineers!
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| Sep 2023, the compound wall adjoining the entrance tower |
The original compound walls in the front, rear and on
the southern sides have been fully removed and replaced with a new construction
as shown above. On the northern
side, around 3/4th of the original
compound wall is retained fortunately. Both the
corners of this stretch have new walls.
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| Northern compound wall as seen from outside the temple |
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| Northern compound wall as seen from inside the temple. |
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| Where the original and new compound walls meet |
In this photograph, we can see the new wall joining the original compound wall. We can also notice a horizontal interlock stone(shown in blue circle) with its simple yet powerful lock mechanism here. How horribly this joining portion has been left unfinished. Now the rain water can easily seep into the original compound wall, leading to its collapse!
How sophisticated, yet simple was the original
compound wall construction! Now this has been totally unappreciated,
neglected. What is more shocking is such
a poor finish is carried out in a temple
which is mostly crowded and amidst the
busy Ulsoor area. I felt angry
that an ancient temple received such a
treatment. I yearn that this original
compound wall portion is preserved by some intervention. I felt helpless that I do not know how and to
whom this can be escalated so that a
fair finishing work can be carried out properly.
We live in an era of successful moon landing, sophisticated Bangalore metro train network and the mighty KRS dam built decades ago. Compared to all these, retaining the original compound wall with a proper finish is a very easy task. Hope it is taken care soon.
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There is lot more to know about this temple’s
evolution over the years!
I have covered
the changes to the flooring, details of unearthing of a lost pond
(Kalyani) and one more interesting find in Part 2 …
Archives.org, Epigraphia carnatica Vol 9
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halasuru_Someshwara_Temple,_Bangalore
Temple compound wall on Sundara Mudaliyar Street is damaged
Temple compound wall on Sundara Mudaliyar Street is getting repaired