Part 1 covered the evolution of the temple’s exteriors as seen through photographs from years 1890 to 2023!
This Part 2 covers other changes carried out in the temple.
Changes in the flooring of the temple enclosure
While going through some old photographs I have noticed changes in the flooring of the temple enclosures. It is a normal practice to leave the flooring between the buildings within the temple with properly levelled mud or grass. Since there are few trees in the middle of the enclosure even now, we can assume the flooring was originally left with mud.
An information board made in a stone slab can be seen in the temple premises. It is dated 12 June 1994. It conveys Shrimati K. J. Pramila Thammana of Vijayanagara has sponsored the work of laying the stone slabs for the flooring. What a noble gesture!. It is a huge surface area too be covered. So happy to see the concept of such noble donations continued even in 20th century.
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| Photograph credit: "To Northern Star" youtube channel |
As years roll by, these slabs have become uneven and was causing inconvenience to devotees. This Photograph taken in 2020 shows the flooring with uneven stone slabs
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| New flat stone slabs - 2023 |
Later in year 2022, the old stone slabs have been removed and replaced with new anti-slip stone slabs for the flooring making it convenient and safe for all of us.
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| Ganga Dynasty statues Photograph credit: Deccan Herald |
Interestingly during this renovation, workers have come across some sculptures buried in mud. According to historians, these black stone sculptures are believed to be of Ganga dynasty (5th CE to 10th CE). Based on the material and style of these sculptures, they are believed to be of 9th or 10th CE. This puts this temple back to a very ancient time. The type of the stones and style of the construction of the garbhagriha (sanctum sanctorum) and the worship hall next to it do not match with the Ganga style; according to historians, they seem to match with Chola style. So we can put the chronology of the temple as Ganga dynasty ---> Chola dynasty ---> Kempe Gowda dynasty (Viyayanagara Style) ---> Wodeyar dynasty ---> After Independence modern era
About the temple Kalyani / Pond
The outer circumference of this temple is
approximately 1000 feet. Overall area is approx. 61,000 sq feet (Calculated
using Google Maps!) Such huge temples
generally have a Kalyani close by or with in its premises.
Kalyani of Someshwara temple existed in the maps of
1800s. Surprisingly it disappeared in
the maps of 1900s. The Kalyani might have dried out during the great famine of
1876-1878. Probably the British could
have closed and levelled it due to sanitary or other reasons after the break
out of the Plague of 1898s.
To everyone’s
surprise this Kalyani was once again excavated in the year 2010. It is difficult to believe given that the Ulsoor
area is packed tightly with houses, shops. Yet, it is true the Kalyani was “dis-covered” again.
The work started on 19 April 2010. With the mud dug out upto 40 feet depth, the entire structure with descending stone stairs on 4 sides came out intact.
Some of the items
dug out from the Kalyani support the idea that the Kalyani was closed
during British period. A blog in
citizenmatters.in website indicates that “Dr S K Aruni of the Indian Council
for Historical Research picked up pieces of blue and white willow-patterned
porcelain plates, gilt-edged porcelain teacups, and (no doubt, thanks to the
British military establishment nearby) lots of old-fashioned soda bottles and innumerable
liquor bottles in all shapes and sizes!”
Also, if we
look at the map of the neighbourhood, the huge water body of Ulsoor lake is just 600metres close by. Probably,
a water connection is some form might have existed between these two in the olden days.
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| April 2010, Excavation of Kalyani in progress Photograph courtesy malenaadu.wordpress.com |
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| View of Deepasthambam from Kalyani Photograph courtesy malenaadu.wordpress.com |
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| The Kalyani is filled full with in 3-4 months of excavation Photograph credit -The Hindu |
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| An imaginary creation of Temple and Kalyani in the past Photograph created around 2010 or 2011 Credit: To the unknown creator of this image and to the sponsor K.Elumazhai. photograph credit: kskrishnan.blogspot.com |
This is a photograph of a rare image created by an artist who imagined how the overall temple and the Kalyani would have looked during their glorious days. In this image, the main entrance, the Deepasthambam and the Kalyani are neatly aligned! It gives a serene and aesthetic feel to the entire setup.
Due to political changes, court cases, this Kalyani is
now locked up without any maintenance.
In the past, for many centuries this Kalyani would have been cherished by elders, youngsters, and children too. Unfortunately, for more than a century it had gone underground and would have felt choked by all the rubbish dumped into it and by the weight of the structures that were built on it. Now for the past 10 years it has been breathing peacefully and conversing with the sky. Probably it is looking forward to chatting with everyone as happily as before. Miracles can happen anytime. Let's be hopeful.
Do I need to put so much effort to know what changes
this temple has undergone over so many years?
What do I get out of it?
Won’t I get all information of renovation works from Govt or temple authorities? These
were the questions I asked myself!
It is not easy to get authentic information from such
sources that too for such a long period. Since it is relatively a popular
temple, decent amount of information is
available online. So, I have collected,
filtered and structured them.
And how does it help me? In general,
I get the impression that this temple has been overall attended to. All these histories also give me a sense of
knowing and a kind of connection to this temple! 😊
References:
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
Workers relaying the flooring in the courtyard
https://blogs.citizenmatters.in/the-olden-eye/2157-heritage-tank-excavated-in-ulsoor-2157
https://manishjaishree.com/someshwara-mahadeva-temple-ulsoor/
https://vgm.liverpool.ac.uk/blog/2021/willow-pattern/